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American Morning
Bush Meets with Members of Congress Regarding Iraq
Aired September 18, 2002 - 08:03 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: At this hour, President Bush is meeting with the top four members of Congress. The breakfast conversation is about a congressional resolution that possibly would support U.S. action against Iraq.
John King joins us from the White House right now as the debate rages on over what exactly that resolution might say -- good morning, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again to you, Paula.
A very busy morning here at the White House. We will hear directly from the president in just a few moments. He added that, allowing reporters in at the end of his meeting with the congressional leadership here in the Oval Office, that so Mr. Bush can thank them for a bipartisan promise to move quickly on a resolution backing his position on Iraq. And we also are told the president wanted this opportunity to once again make the case to the United Nations that it should not just accept Iraq's overture to let weapons inspectors back in, that it should do much more and pass a comprehensive resolution that tells Iraq it must comply with all of its commitments to the United Nations.
That an uphill diplomatic challenge for the president this morning. Again, we expect to hear from the president in just a few moments. Then, members of Congress, the top four leaders of Congress are here. They will come out and speak to reporters outside the West Wing. In that meeting, the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, the Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Dick Gephardt, and the top Republican in the Senate, Trent Lott, they are here to commit to the president that there is now bipartisan agreement to move quickly on a resolution and we are told senior White House aides at that meeting this morning sharing some outline of what the president would like in a resolution.
The president obviously wants the Congress to endorse his position that military force should be an option if Saddam Hussein does not keep his commitments to the United Nations, among them, of course, proving no more chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
The president is winning the debate when it comes to working with the Congress right now. The question is can he win the debate, can he turn the tide yet again in the United Nations? The president had the momentum his way, but this overture from Iraq has, as Bill Hemmer was noting at the top of the program, Russia, France and others now saying let's send the inspectors back in and see how it goes before debating any new comprehensive resolution. That has the White House quite upset. Look for the president to make his case yet again, again, in just a few moments here at the White House -- Paula.
ZAHN: John, very quickly, isn't there still a major sticking point with the Democrats, though? The Democrats asking for U.N. sanctions in addition, or the U.N. to sanction action in addition to the U.S. sanctioning action if the Iraqis don't comply?
KING: That is one of the concerns. Many Democrats and many Republicans, for that matter, wanted the president to go through the United Nations. Because of the developments in the past 24 hours, it is a very fluid situation, many saying that Congress will have to be very careful in how it chooses its language about the United Nations, especially if, as we are told this morning, the Congress wants to move on this. We are told look for more hearings this week, look for debate next week and action in, a vote in Congress by both the House and the Senate within the next two weeks on this resolution.
At this moment it appears the debate in the United Nations might still be going on, unless the administration can broker a breakthrough in the next several days.
ZAHN: Thanks, John.
We look forward to seeing some of those members of Congress come out of that meeting. I know you're going to try to nab them and we'll try to interview them to hear exactly what the president told them this morning.
Until then, let's check in with Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good deal, Paula.
Let's get to Baghdad straight away. Reaction now to the offer of inspectors back on the ground ranging now from hope to extreme skepticism. The current view inside Iraq on the ground, Rula Amin joins us live from Baghdad to gauge reaction from there -- Rula, good afternoon to you.
What are we hearing today?
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
Here all you hear today is praise, praise for what is termed here as Iraq's wise decision. Less than 48 hours after Iraq said that it will allow the inspectors back without any conditions, Iraq is starting to see gains. That decision is starting to pay off.
They are hearing from members on the Security Council, like the Russians, who are saying that Baghdad should be taken at its word, that the inspectors should go back to Iraq and challenge Iraq to give them unfettered access, as the Iraqis have promised.
Here in Iraq, all that we are hearing is how Baghdad has made that decision to response to appeals from friendly countries, from Arab countries to avoid the confrontation with the United States. And for now, they are pretty satisfied with the achievements they have done with this compromise. They are already winning support among crucial members on the Security Council -- Bill.
HEMMER: Rula, it is said that that meeting in Vienna will not take place for at least 10 days. Is there an Iraqi response as to why it'll take a week and a half to get it together?
AMIN: Well, what we're hearing unofficially, and this is unofficially, is that actually that time is there because still the United Nations Security Council has not made a clear decision that they will send the inspectors back here before any new resolution is taken. The U.S. is pushing for a new resolution on Iraq, something that would have an ultimatum, probably tougher demands. The Iraqis are trying to circumvent these efforts. The Russians are now saying there is no need for a new resolution, there is no need for a further move by the United Nations until they see what happens on the ground here.
So I think this is why this, we are seeing this delay, because the inspectors say they are ready, they can be here on the ground within days and that they are, will be ready to start inspecting seriously within weeks. They have to get themselves prepared, but they can be in Baghdad within days. That's what we're reading from them.
HEMMER: Rula, thank you.
Rula Amin, again, on the ground there in central Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 18, 2002 - 08:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: At this hour, President Bush is meeting with the top four members of Congress. The breakfast conversation is about a congressional resolution that possibly would support U.S. action against Iraq.
John King joins us from the White House right now as the debate rages on over what exactly that resolution might say -- good morning, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning again to you, Paula.
A very busy morning here at the White House. We will hear directly from the president in just a few moments. He added that, allowing reporters in at the end of his meeting with the congressional leadership here in the Oval Office, that so Mr. Bush can thank them for a bipartisan promise to move quickly on a resolution backing his position on Iraq. And we also are told the president wanted this opportunity to once again make the case to the United Nations that it should not just accept Iraq's overture to let weapons inspectors back in, that it should do much more and pass a comprehensive resolution that tells Iraq it must comply with all of its commitments to the United Nations.
That an uphill diplomatic challenge for the president this morning. Again, we expect to hear from the president in just a few moments. Then, members of Congress, the top four leaders of Congress are here. They will come out and speak to reporters outside the West Wing. In that meeting, the House speaker, Dennis Hastert, the Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Dick Gephardt, and the top Republican in the Senate, Trent Lott, they are here to commit to the president that there is now bipartisan agreement to move quickly on a resolution and we are told senior White House aides at that meeting this morning sharing some outline of what the president would like in a resolution.
The president obviously wants the Congress to endorse his position that military force should be an option if Saddam Hussein does not keep his commitments to the United Nations, among them, of course, proving no more chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
The president is winning the debate when it comes to working with the Congress right now. The question is can he win the debate, can he turn the tide yet again in the United Nations? The president had the momentum his way, but this overture from Iraq has, as Bill Hemmer was noting at the top of the program, Russia, France and others now saying let's send the inspectors back in and see how it goes before debating any new comprehensive resolution. That has the White House quite upset. Look for the president to make his case yet again, again, in just a few moments here at the White House -- Paula.
ZAHN: John, very quickly, isn't there still a major sticking point with the Democrats, though? The Democrats asking for U.N. sanctions in addition, or the U.N. to sanction action in addition to the U.S. sanctioning action if the Iraqis don't comply?
KING: That is one of the concerns. Many Democrats and many Republicans, for that matter, wanted the president to go through the United Nations. Because of the developments in the past 24 hours, it is a very fluid situation, many saying that Congress will have to be very careful in how it chooses its language about the United Nations, especially if, as we are told this morning, the Congress wants to move on this. We are told look for more hearings this week, look for debate next week and action in, a vote in Congress by both the House and the Senate within the next two weeks on this resolution.
At this moment it appears the debate in the United Nations might still be going on, unless the administration can broker a breakthrough in the next several days.
ZAHN: Thanks, John.
We look forward to seeing some of those members of Congress come out of that meeting. I know you're going to try to nab them and we'll try to interview them to hear exactly what the president told them this morning.
Until then, let's check in with Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Good deal, Paula.
Let's get to Baghdad straight away. Reaction now to the offer of inspectors back on the ground ranging now from hope to extreme skepticism. The current view inside Iraq on the ground, Rula Amin joins us live from Baghdad to gauge reaction from there -- Rula, good afternoon to you.
What are we hearing today?
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
Here all you hear today is praise, praise for what is termed here as Iraq's wise decision. Less than 48 hours after Iraq said that it will allow the inspectors back without any conditions, Iraq is starting to see gains. That decision is starting to pay off.
They are hearing from members on the Security Council, like the Russians, who are saying that Baghdad should be taken at its word, that the inspectors should go back to Iraq and challenge Iraq to give them unfettered access, as the Iraqis have promised.
Here in Iraq, all that we are hearing is how Baghdad has made that decision to response to appeals from friendly countries, from Arab countries to avoid the confrontation with the United States. And for now, they are pretty satisfied with the achievements they have done with this compromise. They are already winning support among crucial members on the Security Council -- Bill.
HEMMER: Rula, it is said that that meeting in Vienna will not take place for at least 10 days. Is there an Iraqi response as to why it'll take a week and a half to get it together?
AMIN: Well, what we're hearing unofficially, and this is unofficially, is that actually that time is there because still the United Nations Security Council has not made a clear decision that they will send the inspectors back here before any new resolution is taken. The U.S. is pushing for a new resolution on Iraq, something that would have an ultimatum, probably tougher demands. The Iraqis are trying to circumvent these efforts. The Russians are now saying there is no need for a new resolution, there is no need for a further move by the United Nations until they see what happens on the ground here.
So I think this is why this, we are seeing this delay, because the inspectors say they are ready, they can be here on the ground within days and that they are, will be ready to start inspecting seriously within weeks. They have to get themselves prepared, but they can be in Baghdad within days. That's what we're reading from them.
HEMMER: Rula, thank you.
Rula Amin, again, on the ground there in central Baghdad.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
