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American Morning

Richard Butler's Analysis on Current Situations

Aired December 05, 2001 - 07:32   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: Some interesting new comments from President Bush about the possibility of using U.S. military troops outside of Afghanistan. We're going to come back to that a little bit later on.

And overnight in Bonn, Germany, an agreement signed establishing the interim government in Afghanistan.

To talk about all these latest developments, I am joined by former Chief U.N. Weapons Inspector, now with the Council on Foreign Relations, our ambassador in residence, Ambassador Richard Butler -- good morning, how are you doing this morning?

RICHARD BUTLER, FORMER U.N. CHIEF WEAPONS INSPECTOR: Good morning, Paula, I'm fine.

ZAHN: Let me start off with what President Bush will say in an interview that will air later tonight on "20/20" on ABC. The quote is in an answer to a question from Barbara Walters, "strikes will be incredibly important and there may be need to use military troops elsewhere. And I just want the American people to know that we're keeping all options on the table." This is sort of the second prong to what the president said in an impromptu news conference last week...

BUTLER: Last Monday in the Rose Garden.

ZAHN: ... holding out the prospect of attacks on Iraq.

BUTLER: I think so. I think he's...

ZAHN: Is this a trial balloon?

BUTLER: No, I just think he's making things clearer. Let's go back to his initial speech to the Congress after September 11. He said he will draw no distinction between terrorists and those who support them. He then went on later to say that he will pursue these people wherever they are and wherever they hide. And so what he's now saying is that the implication of that logically is that U.S. troops, U.S. force may be used in a variety of places around the world in pursuit of that objective.

ZAHN: But against...

BUTLER: And so he's making that clear.

ZAHN: But against this backdrop, as you have been reporting for weeks, there is not a consensus in opinion -- of opinion in his own administration about how you'd even attack Iraq and whether you could ever get your allies to hang in there with you if you launched that kind of thing.

BUTLER: Well Iraq is a particular case, and a week ago he gave Iraq, specifically as one of these countries, a very clear warning when he was asked, you know, if -- what would you do if Iraq doesn't accept arms control again? He said, they'll find out. And that was a very specific warning. Colon Powell, the Secretary of State, subsequently said how to interpret that, he said Iraq should interpret that as a chilling warning. So Iraq is a specific case.

And we know there's a big argument going on in the administration about that, you know, whether or not to attack Iraq. But these remarks, which apparently we'll see tonight in his interview with Ms. Walters, you know suggests something slightly wider. But I do think it's the logical implication of what is now being called the Bush Doctrine, no distinction between terrorists and those who help or harbor them and we'll go anywhere, anyplace to rid out terrorism.

ZAHN: In the two minutes we want -- we have left here, I want to jump around quite a bit. Bring us up to date on what happened in Bonn in terms of creating a transitional government in Afghanistan.

BUTLER: It's very important. There has been an agreement. It will be a transitional government for six months, at the end of which there'll be what is called in Afghan cultural terms a Loya Jerga. That means an assembly of all the people -- all their representatives, obviously not all the people can be there, but a representative assembly of all the tribes and groups in Afghanistan.

ZAHN: And there'll be a woman there, won't there?

BUTLER: And they will then have a -- they will decide on a permanent government. But the great thing, Paula, as you've just said, the great thing that was decided in Bonn was this interim arrangement of 29 people to run the government will absolutely of necessity include as deputy prime minister, a woman. Think of that. Think of what the Taliban did to women and this arrangement agreed to in Bonn says absolutely deputy head of government will be a woman. I think that's progress. It's good.

ZAHN: Yes, I don't think anybody would argue with that.

Jump back to what's going on in the Middle East, the Palestinians claiming today that the retaliatory strikes have prevented them from making the kind of arrests they claim they are committed to making.

BUTLER: I'm not sure how to assess that. They can make that claim, but you know, the bottom line here, I think everyone agrees, is that Yasser Arafat has to show that he is able to control the kind of suicide bombings that took place. And he's on the line and he has to, you know, show that he can do that or not. ZAHN: As always, thank you for your time.

BUTLER: OK.

ZAHN: Richard Butler,...

BUTLER: Thank you.

ZAHN: ... see you same time, same place tomorrow morning.

BUTLER: Right.

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