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Baker's Mission Made Easier With Saddam's Capture
Aired December 15, 2003 - 14:09 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: President Bush's special envoy, James Baker, is heading for Europe. His first stop is France, but Baker is also expected to visit Germany, Italy, and Russia, just some of the countries owed billions of dollars by Iraq. The veteran diplomat trying to get the debt forgiven or restructured.
He'll meet with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris. And that's where we find our correspondent Jim Bitterman. Hello, Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Forty-eight hours ago James Baker's's mission looked really like the mission impossible. The atmosphere across the Atlantic had been poisoned by that dispute over reconstruction contracts in Iraq. It didn't look like relations were going anywhere.
But a lot of that has now changed because of the capture of Saddam Hussein. And we talked to an analyst today to try to explain exactly why things had changed. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCOIS HEISBOURG, STRATEGIC INST. FOUNDATION: First of all, it gives the impression that the Americans are beginning to get something right in Iraq. And the appearance of some measure of success cannot hurt the esteem in which the Americans are held in Europe.
Secondly, it creates the opportunity for a new beginning certainly of the Americans in Iraq. But therefore, also, of the relationship between the French and the Americans, or the old Europe and the Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMANN: And there was a delegation from -- a high-level delegation today from the Iraqi Governing Council who was in town, meeting with both the French foreign minister and the French president. The atmosphere was positively buoyant, in part because of the capture of Saddam Hussein.
And after his meeting with the group the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, said that under certain circumstances the French would be willing to work to help cancel the billions of dollars of debt that Iraq owes other nations.
So when James Baker gets here tomorrow, he's likely to find a much more receptive audience than just 48 hours ago -- Miles. O'BRIEN: I guess could you say, you could boil this down to everybody loves a winner, and this is a victory that the administration can tout.
Nevertheless, there are deep-seated emotions there in France and in Germany, also Russia, against what happened in Iraq.
BITTERMANN: Exactly. And the French, you know, were always against the war. They were never really for Saddam Hussein. And contrary to what some people might say in the United States, they did not want to see Saddam Hussein continue in power. They were for sanctions against Iraq, U.N. sanctions, et cetera.
But now that he's gone, they're all for that. And it gives them a chance, gives them something they can agree with in the United States, perhaps restart relations across the Atlantic -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jim Bittermann in Paris. 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
Aired December 15, 2003 - 14:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's special envoy, James Baker, is heading for Europe. His first stop is France, but Baker is also expected to visit Germany, Italy, and Russia, just some of the countries owed billions of dollars by Iraq. The veteran diplomat trying to get the debt forgiven or restructured.
He'll meet with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris. And that's where we find our correspondent Jim Bitterman. Hello, Jim.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles. Forty-eight hours ago James Baker's's mission looked really like the mission impossible. The atmosphere across the Atlantic had been poisoned by that dispute over reconstruction contracts in Iraq. It didn't look like relations were going anywhere.
But a lot of that has now changed because of the capture of Saddam Hussein. And we talked to an analyst today to try to explain exactly why things had changed. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FRANCOIS HEISBOURG, STRATEGIC INST. FOUNDATION: First of all, it gives the impression that the Americans are beginning to get something right in Iraq. And the appearance of some measure of success cannot hurt the esteem in which the Americans are held in Europe.
Secondly, it creates the opportunity for a new beginning certainly of the Americans in Iraq. But therefore, also, of the relationship between the French and the Americans, or the old Europe and the Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMANN: And there was a delegation from -- a high-level delegation today from the Iraqi Governing Council who was in town, meeting with both the French foreign minister and the French president. The atmosphere was positively buoyant, in part because of the capture of Saddam Hussein.
And after his meeting with the group the French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, said that under certain circumstances the French would be willing to work to help cancel the billions of dollars of debt that Iraq owes other nations.
So when James Baker gets here tomorrow, he's likely to find a much more receptive audience than just 48 hours ago -- Miles. O'BRIEN: I guess could you say, you could boil this down to everybody loves a winner, and this is a victory that the administration can tout.
Nevertheless, there are deep-seated emotions there in France and in Germany, also Russia, against what happened in Iraq.
BITTERMANN: Exactly. And the French, you know, were always against the war. They were never really for Saddam Hussein. And contrary to what some people might say in the United States, they did not want to see Saddam Hussein continue in power. They were for sanctions against Iraq, U.N. sanctions, et cetera.
But now that he's gone, they're all for that. And it gives them a chance, gives them something they can agree with in the United States, perhaps restart relations across the Atlantic -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jim Bittermann in Paris. 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
