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American Morning
Rumsfeld Meets with NATO Ministers
Aired September 24, 2002 - 08:02 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: While Prime Minister Tony Blair detailed the Iraqi threat this morning before the British parliament, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is in Warsaw, Poland to try to make the case for taking action against Iraq to NATO ministers.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is traveling with the secretary in Warsaw. He joins us now -- good morning, Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
This is an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers, but that doesn't mean they're not doing some important work. All the talk here is about how NATO can transform itself from a cold war alliance into one that's better equipped to beat the threat of terrorists plus weapons of mass destruction.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be making the case this afternoon about the threat posed from Iraq along with a representative from the U.S. CIA. But Rumsfeld is not yet lobbying the NATO members to make a military contribution to that effort. He says that's premature because at every instance he is asked about it, he reminds people that President Bush has not yet made that critical decision.
Yet he is meeting with some of his counterparts and there's no discussion here of NATO itself taking part in any Iraq action, because NATO has to operate on consensus. And there is no consensus here, particularly among one NATO ally, Germany, in which the election campaign hinged on a pledge not to get Germany involved in NATO actions. And that's resulted in some pretty cool relations between Rumsfeld and the German defense minister. There's been a couple of times when that defense minister has tried to make approaches to Secretary Rumsfeld and he's gotten a pretty cool reception.
So the U.S. still a little miffed about the tone of that German election campaign, as they're, again, making the case for the new threat with terrorists plus weapons of mass destruction -- Paula.
ZAHN: Jamie, I know how busy these ministers were when Tony Blair was speaking, but any initial reaction from anybody you're traveling with to the speech?
MCINTYRE: Well, again, I think the main thing people were looking for is whether there was a greater level of evidence than we've seen so far in the case against Saddam Hussein. Lots of evidence there, but still no smoking gun. But, again, the U.S. continues to say there won't be a smoking gun until it's too late.
ZAHN: Jamie McIntyre, thanks for that report. Appreciate it.
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 24, 2002 - 08:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: While Prime Minister Tony Blair detailed the Iraqi threat this morning before the British parliament, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is in Warsaw, Poland to try to make the case for taking action against Iraq to NATO ministers.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is traveling with the secretary in Warsaw. He joins us now -- good morning, Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
This is an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers, but that doesn't mean they're not doing some important work. All the talk here is about how NATO can transform itself from a cold war alliance into one that's better equipped to beat the threat of terrorists plus weapons of mass destruction.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be making the case this afternoon about the threat posed from Iraq along with a representative from the U.S. CIA. But Rumsfeld is not yet lobbying the NATO members to make a military contribution to that effort. He says that's premature because at every instance he is asked about it, he reminds people that President Bush has not yet made that critical decision.
Yet he is meeting with some of his counterparts and there's no discussion here of NATO itself taking part in any Iraq action, because NATO has to operate on consensus. And there is no consensus here, particularly among one NATO ally, Germany, in which the election campaign hinged on a pledge not to get Germany involved in NATO actions. And that's resulted in some pretty cool relations between Rumsfeld and the German defense minister. There's been a couple of times when that defense minister has tried to make approaches to Secretary Rumsfeld and he's gotten a pretty cool reception.
So the U.S. still a little miffed about the tone of that German election campaign, as they're, again, making the case for the new threat with terrorists plus weapons of mass destruction -- Paula.
ZAHN: Jamie, I know how busy these ministers were when Tony Blair was speaking, but any initial reaction from anybody you're traveling with to the speech?
MCINTYRE: Well, again, I think the main thing people were looking for is whether there was a greater level of evidence than we've seen so far in the case against Saddam Hussein. Lots of evidence there, but still no smoking gun. But, again, the U.S. continues to say there won't be a smoking gun until it's too late.
ZAHN: Jamie McIntyre, thanks for that report. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
