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American Morning

NATO Forges Historic Partnership With Former Foe

Aired May 28, 2002 - 07:04   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: Also up front this morning, the NATO forges a historic partnership with a former foe. President Bush and the other 18 leaders of the alliance are in Rome today to seal an agreement that gives Russia a seat on a new NATO-Russia council.

CNN's senior White House correspondent, John King, is with the president. He joins us now.

Good morning, John.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.

A remarkable moment here in this city, the source of so much history over the centuries. It is tradition whenever the NATO leaders get together to pose for a class photo, a family portrait if you will, 19 in the last photo. Look at today's. There are 20 leaders in the photograph. And for the first time in the history of the NATO alliance, a Russian president, Vladimir Putin, standing in the picture next to the president of the United States, George W. Bush; the leaders of the other 18 NATO nations on hand.

The alliance, of course, formed in part because of the worry of the allies after World War II that the Soviet Union might become aggressive, might favor aggression and come and march across Europe. Now, the Russians at the table, that formal agreement, the Russian- NATO partnership signed here in Rome earlier this morning.

Now, Russia is not yet a full partner in NATO. It does not have all of the authority that all of the other members have in NATO, but that could happen over time, President Bush said. And in the short term, Russia will cooperate with the NATO alliance on major challenges, like the war on terrorism.

President Putin seated at the table this morning making note of this remarkable moment in history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIA (through translator): The significance of this meeting is difficult to overestimate. Even only a very short time ago, a meeting of this type, bringing together the leaders of Russia and NATO member states, especially bearing in mind the format in which we meet today and its quality, would have been simply unthinkable, whereas today, it has become a reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The NATO summit not the only important piece of business on President Bush's agenda here today. He meets with Pope John Paul II later today, his second meeting with the pope as president. The first time Mr. Bush will visit the Vatican in advance of the trip. Aides said the president would not raise the issue of the sex abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church back in the United States, but Mr. Bush himself this morning said he thought it was very important that he does raise that issue when he meets with the pontiff later today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am going to, first of all, listen carefully to what the pope has to say. He is a man of enormous dignity and compassion. I will tell him that I am concerned about the Catholic Church in America. I am concerned about its standing. And I say that, because the Catholic Church is an incredibly important institution in our country, and I am also going to mention the fact that I appreciate the pope's leadership in trying to strengthen the Catholic Church in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Aides say Mr. Bush wants to raise it with the pope politely and to make clear that he wants to thank the pope for convening that recent meeting of the Catholic bishops, so that they could come up with a coordinated strategy to deal with the crisis, but the Vatican does not like to talk about this issue. Vatican sources telling CNN there's a slight sense of unease that Mr. Bush would talk about it in public in advance of his meeting with the pope.

We are also told that the pope has sent word that he would like to visit the United States and the site of ground zero. That could come up in the meeting today. President Bush says if it does come up, he will tell the pope he would be honored to have him in the United States -- Paula.

ZAHN: So, John, it seems pretty clear that the president will not be surprising the pope, if he decides to address the issue of the scandal within the Catholic Church. One would assume then that the Catholic Church would have some sort of answer prepared for the president.

KING: We would look for an answer, of course, from the Catholic bishops back in the United States. Perhaps the Vatican will say something officially later. We asked for a comment this morning, and we are told there would be no official comment, at least before the meeting.

Top Bush aides make this point, that he wants to do this very politely, applaud the pope for his leadership. They also say the president perhaps feeling a need to raise this issue politely so, because if you look at our polling data and others, many Catholics back in the United States -- a key political constituency, of course, that this president has courted very much so -- many Catholics not happy with the way the church has handled this crisis. The president perhaps feeling he should at least raise it even though politely as he meets here with the pope in Rome -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. John King, thanks so much for that report.

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