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Prime Minster Tony Blair Back in Hot Seat over War in Iraq
Aired June 02, 2003 - 14:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: British Prime Minister Tony Blair bucked public opinion and a party rebellion to take part in the war in Iraq and he's still, or again, under fire. The controversy now is the evidence cited by the Bush and Blair administrations to try to turn the world against Saddam Hussein.
CNN's Walter Rodgers tells us more about all this from London.
Hello, Walt.
WALTER RODGER, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is in the odd position of having won the war and now there's the devil to pay for it because he won. Two of his former cabinet ministers both from his party are calling for an independent parliamentary investigation because they say Mr. Blair deceived the British public about the reasons for going to war. Claire Short (ph) one of the ministers, frankly said, that the prime minister has lied. She made this acquisition on three separate occasions.
And the British press is having a field day. Look at the "Guardian" headline there are. Short says Blair lied. Now this is a paper that normally should stand with the prime minister. And then here, look, another Labor paper, "the Daily Mirror," show us the proof, Tony. Again, the prime minister said he will come out with the proof. But the most damning acquisitions has come from Claire Short, one of his former political colleagues and ministers, who says Tony Blair doctored the intelligence evidence to make a false case for war. Here was the prime minister's response earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The idea that we doctored intelligence reports in order to invent some notion about a 45-minute capability of delivering weapons of mass destruction, the idea that we doctored such intelligence is completely and totally false. Every single piece of intelligence that we presented was cleared very properly found bid the Joint Intelligence Committee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RODGERS: Prime Minister Blair is saying he is 100 percent certain there is proof, and that proof will be made available that Saddam Hussein did have weapons of mass destruction. His critics are saying not only show us the proof, but show us the secret documents and let's hold an independent parliament investigation of the alleged proof coming from the prime minister -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Walter Rodgers in London, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Iraq>
Aired June 2, 2003 - 14:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: British Prime Minister Tony Blair bucked public opinion and a party rebellion to take part in the war in Iraq and he's still, or again, under fire. The controversy now is the evidence cited by the Bush and Blair administrations to try to turn the world against Saddam Hussein.
CNN's Walter Rodgers tells us more about all this from London.
Hello, Walt.
WALTER RODGER, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Miles.
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is in the odd position of having won the war and now there's the devil to pay for it because he won. Two of his former cabinet ministers both from his party are calling for an independent parliamentary investigation because they say Mr. Blair deceived the British public about the reasons for going to war. Claire Short (ph) one of the ministers, frankly said, that the prime minister has lied. She made this acquisition on three separate occasions.
And the British press is having a field day. Look at the "Guardian" headline there are. Short says Blair lied. Now this is a paper that normally should stand with the prime minister. And then here, look, another Labor paper, "the Daily Mirror," show us the proof, Tony. Again, the prime minister said he will come out with the proof. But the most damning acquisitions has come from Claire Short, one of his former political colleagues and ministers, who says Tony Blair doctored the intelligence evidence to make a false case for war. Here was the prime minister's response earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The idea that we doctored intelligence reports in order to invent some notion about a 45-minute capability of delivering weapons of mass destruction, the idea that we doctored such intelligence is completely and totally false. Every single piece of intelligence that we presented was cleared very properly found bid the Joint Intelligence Committee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RODGERS: Prime Minister Blair is saying he is 100 percent certain there is proof, and that proof will be made available that Saddam Hussein did have weapons of mass destruction. His critics are saying not only show us the proof, but show us the secret documents and let's hold an independent parliament investigation of the alleged proof coming from the prime minister -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Walter Rodgers in London, thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Iraq>
