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Bush Administration Planning to Provide Evidence Iraq Hiding Weapons
Aired January 28, 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And as we've been reporting, the Bush administration is planning to provide evidence next week that Iraq is actively hiding weapons.
Our Dana Bash is standing by at the White House with more on that and a prelude to the very important State of the Union address tonight -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, the administration has a lot of convincing to do. The president is going to face an increasingly skeptical American public and, of course, a skeptical world, the world that says that it needs to be convinced of the fact that the U.S. feels that it needs to use military action against Saddam Hussein.
So the White House is engaged in a massive push and, of course, that push begins with the speech tonight, the State of the Union speech. There you see a president practicing yesterday. He will talk about the fact that Iraq poses a very serious threat to the United States. He will not declare war, but he will say that the prospect for war is very real.
He will potentially give some new evidence. Unclear how much he will give, but he will lay out some of the things that we've heard from the U.N. weapons inspectors about what kinds of chemical and biological weapons the world thinks that Saddam Hussein has.
Now, the world is looking for evidence, so the administration has decided that as early as next week they will give some of that over. They will talk about the fact that Saddam Hussein has actively tried to conceal his weapons programs, perhaps show some satellite photos, perhaps give some intercepts that prove all this. has been an ongoing debate here at the White House, Paula, about how and what kind of evidence to give over. They know that they have to convince with hard evidence the world that Saddam Hussein really is a threat. But the kind of evidence and how to do it really is a big problem, because they also, they don't want to hurt any kind of potential military target if the United States does go to war -- Paula.
ZAHN: We just had a conversation with Dan Bartlett, the communications director for the president, and he said the speech is "baked," in his vernacular, ready to go. He doesn't anticipate any major changes. I'm just curious if you know anything about this memo that's gone out with talking points to Republicans where I guess they are supposed to emphasize in advance of tonight's speech the fact that the economy will get a great deal of time and health care and religious social services and then lastly Iraq, just any information on the emphasis of the speech.
BASH: Well, they're saying that the speech itself is probably about half international affairs, half domestic affairs. But that's exactly right, the administration wants to make sure to keep talking about the economy. The recent polls, our poll, CNN's poll shows that Americans aren't as hopeful about the Bush economy and the Bush agenda in dealing with the economy as they once were.
So they want to make sure to keep talking about it, to keep talking about the fact that they believe that they have solutions. Especially at a time where the media, the world is really talking about and focused on Iraq, they want to make sure that Americans who are home and worried about the fact that they don't have jobs and the fact that their 401Ks are slipping, that they want to make sure that they think that the president is dealing with that, as well.
ZAHN: Dana Bash, thanks for the update.
See you a little bit later on this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Hiding Weapons>
Aired January 28, 2003 - 07:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And as we've been reporting, the Bush administration is planning to provide evidence next week that Iraq is actively hiding weapons.
Our Dana Bash is standing by at the White House with more on that and a prelude to the very important State of the Union address tonight -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, the administration has a lot of convincing to do. The president is going to face an increasingly skeptical American public and, of course, a skeptical world, the world that says that it needs to be convinced of the fact that the U.S. feels that it needs to use military action against Saddam Hussein.
So the White House is engaged in a massive push and, of course, that push begins with the speech tonight, the State of the Union speech. There you see a president practicing yesterday. He will talk about the fact that Iraq poses a very serious threat to the United States. He will not declare war, but he will say that the prospect for war is very real.
He will potentially give some new evidence. Unclear how much he will give, but he will lay out some of the things that we've heard from the U.N. weapons inspectors about what kinds of chemical and biological weapons the world thinks that Saddam Hussein has.
Now, the world is looking for evidence, so the administration has decided that as early as next week they will give some of that over. They will talk about the fact that Saddam Hussein has actively tried to conceal his weapons programs, perhaps show some satellite photos, perhaps give some intercepts that prove all this. has been an ongoing debate here at the White House, Paula, about how and what kind of evidence to give over. They know that they have to convince with hard evidence the world that Saddam Hussein really is a threat. But the kind of evidence and how to do it really is a big problem, because they also, they don't want to hurt any kind of potential military target if the United States does go to war -- Paula.
ZAHN: We just had a conversation with Dan Bartlett, the communications director for the president, and he said the speech is "baked," in his vernacular, ready to go. He doesn't anticipate any major changes. I'm just curious if you know anything about this memo that's gone out with talking points to Republicans where I guess they are supposed to emphasize in advance of tonight's speech the fact that the economy will get a great deal of time and health care and religious social services and then lastly Iraq, just any information on the emphasis of the speech.
BASH: Well, they're saying that the speech itself is probably about half international affairs, half domestic affairs. But that's exactly right, the administration wants to make sure to keep talking about the economy. The recent polls, our poll, CNN's poll shows that Americans aren't as hopeful about the Bush economy and the Bush agenda in dealing with the economy as they once were.
So they want to make sure to keep talking about it, to keep talking about the fact that they believe that they have solutions. Especially at a time where the media, the world is really talking about and focused on Iraq, they want to make sure that Americans who are home and worried about the fact that they don't have jobs and the fact that their 401Ks are slipping, that they want to make sure that they think that the president is dealing with that, as well.
ZAHN: Dana Bash, thanks for the update.
See you a little bit later on this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Hiding Weapons>
