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American Morning
CIA Letter Likely to Heat Up Discussions
Aired October 09, 2002 - 08:18 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: Now on to the debate over Iraq. A letter from the director of the CIA is likely to heat up today's discussions in the House and Senate about whether force should be used to disarm Iraq. George Tenet's letter describes how and when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein might use weapons of mass destruction.
Kate Snow is standing by at the Capitol this morning with more reaction to this letter -- good morning, Kate.
KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, good morning, Paula.
This letter sort of came up accidentally on the Senate floor last night, before it had been officially released. But nonetheless, it's out there now. CIA director Tenet sent the letter to Congress on Monday. He says that Baghdad for now appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or chemical or biological weapons.
But Mr. Tenet goes on to say, "Should Saddam conclude that a U.S. led attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions." The letter goes on to cite a portion of a closed hearing where an intelligence witness told committee members in Congress that the likelihood of Saddam attacking the U.S. first was "low."
Now, Democrat Senator Ron Wyden picked up on all of this on the Senate floor last night, saying that this is one reason why he feels that a unilateral action by the U.S. against Iraq would be unwise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: As of October 7 of this year, the CIA did not believe that there was an imminent threat to our country and I assume that in making that judgment before the intelligence committee, if they had felt that the attacks that the senator was talking about are dispositive, they would not have written that letter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Now, George Tenet, in a statement made available to CNN last night, said that his views, expressed in this letter, are not inconsistent with the views of the White House, with what President Bush has said about the threat of Iraq. But certainly it's going to give fodder to those who oppose action here on Capitol Hill.
The House debated, meantime, until after midnight last night of the Iraq resolution. The Senate also continues its debate. Democrats in the House expressing a lot of concern about going to war before allowing weapons inspectors to run their course in Iraq, one Democrat saying last night why have we gotten into this headstrong rush.
But there were also some Democrats, Paula, and many Republicans, one after the next, supporting President Bush in the House yesterday, several citing WWII and history and saying that Saddam Hussein must be stopped, much like Adolph Hitler -- Paula.
ZAHN: Kate Snow, hate to leave it on that note, but we've got to. We've got to move on.
Appreciate the update.
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 October 9, 2002 - 08:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to the debate over Iraq. A letter from the director of the CIA is likely to heat up today's discussions in the House and Senate about whether force should be used to disarm Iraq. George Tenet's letter describes how and when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein might use weapons of mass destruction.
Kate Snow is standing by at the Capitol this morning with more reaction to this letter -- good morning, Kate.
KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, good morning, Paula.
This letter sort of came up accidentally on the Senate floor last night, before it had been officially released. But nonetheless, it's out there now. CIA director Tenet sent the letter to Congress on Monday. He says that Baghdad for now appears to be drawing a line short of conducting terrorist attacks with conventional or chemical or biological weapons.
But Mr. Tenet goes on to say, "Should Saddam conclude that a U.S. led attack could no longer be deterred, he probably would become much less constrained in adopting terrorist actions." The letter goes on to cite a portion of a closed hearing where an intelligence witness told committee members in Congress that the likelihood of Saddam attacking the U.S. first was "low."
Now, Democrat Senator Ron Wyden picked up on all of this on the Senate floor last night, saying that this is one reason why he feels that a unilateral action by the U.S. against Iraq would be unwise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: As of October 7 of this year, the CIA did not believe that there was an imminent threat to our country and I assume that in making that judgment before the intelligence committee, if they had felt that the attacks that the senator was talking about are dispositive, they would not have written that letter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SNOW: Now, George Tenet, in a statement made available to CNN last night, said that his views, expressed in this letter, are not inconsistent with the views of the White House, with what President Bush has said about the threat of Iraq. But certainly it's going to give fodder to those who oppose action here on Capitol Hill.
The House debated, meantime, until after midnight last night of the Iraq resolution. The Senate also continues its debate. Democrats in the House expressing a lot of concern about going to war before allowing weapons inspectors to run their course in Iraq, one Democrat saying last night why have we gotten into this headstrong rush.
But there were also some Democrats, Paula, and many Republicans, one after the next, supporting President Bush in the House yesterday, several citing WWII and history and saying that Saddam Hussein must be stopped, much like Adolph Hitler -- Paula.
ZAHN: Kate Snow, hate to leave it on that note, but we've got to. We've got to move on.
Appreciate the update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
