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American Morning
Foreign Relations Committee Holds Closed-door Hearings
Aired September 24, 2002 - 12:39 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Less than two hours from now, another closed-door hearing on the situation in Iraq for members of the Senate.
Let's bring in our congressional correspondent, Kate Snow for a preview -- hi, Kate.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good afternoon, Kyra. This is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They held hearings a while ago, at the beginning of August, but they haven't really had any hearings since then, so this is their first effort to sit down behind closed doors, and talk with members of the intelligence community. They are getting it from the top levels today behind closed doors, CIA Director George Tenet will be at that session this afternoon, along with the acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, one official from the State Department, as well as someone from the Department of Energy, all briefing the members, I'm told, about the status -- up to the minute status of intelligence about Iraq.
What does the U.S. government know about their capabilities, their weapons of mass destruction, what is the very latest intelligence. They are building up, Kyra, looking towards hearings tomorrow, and then again on Thursday, when they will have Secretary of State Colin Powell here with them, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
You know, ever since last Thursday, when the White House presented -- sent over a draft resolution that they want Congress to consider approving very quickly here, there has been a lot of discussion on Capitol Hill about exactly how that resolution ought to be worded. One of the key players in all this is the chairman of the committee that is meeting this afternoon, Senator Joseph Biden. He is the chair of Foreign Relations.
CNN -- we have been talking to people here, talking to senators over the last couple of days, and we have learned that Biden is working with some other top level Democrats, including the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, and they are talking about other language that they would prefer -- they are talking about, perhaps, changing the language that the White House sent over, making it include more reference to the United Nations.
There are many Democrats who feel that it needs to be explicitly about going to the U.N. for approval, Kyra, before the United States can take any sort of unilateral action.
So those are the discussions that are underway today on Capitol Hill -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Kate Snow from the Hill there. Thanks, Kate.
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 - 12:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Less than two hours from now, another closed-door hearing on the situation in Iraq for members of the Senate.
Let's bring in our congressional correspondent, Kate Snow for a preview -- hi, Kate.
KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good afternoon, Kyra. This is the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They held hearings a while ago, at the beginning of August, but they haven't really had any hearings since then, so this is their first effort to sit down behind closed doors, and talk with members of the intelligence community. They are getting it from the top levels today behind closed doors, CIA Director George Tenet will be at that session this afternoon, along with the acting director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, one official from the State Department, as well as someone from the Department of Energy, all briefing the members, I'm told, about the status -- up to the minute status of intelligence about Iraq.
What does the U.S. government know about their capabilities, their weapons of mass destruction, what is the very latest intelligence. They are building up, Kyra, looking towards hearings tomorrow, and then again on Thursday, when they will have Secretary of State Colin Powell here with them, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
You know, ever since last Thursday, when the White House presented -- sent over a draft resolution that they want Congress to consider approving very quickly here, there has been a lot of discussion on Capitol Hill about exactly how that resolution ought to be worded. One of the key players in all this is the chairman of the committee that is meeting this afternoon, Senator Joseph Biden. He is the chair of Foreign Relations.
CNN -- we have been talking to people here, talking to senators over the last couple of days, and we have learned that Biden is working with some other top level Democrats, including the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, and they are talking about other language that they would prefer -- they are talking about, perhaps, changing the language that the White House sent over, making it include more reference to the United Nations.
There are many Democrats who feel that it needs to be explicitly about going to the U.N. for approval, Kyra, before the United States can take any sort of unilateral action.
So those are the discussions that are underway today on Capitol Hill -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Kate Snow from the Hill there. Thanks, Kate.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
