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American Morning

Morning After Bush Presents Case for War

Aired January 29, 2003 - 09:04   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 morning after President Bush presented his case for war against Iraq, a week before he sends Secretary of State Colin Powell to the U.N. with more evidence against Iraq.
Let's check in with Suzanne Malveaux to find out a little bit more about what the nature of this intelligence information might be and how compelling it might be.

Good morning, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

President Bush left just moments ago from the White House aboard his presidential helicopter. He is heading to Grand Rapids, Michigan. That is where he's going to sell his agenda to the American people. He's going to talk about a number of items, as you've mentioned before, domestic and international. One of them being the economic stimulus pack, $674 billion dollar plan involving tax cuts, as well as incentives to small businesses. He'll also be talking about Medicare reform, prescription drug benefits for the elderly.

But as you had mentioned, of course, he's making his case against Saddam Hussein, once again, the strongest case to date, saying that he believes that there is evidence that the Iraqi leader is connected to terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda. The president also promising that there would be additional evidence in the days to come, that Secretary of State Colin Powell will introduce that new evidence before the U.N. Security Council on February 5th, that there'll be consultations.

The president meeting with prime ministers of Italy, as well as Britain. British Prime Minister Tony Blair over the weekend at Camp David.

Also, we understand that there is debate now about a second resolution with the U.N. Security Council. You may recall that last year, the administration was deadset against that, saying it would simply be a roadblock to progress, but now the administration saying that it would be welcomed, not mandatory, but simply welcomed, because they want to make sure that they have the kind of support for the allies that they believe they need in case military action is necessary.

ZAHN: Thanks, Suzanne.

Suzanne Malveaux reporting live from the White House.

ZAHN: For more on Colin Powell's scheduled appearance before the U.N. Security Council, we turn to senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.

Good morning, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, President bush says he's sending Secretary of State Powell here to the United Nations one week from today, and the president's mandate for his secretary of state is to present -- quote -- "information and intelligence on Iraq's weapons program, its attempts to hide those weapons and its links to terrorist groups." Still a lot of skepticism here at the U.N. Also there are various newspaper reports from officials saying Iraq is doing everything possible to maneuver weapons of mass destruction or any evidence away from the inspectors, perhaps hours before their visit to sites around the country. I asked the spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency about those reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK GWOZOLCKY, IAEA SPOKESMAN: We've heard reports of this nature, and it's not new that Iraq is interested in knowing our plans. And we've had more than a decade of getting used to this and defining procedures to protect that kind of information.

But if it's still taking place today, frankly, it's a mistake, because it doesn't show the kind of cooperative behavior we need out of Iraq, and Iraq Knows it needs to change, or the time is going to run out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The spokesman's boss Mohamed Elbaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Hans Blix will both be briefing the Security Council in closed-door sessions, and answering questions in about 2 1/2 hours. Secretary Powell, though, will be here likely to use intelligence information in making the case to the Security Council. President Bush says Iraq still has not accounted for five different types of biological or chemical weapons -- Paula.

ZAHN: Now, Richard, much reaction to a story in "USA Today" about the fear that perhaps the Iraqis have penetrated the inspection team, somehow, they report that sites cleaned out antiseptically two days even before the inspectors arrived at the sites?

ROTH: Well, the spokesman for the IAEA told me -- quote -- "We have confidence on our people. They're loyal to the U.N. They've signed confidentiality agreements, and he sees no evidence that this might be happening. Of course, you're getting inspectors from many different countries around the world, and anything is possible.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Richard Roth, reporting from the U.N. for us 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






Aired January 29, 2003 - 09:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The morning after President Bush presented his case for war against Iraq, a week before he sends Secretary of State Colin Powell to the U.N. with more evidence against Iraq.
Let's check in with Suzanne Malveaux to find out a little bit more about what the nature of this intelligence information might be and how compelling it might be.

Good morning, Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

President Bush left just moments ago from the White House aboard his presidential helicopter. He is heading to Grand Rapids, Michigan. That is where he's going to sell his agenda to the American people. He's going to talk about a number of items, as you've mentioned before, domestic and international. One of them being the economic stimulus pack, $674 billion dollar plan involving tax cuts, as well as incentives to small businesses. He'll also be talking about Medicare reform, prescription drug benefits for the elderly.

But as you had mentioned, of course, he's making his case against Saddam Hussein, once again, the strongest case to date, saying that he believes that there is evidence that the Iraqi leader is connected to terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda. The president also promising that there would be additional evidence in the days to come, that Secretary of State Colin Powell will introduce that new evidence before the U.N. Security Council on February 5th, that there'll be consultations.

The president meeting with prime ministers of Italy, as well as Britain. British Prime Minister Tony Blair over the weekend at Camp David.

Also, we understand that there is debate now about a second resolution with the U.N. Security Council. You may recall that last year, the administration was deadset against that, saying it would simply be a roadblock to progress, but now the administration saying that it would be welcomed, not mandatory, but simply welcomed, because they want to make sure that they have the kind of support for the allies that they believe they need in case military action is necessary.

ZAHN: Thanks, Suzanne.

Suzanne Malveaux reporting live from the White House.

ZAHN: For more on Colin Powell's scheduled appearance before the U.N. Security Council, we turn to senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth.

Good morning, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

Well, President bush says he's sending Secretary of State Powell here to the United Nations one week from today, and the president's mandate for his secretary of state is to present -- quote -- "information and intelligence on Iraq's weapons program, its attempts to hide those weapons and its links to terrorist groups." Still a lot of skepticism here at the U.N. Also there are various newspaper reports from officials saying Iraq is doing everything possible to maneuver weapons of mass destruction or any evidence away from the inspectors, perhaps hours before their visit to sites around the country. I asked the spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency about those reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK GWOZOLCKY, IAEA SPOKESMAN: We've heard reports of this nature, and it's not new that Iraq is interested in knowing our plans. And we've had more than a decade of getting used to this and defining procedures to protect that kind of information.

But if it's still taking place today, frankly, it's a mistake, because it doesn't show the kind of cooperative behavior we need out of Iraq, and Iraq Knows it needs to change, or the time is going to run out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The spokesman's boss Mohamed Elbaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Hans Blix will both be briefing the Security Council in closed-door sessions, and answering questions in about 2 1/2 hours. Secretary Powell, though, will be here likely to use intelligence information in making the case to the Security Council. President Bush says Iraq still has not accounted for five different types of biological or chemical weapons -- Paula.

ZAHN: Now, Richard, much reaction to a story in "USA Today" about the fear that perhaps the Iraqis have penetrated the inspection team, somehow, they report that sites cleaned out antiseptically two days even before the inspectors arrived at the sites?

ROTH: Well, the spokesman for the IAEA told me -- quote -- "We have confidence on our people. They're loyal to the U.N. They've signed confidentiality agreements, and he sees no evidence that this might be happening. Of course, you're getting inspectors from many different countries around the world, and anything is possible.

ZAHN: Thanks so much, Richard Roth, reporting from the U.N. for us 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