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American Morning

NATO Rejects U.S. Missile Defense Plans

Aired May 29, 2001 - 11:23   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: News out of Hungary now, where NATO has stopped short of endorsing the U.S. missile defense plans. Secretary of State Colin Powell had been pushing the plan at a meeting of NATO policy-makers that's taking place in Budapest today.

For more on this, let's go to our Jeanne Meserve in Washington -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, there's no question Secretary of State Colin Powell would have preferred to leave Budapest, Hungary with NATO's backing for the national missile defense system, but he did not get it.

After meeting with NATO ministers today, Powell was able to keep language regarding the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty out of the joint statement. The Bush wants to scrap the treaty with the former Soviet Union in order to move ahead with the missile defense plan.

Powell acknowledged that more work needs to be done to convince U.S. allies that the threat is real.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I made it clear to them that we know we have to move forward. We can see the threat, the threat is clear, and we have to deal with that threat, and we will do it in a way that I think that will enhance overall strategy stability, and it will take us time to persuade everybody of that proposition. But I think we will be successful at the end of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Powell says President Bush is committed to further discussions with NATO. This is a real consultation, he said, not a phony one. And on another matter, U.S. troop deployments in the Balkans, specifically Bosnia, Powell reiterated the U.S. commitment to the NATO peacekeeping mission. However, he says the environment has changed, and so must the mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: The mission is shifting. It's more of a crowd control and protection of civilians and other kind of missions that can be handled by non-combat troops. And so we're putting pressure on our colleagues to provide more of these kinds of units.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Powell says despite reports of grumbling within the Bush administration about the future of U.S. deployments in the Balkans, he says there is no disagreement on the basic principle that the U.S. and Europe went in together and will come out together.

Daryn, Kyra, back to you.

KAGAN: Jeanne Meserve in Washington. Jean, thank you.

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