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American Morning
Is Powell Trip to U.N. Risk Worth Taking?
Aired February 03, 2003 - 08:14 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: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is hiding banned weapons and the U.N. will see that evidence on Wednesday. That's what the secretary of state writes today in a commentary published in the "Wall Street Journal."
Is the Powell trip to the U.N. a risk worth taking?
Ken Pollack back in D.C., author of "The Threatening Storm."
Ken, good morning to you.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
KEN POLLACK, CNN POLICY ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: At the outset, I want to make it clear, you think Saddam Hussein should go, right?
POLLACK: I don't think there's anyone who doesn't agree that Saddam Hussein should go. I think the question is whether we go to war and do we have to do it right now. HEMMER: Given that, strong criticism from you against the White House and leading members of this administration. You say the administration has done an inept job of making its case. You say public diplomacy has been incredibly incompetent.
What gives there, Ken?
POLLACK: Well, look, I think that the administration has a very strong case to make. I think that there is a very powerful case to be made that Saddam Hussein does pose a threat to the United States, that a war will be necessary to remove the threat from Saddam Hussein by removing his government and that, unfortunately, we really have come to the end of our rope. We've tried every other way of dealing with Saddam Hussein. None of them have succeeded. And therefore war is necessary.
But I don't think that the administration has done a very good job of selling that to the American public.
HEMMER: Why not? And what would you change, then, Ken?
POLLACK: Well, first, the first thing is I think the administration ought to get much more involved in selling it to the American public. For months there, we had very little. The president finally came out in the State of the Union and started to make a case. That was important. But there needs to be a lot more follow-up. I think the administration needs to get out there and start explaining what the threat is to Americans, why it is that Saddam Hussein is a threat, why he's different from what we're facing in North Korea or from other countries around the world, why it's something that needs to be addressed and why it's something that needs to be addressed now.
HEMMER: So then why don't you think the sales job has been as good or as forceful as you'd like it to see? And is it possible therein lies the answer, that the evidence is not as strong as some would like it to be?
POLLACK: Well, I don't think that it really comes down to the evidence, to tell you the truth, Bill, because I think that the threat from Saddam Hussein is something much bigger. I think there you can talk about what we know about what Saddam Hussein is trying to acquire, what Saddam Hussein wants to do, the evidence of 34 years of his behavior in power.
I think that we can also talk a lot more about Saddam's human rights record, as President Bush just started to do at the State of the Union. I've gone around the country and spoken to people and I've found that once you start laying this out for people, they do find it to be quite compelling. But they haven't heard the administration making that argument and that is what they desperately want. And this is what I hear from Americans as they say we know Saddam Hussein is evil. We know that the world would be a better place without him. But -- and we're willing to follow the president to war if he tells us that is what's necessary. But we want him to explain to us why.
HEMMER: Interesting. Let's go the Wednesday, Colin Powell. You believe this is a quote, just to use your words here, "an unbelievable gamble." How so?
POLLACK: Well, look, this is a very big risk for the administration. They are betting everything that Colin Powell is going to be able to convince the world that we've actually got the goods on the Iraqis. Now, if we've got the stuff, if we've got good information that is really going to be convincing to the world, I think the administration will hit the jackpot. At this point in time really what we're paying for is the size of the coalition. I think President Bush has made it pretty clear that he intends to go to war to disarm Saddam Hussein and that that's coming very soon, in a matter of weeks.
So the question is how many countries are going to come with us in that war. If Colin Powell goes to the U.N. and he really does have damning evidence against the Iraqis, I think you will see dozens and dozens of countries sign up for that.
HEMMER: Wow.
POLLACK: The problem is that if the evidence is ambiguous or if the evidence is weak, then, in fact, the administration could really hurt its case because most of those countries...
HEMMER: Therein lies the gamble.
POLLACK: Right.
HEMMER: That's right.
Quickly here, Ken, talking about the deadline here, the "L.A. Times" reporting again today possibly a six week deadline set up by the Brits and the Americans.
Does that fit into time frame that you now see on the schedule?
POLLACK: I think that six weeks seems reasonable. You know, the big question out there is when is the military set to go. And we've heard all kinds of different estimates. And to some extent it depends on exactly what the military plan is. When the military is ready to go, I think that'll be the biggest issue for President Bush. That's when he's going to want to bring this all to a head.
HEMMER: And the number one thing we continue to hear from our viewers, is there war or is there not war coming? And we all wait for that answer.
Thank you, Ken.
We'll talk again.
POLLACK: Thanks, Bill.
Take care.
HEMMER: Ken Pollack live in D.C.
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 February 3, 2003 - 08:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is hiding banned weapons and the U.N. will see that evidence on Wednesday. That's what the secretary of state writes today in a commentary published in the "Wall Street Journal."
Is the Powell trip to the U.N. a risk worth taking?
Ken Pollack back in D.C., author of "The Threatening Storm."
Ken, good morning to you.
Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
KEN POLLACK, CNN POLICY ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
HEMMER: At the outset, I want to make it clear, you think Saddam Hussein should go, right?
POLLACK: I don't think there's anyone who doesn't agree that Saddam Hussein should go. I think the question is whether we go to war and do we have to do it right now. HEMMER: Given that, strong criticism from you against the White House and leading members of this administration. You say the administration has done an inept job of making its case. You say public diplomacy has been incredibly incompetent.
What gives there, Ken?
POLLACK: Well, look, I think that the administration has a very strong case to make. I think that there is a very powerful case to be made that Saddam Hussein does pose a threat to the United States, that a war will be necessary to remove the threat from Saddam Hussein by removing his government and that, unfortunately, we really have come to the end of our rope. We've tried every other way of dealing with Saddam Hussein. None of them have succeeded. And therefore war is necessary.
But I don't think that the administration has done a very good job of selling that to the American public.
HEMMER: Why not? And what would you change, then, Ken?
POLLACK: Well, first, the first thing is I think the administration ought to get much more involved in selling it to the American public. For months there, we had very little. The president finally came out in the State of the Union and started to make a case. That was important. But there needs to be a lot more follow-up. I think the administration needs to get out there and start explaining what the threat is to Americans, why it is that Saddam Hussein is a threat, why he's different from what we're facing in North Korea or from other countries around the world, why it's something that needs to be addressed and why it's something that needs to be addressed now.
HEMMER: So then why don't you think the sales job has been as good or as forceful as you'd like it to see? And is it possible therein lies the answer, that the evidence is not as strong as some would like it to be?
POLLACK: Well, I don't think that it really comes down to the evidence, to tell you the truth, Bill, because I think that the threat from Saddam Hussein is something much bigger. I think there you can talk about what we know about what Saddam Hussein is trying to acquire, what Saddam Hussein wants to do, the evidence of 34 years of his behavior in power.
I think that we can also talk a lot more about Saddam's human rights record, as President Bush just started to do at the State of the Union. I've gone around the country and spoken to people and I've found that once you start laying this out for people, they do find it to be quite compelling. But they haven't heard the administration making that argument and that is what they desperately want. And this is what I hear from Americans as they say we know Saddam Hussein is evil. We know that the world would be a better place without him. But -- and we're willing to follow the president to war if he tells us that is what's necessary. But we want him to explain to us why.
HEMMER: Interesting. Let's go the Wednesday, Colin Powell. You believe this is a quote, just to use your words here, "an unbelievable gamble." How so?
POLLACK: Well, look, this is a very big risk for the administration. They are betting everything that Colin Powell is going to be able to convince the world that we've actually got the goods on the Iraqis. Now, if we've got the stuff, if we've got good information that is really going to be convincing to the world, I think the administration will hit the jackpot. At this point in time really what we're paying for is the size of the coalition. I think President Bush has made it pretty clear that he intends to go to war to disarm Saddam Hussein and that that's coming very soon, in a matter of weeks.
So the question is how many countries are going to come with us in that war. If Colin Powell goes to the U.N. and he really does have damning evidence against the Iraqis, I think you will see dozens and dozens of countries sign up for that.
HEMMER: Wow.
POLLACK: The problem is that if the evidence is ambiguous or if the evidence is weak, then, in fact, the administration could really hurt its case because most of those countries...
HEMMER: Therein lies the gamble.
POLLACK: Right.
HEMMER: That's right.
Quickly here, Ken, talking about the deadline here, the "L.A. Times" reporting again today possibly a six week deadline set up by the Brits and the Americans.
Does that fit into time frame that you now see on the schedule?
POLLACK: I think that six weeks seems reasonable. You know, the big question out there is when is the military set to go. And we've heard all kinds of different estimates. And to some extent it depends on exactly what the military plan is. When the military is ready to go, I think that'll be the biggest issue for President Bush. That's when he's going to want to bring this all to a head.
HEMMER: And the number one thing we continue to hear from our viewers, is there war or is there not war coming? And we all wait for that answer.
Thank you, Ken.
We'll talk again.
POLLACK: Thanks, Bill.
Take care.
HEMMER: Ken Pollack live in D.C.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
