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President Bush Touring South Africa, Facing Tough Questions on Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction

Aired July 08, 2003 - 15:01   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: There is new fuel today for Democrats who charge the Bush administration misled Americans in making the case for war in Iraq. Administration aides say they now know that the following statement in Mr. Bush's State of the Union address in January was false.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Let's bring in our White House correspondent Dana Bash.

Dana, what is the explanation there for how this happened?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Judy.

I just want to be clear. What the White House is saying is specifically about the line referring to Saddam Hussein trying to get uranium from Niger. The issue about aluminum tubes, they are still standing by here at the White House. However, this is an issue that the White House has in the past maybe month and a half has acknowledged was actually false, that they understand now that documents were forged that led to the information that perhaps Saddam Hussein was trying to get that enriched uranium from Niger.

But what they had not said was that they don't believe it should have ended up in the president's State of the Union address, at least until today. And I will read a quote from a White House spokesman, Michael Anton.

He said -- quote -- "We now know that documents alleging a transaction between Iraq and Niger had been forged. The other reporting that suggested Iraq had tried to obtain uranium from Africa is not detailed or specific enough for us to be certain that such attempts were in fact made. Because of this lack of specificity, this reporting alone did not rise to the level of inclusion in a presidential speech. That said, the issue of Iraq's attempt to acquire uranium from abroad was not an element underpinning the judgment reached by most intelligence agencies that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program."

So what they're saying here, Judy, is, to us sort of in private, is that they didn't know until February that this information was false. The president's speech was, of course, January 28. But what they're also saying is, they do stand by the broader argument that they do believe that Saddam Hussein was trying to reconstitute his nuclear weapons program. And they say that, in a classified national intelligence assessment, there are at least five examples of how that is -- exactly was trying to come to pass, and this was just one specific part of that overall assessment.

However, they are acknowledging what is most important, at least to Democrats we're hearing from already today, that they are acknowledging that this specific line in the president's speech was not accurate -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Well, Dana, some of that of course raising the question, if they knew that it was false back in January, why did they wait until July to say so?

But I want to ask you about is a quote just a few hours ago from the head of the Democratic Party, Terry McAuliffe. He said -- quote -- "Either President Bush knowingly used false information in his State of the Union address or senior administration officials allowed the use of that information. This was not a mistake. It was no oversight and it was no error" -- end quote.

Dana, how worried are they about fallout from this?

BASH: Well, clearly, there is concern about this.

Just specifically to react to that quote from Terry McAuliffe that they knowingly let the president say that, what they're saying here at the White House is that they didn't actually know. Now, there are of course allegations that the White House did know, especially from Ambassador Joe Wilson, who was sent on a CIA mission well before the president's State of the Union address.

He said he came back and told the CIA. And he thinks that the White House did know about it. The White House flatly deny that. They say that they never would have let the president get up there and say what he said if they thought it was false. But, already, we're hearing from senior Democrats that they are going to investigate this on the Intelligence Committee and elsewhere. So, certainly, this is not the end of it -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: And one of those Democrats, Senator Jay Rockefeller, we'll be talking to in the next hour on "INSIDE POLITICS."

All right, Dana, reporting from the White House, thanks.

Another audiotape said to be the voice of Saddam Hussein is on the airwaves in the Arab world. The CIA has determined that the last tape was more likely than not an authentic recording of the ousted Iraqi leader. And some Iraqis believe the new tape sounds like the real thing, too. CNN's Jane Arraf is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: It's the second tape purporting to be Saddam Hussein released in a week. And despite the bad audio quality, Iraqis who have spent a lot of time listening to the voice of Saddam Hussein say it sounds an awful lot like him.

Now, in the tape, he encourages Iraqis to rise up against occupying forces here. He says they have to form underground cells and fight the occupation until they evict the occupying forces. Now, the chief civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, acknowledges that the presence of these tapes and the indications that Saddam might still be alive are making groups opposed to the U.S. forces here even bolder.

He says, eventually, the U.S. will catch or kill Saddam. But, in the meantime, it is certainly not helping things. He says, though, that there is no real indication that there is a central command on these ongoing attacks.

PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: These attacks appear to be the work of small groups of men, usually a squad-level operation. They are conducted, however, with considerable professionalism, which is why we are -- that, plus the information we get from the people we capture and other information, we are certain that these emanating from people who have military training, Fedayeen Saddam Hussein, Revolutionary Guards, members of the former intelligence agencies.

ARRAF: That is a broad range of people with military training. Almost every Iraqi male has had it. And the country continues to have masses of weapons. The attacks are just not letting up. A mortar attack against U.S. forces' logistical supply base near the town of Balad, that's the second in some days, as well as a grenade thrown at a police station in a northern Baghdad neighborhood.

That one, according to witnesses, critically wounded an Iraqi policeman, killed three Iraqi civilians when U.S. forces inside the station opened fire. No U.S. casualties reported on that one, but, clearly, these attacks against U.S. forces and the Iraqis working with them are not subsiding.

Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Meantime, President Bush now is heading to South Africa, the next stop in his five-nation tour of the continent. In Senegal today, Mr. Bush addressed urgent matters of war and peace and historical lessons about race and slavery.

Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush emerging from a meeting with West African leaders vowed to work with them to enforce the cease-fire in Liberia, but stopped short of committing U.S. troops.

BUSH: We're in the process of determining what is necessary to maintain the cease-fire and to allow for a peaceful transfer of power.

MALVEAUX: The president again called for Liberia's leader, Charles Taylor, to leave as quickly as possible to clear the way for an international peacekeeping force. The administration is still waiting for the American assessment team in Monrovia to recommend what the U.S. should do next.

Events in Liberia have overshadowed Mr. Bush's initial Africa agenda, to open markets and fight AIDS. But on Senegal's Goree Island, he did promote his vision of Africa's future by recognizing an aspect of its past by speaking at a former slave house where millions of Africans were forced onto ships headed to America.

BUSH: Human beings were delivered and sorted and weighed and branded with the marks of commercial enterprises and loaded as cargo on a voyage without return. One of the largest migrations of history was also one of the greatest crimes of history.

MALVEAUX: Earlier, Mr. Bush met with Senegal's President. Wade. Senegal is a staunch U.S. ally in the war on terror, a fighting democracy in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. But on the eve of Mr. Bush's arrival, some protested the president's trip.

(on camera): Mr. Bush's next stop: South Africa, a country where nearly 13 percent of its population is infected with AIDS. There, President Bush will highlight his $15 billion, five-year initiative to fight the disease. Conspicuously absent will be elder statesman Nelson Mandela, who has been highly critical of President Bush for the U.S. war with Iraq.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Dakar, Senegal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Questions on Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction>


Aired July 8, 2003 - 15:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: There is new fuel today for Democrats who charge the Bush administration misled Americans in making the case for war in Iraq. Administration aides say they now know that the following statement in Mr. Bush's State of the Union address in January was false.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WOODRUFF: Let's bring in our White House correspondent Dana Bash.

Dana, what is the explanation there for how this happened?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Judy.

I just want to be clear. What the White House is saying is specifically about the line referring to Saddam Hussein trying to get uranium from Niger. The issue about aluminum tubes, they are still standing by here at the White House. However, this is an issue that the White House has in the past maybe month and a half has acknowledged was actually false, that they understand now that documents were forged that led to the information that perhaps Saddam Hussein was trying to get that enriched uranium from Niger.

But what they had not said was that they don't believe it should have ended up in the president's State of the Union address, at least until today. And I will read a quote from a White House spokesman, Michael Anton.

He said -- quote -- "We now know that documents alleging a transaction between Iraq and Niger had been forged. The other reporting that suggested Iraq had tried to obtain uranium from Africa is not detailed or specific enough for us to be certain that such attempts were in fact made. Because of this lack of specificity, this reporting alone did not rise to the level of inclusion in a presidential speech. That said, the issue of Iraq's attempt to acquire uranium from abroad was not an element underpinning the judgment reached by most intelligence agencies that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear weapons program."

So what they're saying here, Judy, is, to us sort of in private, is that they didn't know until February that this information was false. The president's speech was, of course, January 28. But what they're also saying is, they do stand by the broader argument that they do believe that Saddam Hussein was trying to reconstitute his nuclear weapons program. And they say that, in a classified national intelligence assessment, there are at least five examples of how that is -- exactly was trying to come to pass, and this was just one specific part of that overall assessment.

However, they are acknowledging what is most important, at least to Democrats we're hearing from already today, that they are acknowledging that this specific line in the president's speech was not accurate -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: Well, Dana, some of that of course raising the question, if they knew that it was false back in January, why did they wait until July to say so?

But I want to ask you about is a quote just a few hours ago from the head of the Democratic Party, Terry McAuliffe. He said -- quote -- "Either President Bush knowingly used false information in his State of the Union address or senior administration officials allowed the use of that information. This was not a mistake. It was no oversight and it was no error" -- end quote.

Dana, how worried are they about fallout from this?

BASH: Well, clearly, there is concern about this.

Just specifically to react to that quote from Terry McAuliffe that they knowingly let the president say that, what they're saying here at the White House is that they didn't actually know. Now, there are of course allegations that the White House did know, especially from Ambassador Joe Wilson, who was sent on a CIA mission well before the president's State of the Union address.

He said he came back and told the CIA. And he thinks that the White House did know about it. The White House flatly deny that. They say that they never would have let the president get up there and say what he said if they thought it was false. But, already, we're hearing from senior Democrats that they are going to investigate this on the Intelligence Committee and elsewhere. So, certainly, this is not the end of it -- Judy.

WOODRUFF: And one of those Democrats, Senator Jay Rockefeller, we'll be talking to in the next hour on "INSIDE POLITICS."

All right, Dana, reporting from the White House, thanks.

Another audiotape said to be the voice of Saddam Hussein is on the airwaves in the Arab world. The CIA has determined that the last tape was more likely than not an authentic recording of the ousted Iraqi leader. And some Iraqis believe the new tape sounds like the real thing, too. CNN's Jane Arraf is in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANE ARRAF, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF: It's the second tape purporting to be Saddam Hussein released in a week. And despite the bad audio quality, Iraqis who have spent a lot of time listening to the voice of Saddam Hussein say it sounds an awful lot like him.

Now, in the tape, he encourages Iraqis to rise up against occupying forces here. He says they have to form underground cells and fight the occupation until they evict the occupying forces. Now, the chief civilian administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, acknowledges that the presence of these tapes and the indications that Saddam might still be alive are making groups opposed to the U.S. forces here even bolder.

He says, eventually, the U.S. will catch or kill Saddam. But, in the meantime, it is certainly not helping things. He says, though, that there is no real indication that there is a central command on these ongoing attacks.

PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: These attacks appear to be the work of small groups of men, usually a squad-level operation. They are conducted, however, with considerable professionalism, which is why we are -- that, plus the information we get from the people we capture and other information, we are certain that these emanating from people who have military training, Fedayeen Saddam Hussein, Revolutionary Guards, members of the former intelligence agencies.

ARRAF: That is a broad range of people with military training. Almost every Iraqi male has had it. And the country continues to have masses of weapons. The attacks are just not letting up. A mortar attack against U.S. forces' logistical supply base near the town of Balad, that's the second in some days, as well as a grenade thrown at a police station in a northern Baghdad neighborhood.

That one, according to witnesses, critically wounded an Iraqi policeman, killed three Iraqi civilians when U.S. forces inside the station opened fire. No U.S. casualties reported on that one, but, clearly, these attacks against U.S. forces and the Iraqis working with them are not subsiding.

Jane Arraf, CNN, reporting from Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Meantime, President Bush now is heading to South Africa, the next stop in his five-nation tour of the continent. In Senegal today, Mr. Bush addressed urgent matters of war and peace and historical lessons about race and slavery.

Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush emerging from a meeting with West African leaders vowed to work with them to enforce the cease-fire in Liberia, but stopped short of committing U.S. troops.

BUSH: We're in the process of determining what is necessary to maintain the cease-fire and to allow for a peaceful transfer of power.

MALVEAUX: The president again called for Liberia's leader, Charles Taylor, to leave as quickly as possible to clear the way for an international peacekeeping force. The administration is still waiting for the American assessment team in Monrovia to recommend what the U.S. should do next.

Events in Liberia have overshadowed Mr. Bush's initial Africa agenda, to open markets and fight AIDS. But on Senegal's Goree Island, he did promote his vision of Africa's future by recognizing an aspect of its past by speaking at a former slave house where millions of Africans were forced onto ships headed to America.

BUSH: Human beings were delivered and sorted and weighed and branded with the marks of commercial enterprises and loaded as cargo on a voyage without return. One of the largest migrations of history was also one of the greatest crimes of history.

MALVEAUX: Earlier, Mr. Bush met with Senegal's President. Wade. Senegal is a staunch U.S. ally in the war on terror, a fighting democracy in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. But on the eve of Mr. Bush's arrival, some protested the president's trip.

(on camera): Mr. Bush's next stop: South Africa, a country where nearly 13 percent of its population is infected with AIDS. There, President Bush will highlight his $15 billion, five-year initiative to fight the disease. Conspicuously absent will be elder statesman Nelson Mandela, who has been highly critical of President Bush for the U.S. war with Iraq.

Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Dakar, Senegal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Questions on Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction>