Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
CIA Director Fires Back
Aired February 05, 2004 - 15:02 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: Means, maybe, motive, possibly, opportunity, probably, but still no smoking guns. The U.S. official at the center of the firestorm over pre-Iraq war intelligence says he never said Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat. And what the CIA did say, George Tenet is standing behind.
In a detailed speech today at Georgetown University, Tenet said hindsight may, in fact, be 20/20, but the spy game never is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: My provisional bottom line today, Saddam Hussein had the intent and capability to quickly convert civilian industry to chemical weapons production.
However, we have not yet found the weapons we expected. I can tell you with certainly that the president of the United States gets his intelligence from one person and one community, me. And he has told me firmly and directly that he's wanted it straight, and he's wanted it honest, and he's never wanted the facts shaded. And that's what we do every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, President Bush talked about the Iraqi weapons controversy today in South Carolina. Mr. Bush says, true, no stockpiles of illegal weapons have been found in Iraq, but he says the world is still a safer place because of the U.S. invasion.
Kathleen Koch joining us live from the White House with more on all this -- hello, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, the Iraq war, Saddam Hussein, are regular features in President Bush's speeches on the road.
But today, there was a very dramatic and definitive change of tone when he addressed an audience in Charleston, South Carolina, the White House obviously stinging from the recent debate over Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, the prewar intelligence on that.
So President Bush made his most forceful and direct statement in recent weeks on the subject, acknowledging for the first time that there were problems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As the chief weapons inspector said, we have not yet found the stockpiles of weapons that we thought were there. Knowing what I knew then and knowing what I know today, America did the right thing in Iraq.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Just minutes ago, former U.S. chief weapons inspector David Kay left the White House. And we're not sure if he was here meeting with President Bush. The two men did meet on Monday, the president this morning saying that the facts on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq are becoming clearer and that the administration is very interested in comparing what intelligence told them before the war with what they know now.
The president did not react or speak directly today about George Tenet, CIA Director George Tenet's speech. However, an administration official tells CNN that the president was provided an advance copy of the speech by Tenet as a courtesy. The official also, though, pointed out that Tenet was notably absent from the president's regular morning briefing on security.
But Mr. Bush's spokesman, Scott McClellan, this morning also reemphasized President Bush's continuing support of and confidence in both Tenet and the work of the intelligence community -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Kathleen Koch at the White House, 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 February 5, 2004 - 15:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Means, maybe, motive, possibly, opportunity, probably, but still no smoking guns. The U.S. official at the center of the firestorm over pre-Iraq war intelligence says he never said Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat. And what the CIA did say, George Tenet is standing behind.
In a detailed speech today at Georgetown University, Tenet said hindsight may, in fact, be 20/20, but the spy game never is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE TENET, CIA DIRECTOR: My provisional bottom line today, Saddam Hussein had the intent and capability to quickly convert civilian industry to chemical weapons production.
However, we have not yet found the weapons we expected. I can tell you with certainly that the president of the United States gets his intelligence from one person and one community, me. And he has told me firmly and directly that he's wanted it straight, and he's wanted it honest, and he's never wanted the facts shaded. And that's what we do every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Meanwhile, President Bush talked about the Iraqi weapons controversy today in South Carolina. Mr. Bush says, true, no stockpiles of illegal weapons have been found in Iraq, but he says the world is still a safer place because of the U.S. invasion.
Kathleen Koch joining us live from the White House with more on all this -- hello, Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, the Iraq war, Saddam Hussein, are regular features in President Bush's speeches on the road.
But today, there was a very dramatic and definitive change of tone when he addressed an audience in Charleston, South Carolina, the White House obviously stinging from the recent debate over Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, the prewar intelligence on that.
So President Bush made his most forceful and direct statement in recent weeks on the subject, acknowledging for the first time that there were problems.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As the chief weapons inspector said, we have not yet found the stockpiles of weapons that we thought were there. Knowing what I knew then and knowing what I know today, America did the right thing in Iraq.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Just minutes ago, former U.S. chief weapons inspector David Kay left the White House. And we're not sure if he was here meeting with President Bush. The two men did meet on Monday, the president this morning saying that the facts on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq are becoming clearer and that the administration is very interested in comparing what intelligence told them before the war with what they know now.
The president did not react or speak directly today about George Tenet, CIA Director George Tenet's speech. However, an administration official tells CNN that the president was provided an advance copy of the speech by Tenet as a courtesy. The official also, though, pointed out that Tenet was notably absent from the president's regular morning briefing on security.
But Mr. Bush's spokesman, Scott McClellan, this morning also reemphasized President Bush's continuing support of and confidence in both Tenet and the work of the intelligence community -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Kathleen Koch at the White House, 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
