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American Morning

Talk with Jody Powell

Aired January 28, 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 president's challenge in tonight's State of the Union speech will be to convince Americans that the administration is on the right track for disarming Iraq and fixing the economy.
So what kind of message does the president need to deliver?

Well, Jody Powell served as press secretary in the Carter White House and he is now the head of Powell-Tate Public Relations in Washington and he joins us from there this morning.

Good morning.

Good to see you, Jody.

JODY POWELL, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning.

ZAHN: So, as the president's administration looks at polls showing that the American public seems to have growing doubt about military action against Iraq, you know, they asked a bunch of different questions, but without the approval of its allies or without proof of weapons of mass destruction, what is it the president has to do tonight to convince the American public that the military option might be necessary down the road?

POWELL: Well, I think most importantly he needs to frame the argument correctly. He needs to get past this back and forth about smoking guns. That, to combine two metaphors, a smoking gun is really a red herring. There's very little doubt amongst any knowledgeable people that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, that he's not cooperating, that he is concealing.

The proper question that we need to debate is what then should we and the rest of the civilized world do about it? Which leads to a second challenge, I think, which is to speak more clearly and more consistently to the rest of the world. If we have to deal with this virtually on our own, then we will have to do that. But that really would be a most unfortunate decision to have to make. And we ought to do everything that we possibly can to avoid being in that situation.

ZAHN: So you're saying the president obviously has two distinctly different audiences tonight, the American public and our allies. Do you expect the president to deliver any distinct message to our allies in the State of the Union address?

POWELL: I don't know. I hope he will, though, and I hope that will be followed by a more sustained and consistent effort to speak to them in ways that will bring them to understand the situation more clearly and will not, quite frankly, place sticks in the hands of that element of European society that is always ready to bash the Yanks.

We've sort of given them a lot of things to hit us with and we need to cut off the supply of that sort of ammunition.

ZAHN: Well, CNN broke the story yesterday that a draft of a potential second resolution is being worked on right now as a backup plan. Is that something you think the president should talk about tonight, the fact that it potentially might go along with a second resolution?

POWELL: I think we need to make clear that we will do everything we possibly can to work with our traditional friends and allies and others around the world to deal with what is clearly a very serious threat. If, in the end, we can't do that, then we will have to do what we have to do. But that really is worth quite a serious effort. And probably a U.N. resolution, if we could get that far, would be the most effective. I don't know that we have to have that.

But we, if you think about the deterioration in the standing of America in the rest of the world, not just in Europe, but in the Middle East and in Asia over the past 12 months, it's really been quite striking. And it has reached a point now where I think it's something we need to be advance serious attention.

ZAHN: We only have time for one more question. Let's talk about Hans Blix's stinging report to the U.N. yesterday. How much do you think the information in that bolsters President Bush's case? Some of it new, some of it we've heard about before.

POWELL: Well, as we have already seen, everyone is capable of drawing their own completely contradictory conclusions from what Dr. Blix said. But I think on substance, on balance, it does provide some significant support to the president.

ZAHN: And cover?

POWELL: Cover, support, I think it, I think it strengthens his case that these people do have weapons of mass destruction. They are concealing them. And then I think no one would want to bet that given the chance, they would not provide them to those who would use them against us if they thought they could get away with it.

ZAHN: Jody Powell, we appreciate your drop[ping by and spending a little time with us this morning.

POWELL: Thank you.

ZAHN: Appreciate your perspective.

A reminder that CNN's coverage of the State of the Union address begins tonight at 8:45 Eastern time.

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 28, 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 president's challenge in tonight's State of the Union speech will be to convince Americans that the administration is on the right track for disarming Iraq and fixing the economy.
So what kind of message does the president need to deliver?

Well, Jody Powell served as press secretary in the Carter White House and he is now the head of Powell-Tate Public Relations in Washington and he joins us from there this morning.

Good morning.

Good to see you, Jody.

JODY POWELL, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning.

ZAHN: So, as the president's administration looks at polls showing that the American public seems to have growing doubt about military action against Iraq, you know, they asked a bunch of different questions, but without the approval of its allies or without proof of weapons of mass destruction, what is it the president has to do tonight to convince the American public that the military option might be necessary down the road?

POWELL: Well, I think most importantly he needs to frame the argument correctly. He needs to get past this back and forth about smoking guns. That, to combine two metaphors, a smoking gun is really a red herring. There's very little doubt amongst any knowledgeable people that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction, that he's not cooperating, that he is concealing.

The proper question that we need to debate is what then should we and the rest of the civilized world do about it? Which leads to a second challenge, I think, which is to speak more clearly and more consistently to the rest of the world. If we have to deal with this virtually on our own, then we will have to do that. But that really would be a most unfortunate decision to have to make. And we ought to do everything that we possibly can to avoid being in that situation.

ZAHN: So you're saying the president obviously has two distinctly different audiences tonight, the American public and our allies. Do you expect the president to deliver any distinct message to our allies in the State of the Union address?

POWELL: I don't know. I hope he will, though, and I hope that will be followed by a more sustained and consistent effort to speak to them in ways that will bring them to understand the situation more clearly and will not, quite frankly, place sticks in the hands of that element of European society that is always ready to bash the Yanks.

We've sort of given them a lot of things to hit us with and we need to cut off the supply of that sort of ammunition.

ZAHN: Well, CNN broke the story yesterday that a draft of a potential second resolution is being worked on right now as a backup plan. Is that something you think the president should talk about tonight, the fact that it potentially might go along with a second resolution?

POWELL: I think we need to make clear that we will do everything we possibly can to work with our traditional friends and allies and others around the world to deal with what is clearly a very serious threat. If, in the end, we can't do that, then we will have to do what we have to do. But that really is worth quite a serious effort. And probably a U.N. resolution, if we could get that far, would be the most effective. I don't know that we have to have that.

But we, if you think about the deterioration in the standing of America in the rest of the world, not just in Europe, but in the Middle East and in Asia over the past 12 months, it's really been quite striking. And it has reached a point now where I think it's something we need to be advance serious attention.

ZAHN: We only have time for one more question. Let's talk about Hans Blix's stinging report to the U.N. yesterday. How much do you think the information in that bolsters President Bush's case? Some of it new, some of it we've heard about before.

POWELL: Well, as we have already seen, everyone is capable of drawing their own completely contradictory conclusions from what Dr. Blix said. But I think on substance, on balance, it does provide some significant support to the president.

ZAHN: And cover?

POWELL: Cover, support, I think it, I think it strengthens his case that these people do have weapons of mass destruction. They are concealing them. And then I think no one would want to bet that given the chance, they would not provide them to those who would use them against us if they thought they could get away with it.

ZAHN: Jody Powell, we appreciate your drop[ping by and spending a little time with us this morning.

POWELL: Thank you.

ZAHN: Appreciate your perspective.

A reminder that CNN's coverage of the State of the Union address begins tonight at 8:45 Eastern time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com