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American Morning

America's New War: Secretary Powell at Center Stage

Aired September 21, 2001 - 10:50   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: You're looking at a picture of a room where Secretary of State Colin Powell may or may not be addressing the crowd here at the Organization of American States.

Let's turn to John King now to see if that's anywhere on the docket there today.

Will he make an address?

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly, Colin Powell, the secretary of state, one of the key figures as the administration on a daily basis, Paula, tries to keep up public support and keep up its public explanation of what lies ahead. This an effort -- obviously, an organization of Central and Latin American countries mostly, Canada as well. This an attempt by Colin Powell to explain in the morning after the president's speech a little bit more perhaps about the administration's diplomatic activities. He is a popular public figure here in Washington and around the world, so Secretary Powell does play a key role here as the administration makes its case.

And, again, remember, he has a tough job. Secretary Powell more than 80 telephone calls, we are told, in the past 10 days to world leaders, his counterparts, other heads of states, essentially in private echoing the message the president said in public: stand with the United States or be identified as hostile to the United States.

ZAHN: I thought it was interesting in a number of the interviews you did this morning, either you posed the question or someone else did, whether the president in fact raised the bar too high last night in his remarks that have been so positively accepted. Much more discussion going on there right now about that?

KING: Well, internally, within the administration, I think the president had to do what he did. But certainly in so doing, in issuing such a blunt ultimatum to the Taliban and Afghanistan, for example, not just turn over Osama bin Laden, not just turn over his associates, but allow the United States military immediate access to his terrorist camps and bases throughout Afghanistan; that a pretty blunt ultimatum, also a very broad demand. Going into the speech the White House full knowing full the Taliban most unlikely to accept that. Many here in Washington believe that as part of the administration's plan now, one goal is to topple the Taliban government for its long-term support of Osama bin Laden. That is one of the many giant challenges facing the president at this moment, which is why again we see out in public here in Washington Secretary Powell listening to his introduction at the Organization of American States.

This will get more complex. It is already complex. It will get much more complicated as it plays out. Will the United States government target not only the terrorists, but governments that, as the president said, support and harbor them? And example number one in that is certainly the Taliban in Afghanistan.

ZAHN: Talk about the potential goal of toppling the Taliban government. If you were listening to Christiane Amanpour's report earlier from Pakistan, that seems to be about the only message that the Taliban got from this speech last night, that in fact there is an ultimatum and they fully expect for the United States and its allies to try to crush the government.

KING: They certainly do. And as we see this remarkable public show of unity, Democrats and Republicans, the president and cabinet, we should also note that behind the scenes there is quite a bit of debate going on here, even within the administration. Secretary Powell, a very compelling figure in all this, the former general, a warrior in Vietnam, the man who led the U.S. coalition militarily in the Persian Gulf War, he is now the United States top diplomat, and we're told in these private conversations one of the things he has warned against is that this international coalition the president is trying to build would be at risk of collapse if the administration does not build support for going beyond what they believe the world views, at least, as the immediate mandate, going after those responsible for this attack.

The president says his campaign is much broader than that, that it includes any country that sponsors terrorism, gives harbor to terrorism, financially supports terrorism. And if you go down list of nations the United States says do those things, that would include Iraq, that could include Iran, it could include Syria, it could include Hezbollah camps in Lebanon. For the president to go ahead with such an aggressive military campaign, Secretary Powell, we are told in private conversations, not necessarily saying he's against that, but warning that the international coalition would be tested quickly and sorely if the campaign were so broad.

But we're also told others in the administration, like the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, saying that the reason the United States faces the crisis right now is because prior administrations have not had the courage to stand up to these governments and do these things. And so we have a debate within the administration in private, as we see a great show of unity in public.

ZAHN: And when you see this critical focus on Colin Powell, John, it strikes me that -- it certainly puts to rest some of those questions that were being posed just a couple of months ago: Where is he? No one is saying that anywhere, are they?

KING: No, they are not. He is a very prominent public figure. The administration views him as perhaps beyond the president and the vice president as the best spokesman for the administration in these matters certainly in building the international coalition. Secretary Rumsfeld we have seen more and more discussing the military operation.

It's quite an interesting moment, a generational passing, if you will, with the election first of President Clinton, and now of President Bush, the World War II generation no longer running the United States after so long. And at the State Department, not only Secretary Powell, a former general and a Vietnam warrior, his deputy, Richard Armitage, a very close personal friend of Secretary Powell, and like Secretary Powell, a man who fought in Vietnam, and most of his decisions, if not all of his decisions, shaped by that experience, a very painful experience for both men.

ZAHN: All right, John, thanks.

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