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U.S. Seeks Help
Aired September 03, 2003 - 14:29 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: With almost daily U.S. casualties in Iraq and concerns about cost of rebuilding, the White House is turning to the U.N. and circulating a proposed resolution designed to get other nations involved.
Our Katherine Koch joins us from Washington with details on the resolution and the reasoning behind it.
Katherine, good morning.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Daryn. Reporters had a chance to speak with White House press secretary Scott McClellan, to ask him several questions on this. And he wouldn't give us a lot of details. First though, he said this resolution will build on what we're already doing in Iraq; the participation is already there, it spans the existing structure. He said we're looking for an even broader participation from the international community, including from the U.N. and the Iraqis themselves.
Scott said that when we pushed -- that there were what exactly what foreign roll, the U.N.'s new roll would take as far as help building -- helping to build Iraq politically and economically. And he said well, some of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) will come from diplomatic channels and through media channels. In this room, Scott did say that the U.S. will continue to maintain any multi-national force that is sanctioned by the U.N. that would still remain under U.S. military command and control.
Now, Scott did say that this was not a decision that was reached suddenly, that they had been in discussions with the U.N. for some time. Mentioning that Secretary of State Colin Powell met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan just two weeks ago. And that's when they went over this and discussed it, I guess.
He also said this came about because a number of countries -- India was one he mentioned said that they needed some additional authority to go ahead and offer up troops to participate in U.S.-led peacekeeping efforts there.
Now, the head of one country -- the Netherlands, which has been very supportive of U.S. action in Iraq from the start was seen at the White House this morning, met with President Bush and did speak with him directly about this new resolution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAN PIETER BALKENENDE, PRIME MINISTER, NETHERLANDS: No countries are being involved in Iraq as far as military support is concerned. The second element is we have to work on democracy and the new structure of cultivating Iraq. We have to work on that. And the third element is that the Iraq population must benefit from a co- development of the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: The White House press secretary Scott McClellan would not put any kind of timetable, though, on this resolution. Again saying that Secretary of State Colin Powell has to work behind the scenes with members of the Security Council to try to iron out this rendition. And there he wants try to build some support for the resolution before they take to the full Security Council there for a vote.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN HOST: Kathleen Koch just at what we call the "Morning Gavel" at the White House. Thank you for that.
KOCH: You bet.
KAGAN: And for the latest on the situation on Iraq, you can go to our web site cnn.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 3, 2003 - 14:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: With almost daily U.S. casualties in Iraq and concerns about cost of rebuilding, the White House is turning to the U.N. and circulating a proposed resolution designed to get other nations involved.
Our Katherine Koch joins us from Washington with details on the resolution and the reasoning behind it.
Katherine, good morning.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Daryn. Reporters had a chance to speak with White House press secretary Scott McClellan, to ask him several questions on this. And he wouldn't give us a lot of details. First though, he said this resolution will build on what we're already doing in Iraq; the participation is already there, it spans the existing structure. He said we're looking for an even broader participation from the international community, including from the U.N. and the Iraqis themselves.
Scott said that when we pushed -- that there were what exactly what foreign roll, the U.N.'s new roll would take as far as help building -- helping to build Iraq politically and economically. And he said well, some of the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) will come from diplomatic channels and through media channels. In this room, Scott did say that the U.S. will continue to maintain any multi-national force that is sanctioned by the U.N. that would still remain under U.S. military command and control.
Now, Scott did say that this was not a decision that was reached suddenly, that they had been in discussions with the U.N. for some time. Mentioning that Secretary of State Colin Powell met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan just two weeks ago. And that's when they went over this and discussed it, I guess.
He also said this came about because a number of countries -- India was one he mentioned said that they needed some additional authority to go ahead and offer up troops to participate in U.S.-led peacekeeping efforts there.
Now, the head of one country -- the Netherlands, which has been very supportive of U.S. action in Iraq from the start was seen at the White House this morning, met with President Bush and did speak with him directly about this new resolution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAN PIETER BALKENENDE, PRIME MINISTER, NETHERLANDS: No countries are being involved in Iraq as far as military support is concerned. The second element is we have to work on democracy and the new structure of cultivating Iraq. We have to work on that. And the third element is that the Iraq population must benefit from a co- development of the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: The White House press secretary Scott McClellan would not put any kind of timetable, though, on this resolution. Again saying that Secretary of State Colin Powell has to work behind the scenes with members of the Security Council to try to iron out this rendition. And there he wants try to build some support for the resolution before they take to the full Security Council there for a vote.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN HOST: Kathleen Koch just at what we call the "Morning Gavel" at the White House. Thank you for that.
KOCH: You bet.
KAGAN: And for the latest on the situation on Iraq, you can go to our web site cnn.com.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
