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American Morning

President Says All Options on Table to Confront States That Threaten America

Aired March 14, 2002 - 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: We've got to move on to the issue of Iraq. President Bush is sending a clear and strong message to him. In his news conference yesterday, the president said twice that -- quote -- "All options are on the table," meaning he would not rule out using nuclear weapons to confront states that threaten America. And he made it very clear there will be some kind of U.S. action against Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a nation run by a man who is willing to kill his own people by using chemical weapons, a man who won't let inspectors into the country, a man who has obviously got something to hide. And he is a problem, and we are going to deal with him. But the first stage is to consult with our allies and friends, and that's exactly what we are doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: "Time" magazine's Michael Elliot joins us now -- good morning.

MICHAEL ELLIOT, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Good morning, Paula.

ZAHN: How are you doing this morning?

ELLIOT: Very well, very well.

ZAHN: All right. Let's try to put this all into context. The president using some of his harshest words yet about Saddam Hussein, at a time when his vice president is in the region trying to gain support from Arab states for any potential action against Iraq. And you've got this escalating violence in the Middle East. How will this play out?

ELLIOT: Well, the vice president isn't getting a whole heck of a lot of support for action against Iraq, because he is going around saying here are our priorities, taking out Saddam Hussein, continuing the war against terrorism. And he keeps being told, excuse me, we have a war already going on between Israel and Palestine. Can you do something about that first?

So I think what we are seeing this week is the administration realized rather publicly that its own set of priorities occasionally gets knocked out of kilter by events, by nothing more dramatic than events.

ZAHN: And what is interesting, there was a piece in the "Wall Street Journal" this morning suggesting that perhaps Bush's harsh rebuke of Israel yesterday has an awful lot to do with trying to gain this Arab support.

ELLIOT: Yes, I mean, I think everyone recognizes that the American armed forces are now so overwhelming in their power and their sophistication and technical skills and so on that the United States can do anything it wants, but that doesn't mean that the United States always wants to do anything that it wants on its own. And in the case of action against Iraq, it would be more than helpful to have support from allies, from Arab allies, maybe from European allies and so on.

Now, right now, the Americans' posture up until this week on (UNINTELLIGIBLE) presence (ph) in the Middle East has made it more difficult to get our allies on side, particularly in the Arab world. So I think what you are seeing here in terms of the Security Council resolution two days ago, in terms of what President Bush said yesterday in that press conference is a very clear message from the administration to the Arab world we do take peace in the Middle East very, very seriously. We are prepared to go the extra mile.

ZAHN: All right. We have already heard from Jordan basically saying it would be disastrous if there was any military attack on Iraq.

ELLIOT: Sure, sure.

ZAHN: Everybody understands all of the business that goes back and forth between Jordan and Iraq. The Egyptians also pretty much saying the same thing...

ELLIOT: Sure.

ZAHN: ... and saying that they expected inspections to be allowed. Now, Ambassador Butler is saying, yes, they are going to say that, but they are going to so strictly control...

ELLIOT: Yes.

ZAHN: ... who goes in that it makes...

(CROSSTALK)

ELLIOT: I mean, I think you know there are a lot of people in the Arab world, and actually outside the Arab world, some Europeans too, who would desperately, desperately, desperately hope that this doesn't come to war and would desperately, desperately, desperately hope that Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government agree to an inspection regime of weapons of mass destruction that the United States would sign off on. Well, dream on, guys. It's not going to happen. I mean, if there is anything we know about the Iraqi's behavior -- I mean, we have had more than 10 years to watch them -- it's that they cheat, they lie, they obfuscate, and they are not going to allow it.

ZAHN: Right. You go in and you move the stuff around.

ELLIOT: It ain't going to happen. It ain't going to happen. That doesn't mean that there aren't certain hoops that everyone has to jump through over the next four or five months before we decide it hasn't happened.

ZAHN: I want to close with showing some video to you all this morning of a group of North Koreans who rushed into the Spanish Embassy and demanded asylum today, saying they would be killed if they were sent back to the homeland. Not very good publicity for North Korea, one of the three nations named by President Bush as an axis of evil. What does this signify?

ELLIOT: That was a great shot. I mean, that's great. Look at them just kind of jumping up and down.

ZAHN: It's an exclusive too, Michael.

ELLIOT: Well, even better. That's great stuff. I think, you know, North Korea got put on the axis of evil. A lot of people couldn't quite figure out why. Everyone knows it's not a (UNINTELLIGIBLE). On the other hand, this is a place that is such a basket case that really for most of the last six or seven years, it has been in a state of famine, and now you see what happens. People just run into the embassy to get out of there.

ZAHN: Thanks for spending time with us this morning, Michael Elliot.

ELLIOT: Good to see you, Paula.

ZAHN: See you tomorrow morning.

ELLIOT: You bet.

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