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Some Context on the Libyan Transformation

Aired December 22, 2003 - 14:01   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in with CNN's national security correspondent David Ensor for some some context of the Libyan transformation.
David, sending quite a message, North Korea, Iran, other countries, I can imagine.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. And Bush administration officials are saying that, as you heard Andrea Koppel say, that Mr. Gadhafi acknowledged, in effect, the tough policy towards Iraq, the decision to go to war over weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is likely to have had a pretty strong influence on Gadhafi's decision to give up his weapons of mass destruction, to move in a western direction and to try to regain respectability.

At the same time, there are conservative in this town who are somewhat uneasy about Mr. Bush's apparent embrace of Gadhafi. I don't mean embrace literally, but the fact that he's welcoming Gadhafi's moves, that he's saying a that a much better relationship with the United States is a possibility, some conservatives fear. Here's a man, Gadhafi, who has done a lot of bad things in the past, including killing a lot of Americans, according to a court in The Hague. His government was involved in that, in any case, and you know, to embrace him, to help him with his legacy, perhaps to help him put his son on the -- in power would be perhaps a mistake in the view of some conservatives.

So on the one hand, there's sort of a victory for Bush here. At the same time, some of his own supporters are uneasy about it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: National security correspondent David Ensor, thank you.

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 22, 2003 - 14:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's check in with CNN's national security correspondent David Ensor for some some context of the Libyan transformation.
David, sending quite a message, North Korea, Iran, other countries, I can imagine.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. And Bush administration officials are saying that, as you heard Andrea Koppel say, that Mr. Gadhafi acknowledged, in effect, the tough policy towards Iraq, the decision to go to war over weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is likely to have had a pretty strong influence on Gadhafi's decision to give up his weapons of mass destruction, to move in a western direction and to try to regain respectability.

At the same time, there are conservative in this town who are somewhat uneasy about Mr. Bush's apparent embrace of Gadhafi. I don't mean embrace literally, but the fact that he's welcoming Gadhafi's moves, that he's saying a that a much better relationship with the United States is a possibility, some conservatives fear. Here's a man, Gadhafi, who has done a lot of bad things in the past, including killing a lot of Americans, according to a court in The Hague. His government was involved in that, in any case, and you know, to embrace him, to help him with his legacy, perhaps to help him put his son on the -- in power would be perhaps a mistake in the view of some conservatives.

So on the one hand, there's sort of a victory for Bush here. At the same time, some of his own supporters are uneasy about it -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: National security correspondent David Ensor, thank you.

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