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President Bush Orders U.S. Troops to Liberian Coast; Videotape of Hussein Sons Broadcast Across Iraq

Aired July 25, 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: President Bush today called on the U.S. military to prepare to play a role in stopping the violence in Liberia. Mr. Bush ordered what he described as appropriate military capabilities be deployed off the Liberian coast. Exactly how many troops would be considered appropriate and what exactly their role would be is still not known.
For the latest on the president's decision and his meeting today with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, we're joined by White House correspondent Chris Burns.

Chris, first, on Liberia, what is the White House saying today to add to what we know?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, this essentially puts on paper from the White House what has developing over the last few days, where the Pentagon has sent a three-ship amphibious group with more than 2,000 troops that are headed to the coast of Liberia to assist in what the White House says is a peacekeeping force by the West African countries, ECOWAS, President Bush saying today that he wants to see a limited number of troops involved there.

They will enable ECOWAS, and that once they're set up and once the U.N. can move in and take over the U.S. duties, that they will be out. Now, moments ago, Scott McClellan, at his briefing, today's daily briefing, was asked exactly what that means, and does he rule out boots on the ground, U.S. boots on the ground, in Liberia? He said, what we rule in are helping the ECOWAS troops. And that's as far as they go right now, Judy.

WOODRUFF: Chris, separately, the president, as we said, met with the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas today. Any new ground broken there?

BURNS: Well, what was very interesting is, both of them were hitting very hard at the Jewish settlements on the West Bank and also on this wall of separation, as the Palestinians put it, and, as the Israelis call it, the security fence that they're building that is aimed at what they say are militants from the Palestinian side that are going into Israel to launch attacks.

And what we heard from Mahmoud Abbas is somewhat reminiscent of what Ronald Reagan said to Mr. Gorbachev, tear that wall, Berlin Wall, down. Well, in this case, he was talking about this wall of separation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER: Nothing less than a full settlement freeze will do, because nothing less than a full statement freeze will work. For the sake of peace and for the sake of future Palestinian and Israeli generations, all settlement activities must be stopped now and the wall must come down.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the wall is a problem. And I have discussed this with Ariel Sharon. It is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and the Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank. And I will continue to discuss this issue very clearly with the prime ministers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: But the president also linking the freeze or the end to settlement activity with the dismantling of militant Palestinian groups, a very, very difficult question for Mahmoud Abbas.

President Bush will be speaking with Ariel Sharon, who comes here to the White House to visit next Tuesday, to air his grievances, contending that the Palestinians are not doing enough to dismantle those groups. So that continues. There seems to be very little movement on this U.S.-led road map for peace aimed at establishing a Palestinian state by the year 2005. And will this empower Abbas as he goes back? He's very much in trouble among many of his Palestinian people -- back to you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Chris Burns, thank you very much at the White House.

We've talked about the Middle East. We've talked about Liberia. Now to a third very troubled part of the world, Iraq, where, today, the U.S. military allowed reporters to videotape the bullet-riddled bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay. The images were broadcast across Iraq.

Our Nic Robertson is in Baghdad with more on the public reaction there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, a little earlier in the day, the coalition provisional authority here said they acknowledged that they needed to do more to convince Iraqis that this was Uday and Qusay. That's why they allowed the team of journalists in to videotape the bodies.

The bodies were dressed and on a mortician's table. The Iraqis we have talked to say, yes, this has made it easier for them to identify Uday and Qusay. Some people say that this is a good point. Now they should move on from this. Some people say, look, it would have been better if Uday and Qusay had been allowed to surrender, better that they had stood trial and that people here could see that justice was done.

There are still a small number of people that refuse to believe that Uday and Qusay are dead, saying that they don't accept this, that they think it's some part of a United States fabrication, all this evidence, and some people pointing to the fact that the faces of the -- or the bodies have been changed in some way since the still photographs that were released yesterday.

What morticians had done was to fill in some of the bullet holes, some of the scarring on the faces of both Uday and Qusay, to shave the beard off of Qusay to make him more recognizable, so that Iraqis could see him sporting just the mustache, rather than the full beard the photographs had shown on the previous day, so a lot of effort taken to make it easier for Iraqis to identify them, but still some people saying they just don't believe it, Judy.

WOODRUFF: Nic, is there any sign yet that this is going to lead to a lessening of attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq?

ROBERTSON: It's very difficult to judge at this stage. Certainly, that is the hope of the coalition, that, as they can try and diminish the sort of -- the support for these Baathist elements, the remnants of the former regime, who the coalition blames largely for being responsible for these attacks, the coalition believes that by catching and killing Uday and Qusay, that will reduce the will, if you will, of these groups to attack the soldiers.

But it's still too soon to say. Certainly, from an Iraqi standpoint here, they say, look: We do accept this, the majority of us, but we want other things. We want security. We want water. We want electricity. And people generally say, if these things come, then it's that that's really going to diminish the support or diminish all the attacks on the U.S. troops. So people really tell us here that it's going to be a combination of things, an improvement in their living and social conditions, that's really going to lead to the reduction of attacks on U.S. troops here, Judy.

WOODRUFF: As with so many things, we all need to be patient -- a little patient, anyway. Nic Robertson, thank you very much, Nic reporting live from Baghdad.

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




Videotape of Hussein Sons Broadcast Across Iraq>


Aired July 25, 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: President Bush today called on the U.S. military to prepare to play a role in stopping the violence in Liberia. Mr. Bush ordered what he described as appropriate military capabilities be deployed off the Liberian coast. Exactly how many troops would be considered appropriate and what exactly their role would be is still not known.
For the latest on the president's decision and his meeting today with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, we're joined by White House correspondent Chris Burns.

Chris, first, on Liberia, what is the White House saying today to add to what we know?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, this essentially puts on paper from the White House what has developing over the last few days, where the Pentagon has sent a three-ship amphibious group with more than 2,000 troops that are headed to the coast of Liberia to assist in what the White House says is a peacekeeping force by the West African countries, ECOWAS, President Bush saying today that he wants to see a limited number of troops involved there.

They will enable ECOWAS, and that once they're set up and once the U.N. can move in and take over the U.S. duties, that they will be out. Now, moments ago, Scott McClellan, at his briefing, today's daily briefing, was asked exactly what that means, and does he rule out boots on the ground, U.S. boots on the ground, in Liberia? He said, what we rule in are helping the ECOWAS troops. And that's as far as they go right now, Judy.

WOODRUFF: Chris, separately, the president, as we said, met with the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas today. Any new ground broken there?

BURNS: Well, what was very interesting is, both of them were hitting very hard at the Jewish settlements on the West Bank and also on this wall of separation, as the Palestinians put it, and, as the Israelis call it, the security fence that they're building that is aimed at what they say are militants from the Palestinian side that are going into Israel to launch attacks.

And what we heard from Mahmoud Abbas is somewhat reminiscent of what Ronald Reagan said to Mr. Gorbachev, tear that wall, Berlin Wall, down. Well, in this case, he was talking about this wall of separation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD ABBAS, PALESTINIAN PRIME MINISTER: Nothing less than a full settlement freeze will do, because nothing less than a full statement freeze will work. For the sake of peace and for the sake of future Palestinian and Israeli generations, all settlement activities must be stopped now and the wall must come down.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think the wall is a problem. And I have discussed this with Ariel Sharon. It is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and the Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank. And I will continue to discuss this issue very clearly with the prime ministers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: But the president also linking the freeze or the end to settlement activity with the dismantling of militant Palestinian groups, a very, very difficult question for Mahmoud Abbas.

President Bush will be speaking with Ariel Sharon, who comes here to the White House to visit next Tuesday, to air his grievances, contending that the Palestinians are not doing enough to dismantle those groups. So that continues. There seems to be very little movement on this U.S.-led road map for peace aimed at establishing a Palestinian state by the year 2005. And will this empower Abbas as he goes back? He's very much in trouble among many of his Palestinian people -- back to you, Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Chris Burns, thank you very much at the White House.

We've talked about the Middle East. We've talked about Liberia. Now to a third very troubled part of the world, Iraq, where, today, the U.S. military allowed reporters to videotape the bullet-riddled bodies of Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay. The images were broadcast across Iraq.

Our Nic Robertson is in Baghdad with more on the public reaction there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Judy, a little earlier in the day, the coalition provisional authority here said they acknowledged that they needed to do more to convince Iraqis that this was Uday and Qusay. That's why they allowed the team of journalists in to videotape the bodies.

The bodies were dressed and on a mortician's table. The Iraqis we have talked to say, yes, this has made it easier for them to identify Uday and Qusay. Some people say that this is a good point. Now they should move on from this. Some people say, look, it would have been better if Uday and Qusay had been allowed to surrender, better that they had stood trial and that people here could see that justice was done.

There are still a small number of people that refuse to believe that Uday and Qusay are dead, saying that they don't accept this, that they think it's some part of a United States fabrication, all this evidence, and some people pointing to the fact that the faces of the -- or the bodies have been changed in some way since the still photographs that were released yesterday.

What morticians had done was to fill in some of the bullet holes, some of the scarring on the faces of both Uday and Qusay, to shave the beard off of Qusay to make him more recognizable, so that Iraqis could see him sporting just the mustache, rather than the full beard the photographs had shown on the previous day, so a lot of effort taken to make it easier for Iraqis to identify them, but still some people saying they just don't believe it, Judy.

WOODRUFF: Nic, is there any sign yet that this is going to lead to a lessening of attacks on U.S. soldiers in Iraq?

ROBERTSON: It's very difficult to judge at this stage. Certainly, that is the hope of the coalition, that, as they can try and diminish the sort of -- the support for these Baathist elements, the remnants of the former regime, who the coalition blames largely for being responsible for these attacks, the coalition believes that by catching and killing Uday and Qusay, that will reduce the will, if you will, of these groups to attack the soldiers.

But it's still too soon to say. Certainly, from an Iraqi standpoint here, they say, look: We do accept this, the majority of us, but we want other things. We want security. We want water. We want electricity. And people generally say, if these things come, then it's that that's really going to diminish the support or diminish all the attacks on the U.S. troops. So people really tell us here that it's going to be a combination of things, an improvement in their living and social conditions, that's really going to lead to the reduction of attacks on U.S. troops here, Judy.

WOODRUFF: As with so many things, we all need to be patient -- a little patient, anyway. Nic Robertson, thank you very much, Nic reporting live from Baghdad.

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




Videotape of Hussein Sons Broadcast Across Iraq>