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American Morning
Problems Overseas That White House Has Front and Center
Aired January 20, 2003 - 07:33 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back now to the very latest right now, the problems overseas that the White House has front and center. First, Iraq, where the administration still remains unconvinced that Baghdad is cooperating with inspectors. You had a dozen of these empty warheads handed over last week, four more over the weekend.
Let's get to Dana Bash at the White House for all of what's being said there this morning -- and a good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, today marks one week before the weapons inspectors' report is due at the U.N. and yesterday, you talked about the administration officials out on the talk show circuit, well, they were really out on every talk show yesterday in a very coordinated message. And that message was that Iraq has to cooperate and that cooperation isn't just opening the doors for inspectors and letting them in, but cooperation, as far as the administration is concerned, is disarming, that Saddam Hussein must disarm.
And the burden of proof is on Saddam Hussein, not on the inspectors, to come up with whatever weapons of mass destruction Saddam Hussein might have.
Now, the administration made it clear also that date, one week from today, January 27th, does mark the last phase of diplomacy with Saddam Hussein. Secretary of State Colin Powell is up in New York today to make the case to his counterparts there, many of whom say that the inspectors need more time. He's trying to make the case that time is running out for Saddam Hussein and that they've had over a month now, a month and a half of inspections, and that Iraq simply is not cooperating. And he's going to try to really gain international cooperation on that. It's not going to be easy.
Another thing that happened yesterday, you also mentioned, is that the administration made it clear that one way to get Saddam Hussein out of the country without any kind of military action is with some kind of immunity, allowing Saddam Hussein to have exile out of the country. Secretary of State Rumsfeld -- Secretary of Defense, excuse me, Rumsfeld even said that perhaps he would be in favor of giving some kind of immunity to Saddam Hussein in order to get him out of the country. But he and other officials say that they are absolutely not convinced that that will happen, that he has shown no signs that he will leave the country voluntarily -- Bill.
HEMMER: Well, it's quite interesting, they/'re all speaking about it at that level on the same day.
Dana, thanks.
Dana Bash at the White House.
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 January 20, 2003 - 07:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back now to the very latest right now, the problems overseas that the White House has front and center. First, Iraq, where the administration still remains unconvinced that Baghdad is cooperating with inspectors. You had a dozen of these empty warheads handed over last week, four more over the weekend.
Let's get to Dana Bash at the White House for all of what's being said there this morning -- and a good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well, today marks one week before the weapons inspectors' report is due at the U.N. and yesterday, you talked about the administration officials out on the talk show circuit, well, they were really out on every talk show yesterday in a very coordinated message. And that message was that Iraq has to cooperate and that cooperation isn't just opening the doors for inspectors and letting them in, but cooperation, as far as the administration is concerned, is disarming, that Saddam Hussein must disarm.
And the burden of proof is on Saddam Hussein, not on the inspectors, to come up with whatever weapons of mass destruction Saddam Hussein might have.
Now, the administration made it clear also that date, one week from today, January 27th, does mark the last phase of diplomacy with Saddam Hussein. Secretary of State Colin Powell is up in New York today to make the case to his counterparts there, many of whom say that the inspectors need more time. He's trying to make the case that time is running out for Saddam Hussein and that they've had over a month now, a month and a half of inspections, and that Iraq simply is not cooperating. And he's going to try to really gain international cooperation on that. It's not going to be easy.
Another thing that happened yesterday, you also mentioned, is that the administration made it clear that one way to get Saddam Hussein out of the country without any kind of military action is with some kind of immunity, allowing Saddam Hussein to have exile out of the country. Secretary of State Rumsfeld -- Secretary of Defense, excuse me, Rumsfeld even said that perhaps he would be in favor of giving some kind of immunity to Saddam Hussein in order to get him out of the country. But he and other officials say that they are absolutely not convinced that that will happen, that he has shown no signs that he will leave the country voluntarily -- Bill.
HEMMER: Well, it's quite interesting, they/'re all speaking about it at that level on the same day.
Dana, thanks.
Dana Bash at the White House.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
