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American Morning
Bush Administration Increasing Pressure on Iraq
Aired January 23, 2003 - 08:04 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: The Bush administration is increasing the pressure on Iraq, saying Saddam Hussein must be held accountable. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice writing in a "New York Times" op-ed piece today says, "It is Iraq's obligation to provide answers. It is failing in spectacular fashion." And she says that, "Iraq is a nation with something to hide. It should know that time is running out."
Now, as Washington increases its pressure, what is the mood in Baghdad right now?
Let's check in with Nic Robertson, who is on duty there with the latest -- good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, I think perhaps we can best judge the mood here in this newspaper. This is Udeh Saddam Hussein's newspaper, the son of President Saddam Hussein.
He says, the article says, rather, in this paper, that if the issue about Iraq is oil, then just lift the embargo, Iraq will export its oil to the United States, there'll be no problem. It goes on to say, however, that if it compares the September 11 attack to the current situation, it says, "The blood that was lost over the September 11 attack would be a picnic compared to the blood shed if the United States was to invade Iraq."
I think that pretty much sums up the mood. We are seeing increasing numbers of demonstrations on the streets here. We're also seeing President Saddam Hussein on television with his military leaders in the evenings a lot. He was specifically speaking last night about that shooting of a U.S. citizen in Kuwait, saying the United States should consider after all this time, and it, as he said it, "their allies, their friends in the Gulf are shooting them" -- Paula.
ZAHN: OK, Nic, we're going to have to leave it there this morning.
Appreciate that live report.
Meanwhile, France says the decision to go to war against Iraq must come from the United Nations. Germany is also sounding a cautionary note, calling for more time for the weapons inspectors.
Michael Okwu joins us live from the United Nations now with some reaction -- good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
The tension is almost palpable. It's been like this since Monday, when Secretary Powell was here and delivered his very harsh words against Iraq. In the meantime, at 10:00 this morning, the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, is set to meet with his college of commissioners. Think of Dr. Blix as the chairman of the board while the commissioners are sort of the board members, an advisory committee of some 16 commissioners and two advisers, observers from countries as far afield as Nigeria, Argentina, Canada, France, and, of course, the United States, just to name a few.
These individuals are appointed by the secretary general and they dispense advice to Blix about what should happen on the ground with inspections. There's a back and forth there. And you can imagine that today throughout the course of the day there will be some significant conversations about Blix's January 27th report.
All of this happening against the backdrop of a major public campaign on the part of the U.S. administration to go to war, to change the opinions of some of the members on the Security Council. Today at 1:00, the deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, is set to deliver a speech at 1:00 here in Manhattan at the Council On Foreign Relations, where he is expected essentially to make the case that the burden is on the Iraqis and not on the inspectors. He will lay out a case for what disarmament should look like and he will also provide examples of three countries that basically have disarmed peacefully with a little bit of help from the international community, but voluntarily, countries like Kazakhstan, the Ukraine and South Africa.
Now, the administration does not want to play hide and go seek. And, in fact, they don't even want to play a game of go seek. They want the Iraqis to come forward with information and not have to have the inspectors go out and find it -- Paula.
ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit more about the debate that's going on between the French and the Germans and the U.S. about what the role of the inspectors should actually be and how much time they should actually be allowed to get their job done. Is it the expectation of the Bush administration that they think they can really move France and Germany, more importantly France, I guess, because it has that all important veto on the Security Council?
OKWU: Well, Paula, I'll tell you something, in closed quarters, when you talk to diplomats, both Western diplomats and other diplomats here, they will say to you that there is widespread belief among members of the Security Council that Saddam Hussein is really lying and that the Iraqis are not being as cooperative as they ought to be. So there is a great deal of confidence on the part of the United States that over the course of some time, and that's really the big question, how long it will take, that those other countries, France and Germany and Russia, will finally come under the fold and declare publicly -- they just say that there's a great deal of pressure back in those other countries, the politics are such that they cannot come out publicly. Since there is no smoking gun, as far as they're concerned, they have to keep this posture.
So the United States is trying to lean on them, hoping that the end game can come a little sooner than later -- Paula.
ZAHN: But what is the speculation there, that they will, indeed, come around to the Bush administration's position or not?
OKWU: The speculation, Paula, is that they will, that perhaps there will be some sort of compromise where France will at least promise them that they will not veto. Now, France hasn't vetoed any U.S.-led resolution since about 1976. So it's been a really long time.
Even though they posture and they say certain things in the public, Paula, the feeling among all of these Council members is that at base, they are allies -- Paula.
ZAHN: Michael Okwu.
You're going to have a very busy day ahead of you and we're going to be monitoring Mr. Wolfowitz's speech very closely later this afternoon.
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 23, 2003 - 08:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration is increasing the pressure on Iraq, saying Saddam Hussein must be held accountable. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice writing in a "New York Times" op-ed piece today says, "It is Iraq's obligation to provide answers. It is failing in spectacular fashion." And she says that, "Iraq is a nation with something to hide. It should know that time is running out."
Now, as Washington increases its pressure, what is the mood in Baghdad right now?
Let's check in with Nic Robertson, who is on duty there with the latest -- good morning, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, I think perhaps we can best judge the mood here in this newspaper. This is Udeh Saddam Hussein's newspaper, the son of President Saddam Hussein.
He says, the article says, rather, in this paper, that if the issue about Iraq is oil, then just lift the embargo, Iraq will export its oil to the United States, there'll be no problem. It goes on to say, however, that if it compares the September 11 attack to the current situation, it says, "The blood that was lost over the September 11 attack would be a picnic compared to the blood shed if the United States was to invade Iraq."
I think that pretty much sums up the mood. We are seeing increasing numbers of demonstrations on the streets here. We're also seeing President Saddam Hussein on television with his military leaders in the evenings a lot. He was specifically speaking last night about that shooting of a U.S. citizen in Kuwait, saying the United States should consider after all this time, and it, as he said it, "their allies, their friends in the Gulf are shooting them" -- Paula.
ZAHN: OK, Nic, we're going to have to leave it there this morning.
Appreciate that live report.
Meanwhile, France says the decision to go to war against Iraq must come from the United Nations. Germany is also sounding a cautionary note, calling for more time for the weapons inspectors.
Michael Okwu joins us live from the United Nations now with some reaction -- good morning, Michael.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
The tension is almost palpable. It's been like this since Monday, when Secretary Powell was here and delivered his very harsh words against Iraq. In the meantime, at 10:00 this morning, the chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, is set to meet with his college of commissioners. Think of Dr. Blix as the chairman of the board while the commissioners are sort of the board members, an advisory committee of some 16 commissioners and two advisers, observers from countries as far afield as Nigeria, Argentina, Canada, France, and, of course, the United States, just to name a few.
These individuals are appointed by the secretary general and they dispense advice to Blix about what should happen on the ground with inspections. There's a back and forth there. And you can imagine that today throughout the course of the day there will be some significant conversations about Blix's January 27th report.
All of this happening against the backdrop of a major public campaign on the part of the U.S. administration to go to war, to change the opinions of some of the members on the Security Council. Today at 1:00, the deputy defense secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, is set to deliver a speech at 1:00 here in Manhattan at the Council On Foreign Relations, where he is expected essentially to make the case that the burden is on the Iraqis and not on the inspectors. He will lay out a case for what disarmament should look like and he will also provide examples of three countries that basically have disarmed peacefully with a little bit of help from the international community, but voluntarily, countries like Kazakhstan, the Ukraine and South Africa.
Now, the administration does not want to play hide and go seek. And, in fact, they don't even want to play a game of go seek. They want the Iraqis to come forward with information and not have to have the inspectors go out and find it -- Paula.
ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit more about the debate that's going on between the French and the Germans and the U.S. about what the role of the inspectors should actually be and how much time they should actually be allowed to get their job done. Is it the expectation of the Bush administration that they think they can really move France and Germany, more importantly France, I guess, because it has that all important veto on the Security Council?
OKWU: Well, Paula, I'll tell you something, in closed quarters, when you talk to diplomats, both Western diplomats and other diplomats here, they will say to you that there is widespread belief among members of the Security Council that Saddam Hussein is really lying and that the Iraqis are not being as cooperative as they ought to be. So there is a great deal of confidence on the part of the United States that over the course of some time, and that's really the big question, how long it will take, that those other countries, France and Germany and Russia, will finally come under the fold and declare publicly -- they just say that there's a great deal of pressure back in those other countries, the politics are such that they cannot come out publicly. Since there is no smoking gun, as far as they're concerned, they have to keep this posture.
So the United States is trying to lean on them, hoping that the end game can come a little sooner than later -- Paula.
ZAHN: But what is the speculation there, that they will, indeed, come around to the Bush administration's position or not?
OKWU: The speculation, Paula, is that they will, that perhaps there will be some sort of compromise where France will at least promise them that they will not veto. Now, France hasn't vetoed any U.S.-led resolution since about 1976. So it's been a really long time.
Even though they posture and they say certain things in the public, Paula, the feeling among all of these Council members is that at base, they are allies -- Paula.
ZAHN: Michael Okwu.
You're going to have a very busy day ahead of you and we're going to be monitoring Mr. Wolfowitz's speech very closely later this afternoon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
