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Secretary of State Will Present Bush Administration's Strongest Case Yet
Aired February 05, 2003 - 08:03 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: Back to our top story of the morning, Secretary of State Powell goes to the U.N. this morning for what could be the turning point in the confrontation with Iraq. The secretary of state will present the Bush administration's strongest case yet for taking action against Saddam Hussein's regime.
Dana Bash joins us now from the White House with a look at what they are saying there in advance of the secretary's appearance -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, as you've been talking about all morning, the stakes for this presentation really couldn't be higher, in part because the president himself previewed this in his State of the Union address.
Now, here at the White House, I should say, at this hour, the president himself is giving a briefing to key members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans. He's giving them a preview of what the secretary will say later today.
Now, the secretary's presentation, we are told, will be about a 90 minute long presentation, audio, video, really a multi-media presentation the likes of which the U.N. hasn't seen in quite some time. And the main thrust of Secretary Powell's presentation will be to show officials at the U.N. that Iraq is, first of all, has weapons of mass destruction and second of all, is hiding them from the inspectors, the very inspectors that the U.N. sent to Iraq to find them.
Now, here are some of the main thrusts of Secretary Powell's argument today.
First of all, he's going to say that, show satellite photographs that show that just before weapons inspectors arrived at sites, Iraqis intentionally moved their weapons of mass destruction. Also, he will show, play intercepted conversations between Iraqi officials discussing how to hide weapons and coaching Iraqi scientists on what to say to U.N. officials. And he will also give some intelligence of recent Iraqi imports of banned materials.
Now, the secretary has been up in New York for a day now. Yesterday he met with some Chinese officials. And we are told that, also, part of this presentation later today, Paula, will be a discussion of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda. He will not make this, we are told, a big part of the presentation, but he will talk about the fact that some al Qaeda operatives did make it into Iraq.
Now, Secretary Powell along with a lot of folks here at the White House have been sifting through mountains, really mountains of intelligence, classified information that they say really does show that Iraq is, has weapons of mass destruction and is not complying with the U.N. and the U.N.'s will. And they've been sifting through this trying to figure out really what they can release, what they can show in today's presentation that won't hurt their intelligence sources and really get anybody in serious danger.
The other thing I should say is that somebody who will be sitting by Secretary Powell's side today will be the CIA director, George Tenet. That will certainly be symbolic, to show that what the secretary is showing is real, hard evidence of the U.S. claim that Saddam Hussein does have these weapons of mass destruction -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks for the update, Dana Bash.
Dana just mentioned that some of the congressional leaders will be coming out of a weekly breakfast that is held with the president. And when they surface and take to the mikes, we will cover it live. I just wanted to give you that warning in case I have to rudely interrupt my next guest.
In advance of Colin Powell's U.N. presentation, British Prime Minister Tony Blair lobbied French President Jacques Chirac to join a U.S.-led coalition against Iraq. But Chirac believes the inspection process isn't complete yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. JACQUES CHIRAC, FRANCE: I consider that we must wait. I mean, after all, we adopted one particular strategy, which was that of inspection. And so I feel that we have to have confidence in the inspectors, and that's my case, and I believe, in fact, it's everybody's case. And we have to allow them the freedom to have the amount of time that they need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Well, that gives us an idea of just what Secretary of State Powell is up against this morning.
So what can we expect from him as he tries to build the U.S. case?
Let's go to Sante Fe, New Mexico, where Governor Bill Richardson is standing by, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Good morning, sir.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: How do want me to address you this morning? As governor?
RICHARDSON: How about governor? I've finally made it. ZAHN: Governor will do.
You have gotten and idea from some of our White House reporting as to what Secretary of State Powell is going to lay out and how he is going to do it. Based on what you've heard so far, how convincing -- and particularly -- in particular will this intercepted audiotape be?
RICHARDSON: Well, I think this is going to be the most important appearance of an American official at the United Nations since Adlai Stevenson tried to convince the world that the Russians had missiles in Cuba. Sort of the stakes are very high, Paula.
I think that it's been established that Iraq is not cooperating. Even the U.N. inspectors have said that. So there's a higher threshold.
Secretary Powell, if he does show telephone intercepts, that's going to be a first. That, hopefully that won't compromise sources and methods. But I think the stakes are so high that he's going to have to use that.
In addition, I think purchases of weapons related equipment that the Iraqis have done in the past, the trying to influence the scientists, having Iraqis present when U.N. inspectors are interviewing scientists.
The audience, though, here, Paula, is very limited. You, we just heard the French president. France can kill you in the Security Council if you don't get their support. You have to, they have the veto power. They're the most skillful diplomats in getting support within the U.N. So that's a key audience. World opinion, too. I mean we are losing international support on this.
And, also, I think Colin Powell, who's probably the most admired guy in the country, he has to really the American people behind the president's policy. I notice even here in New Mexico a little bit of deterioration of that support.
ZAHN: You know, you talked about really the three separate audiences he will be addressing today. Let's come back to France for a moment. Do you believe it is possible for Colin Powell to move the French on this one?
RICHARDSON: The French are going to be watching one part of Colin Powell's speech and that is the potential Iraqi ties to al Qaeda. That's a big issue in France. If there is corroborative evidence linking al Qaeda to Iraq other than just visits and spies talking to each other, then I think we will start moving France.
But in addition to that, I believe that France needs a higher threshold besides the fact that Iraq is deceiving inspectors, that it has failed to disarm. If France goes with us, then Russia will be with us, China will be with us, Britain will -- well, has been with us, but I think the second big issue the administration will confront -- it'll depend on Powell's speech -- is do we seek a second U.N. Security Council saying that there's material breach, basically giving us authority to go militarily?
That's going to be the key and that'll depend on the reaction to Secretary Powell's speech.
ZAHN: In closing, I want to talk about that other very important audience that you touched upon, the American public. And according to a new Gallup poll, almost nine out of 10 Americans say that the briefing today will be important in deciding their views on attacking Iraq.
How does Secretary Powell convince this overwhelming majority of Americans that this would be the right thing to do?
RICHARDSON: Well, first of all, Colin Powell is the most trusted and most popular American. So that's a big plus for the administration. Secondly, you know, Americans like evidence. They want to see photographs. They want to see evidence of mobile labs that the Iraqis are moving. They want to see those telephone intercepts. But I think here this threshold is a little dangerous, Paula, because what you don't want to do is compromise some of the sources and methods that we have of getting those telephone intercepts. You don't want the Iraqis to know how extensive our eavesdropping is or anybody.
So I'm going to be very, very interested in the juggling act that is going to be performed. But we have to go all out. You know, the president has staked this as a huge issue for him. He has to show a lot of evidence, photographs, you know, 90 minutes, they're jazzing it up. I think that's important. And there's probably nobody better than Colin Powell to do it.
So I think that they'll come out OK. But what'll be decisive is do we seek a second U.N. Security Council?
ZAHN: Sure.
RICHARDSON: I think we should. And then, secondly, is world and American opinion going to shift back to the administration's position, because it's been drifting away.
ZAHN: That's what we'll all be watching for.
Governor Bill Richardson, thanks for getting up at the crack of dawn to be with us this morning.
RICHARDSON: Thank you.
ZAHN: We appreciate it.
We just wanted to remind you all to stay tuned to CNN for special coverage of Colin Powell at the United Nations beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, when Wolf Blitzer will be joining me -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It almost sounds like a prosecutor in moot court today, on the job for Colin Powell, presenting this evidence and allowing the jury of the world to look at it and decide for themselves what they think.
ZAHN: It's going to be a tough challenge.
HEMMER: Oh, I'm with you there.
A big day today there. We also know the Pentagon is taking a major step in the buildup of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf. Another aircraft carrier now heading for the region.
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon up with us this morning for more on that -- Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning.
Yes, indeed, a fourth aircraft carrier is now on its way to the Persian Gulf region and possible war. The carrier Theodore Roosevelt, accompanied by eight of its surface warships, is now on its way to the Mediterranean. It will be in the region before the month is out.
Now, it will join three aircraft carriers already in the region. Let's run through those. The Harry Truman is already in the Mediterranean. The Constellation is in the Gulf. And the Abraham Lincoln is now in the Arabian Sea.
And, of course, each of these carrier battle groups brings a huge amount of firepower with them, approximately 50 aircraft fighters on each of their decks. They're also accompanied by those surface warships. There's going to be about 20 or more surface warships in the region. All of them capable of firing Tomahawk missiles, those unmanned cruise missiles that everybody expects to see in the opening days of any war against Iraq -- Bill.
HEMMER: Barbara, on another topic that we haven't talked about a lot in the past few months, the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. There is news from them. What's happening there in Cuba?
STARR: Indeed, Bill, there is news. In the last three weeks we now know there have been four suicide attempts by detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay. The first one in this latest spate was on January 16th. A man attempted to hang himself. Apparently quite serious. He's still in the hospital. There have been three attempts since then. The military tells us they are reviewing their procedures at Guantanamo -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Barbara, thank you.
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Strongest Case Yet>
Aired February 5, 2003 - 08:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back to our top story of the morning, Secretary of State Powell goes to the U.N. this morning for what could be the turning point in the confrontation with Iraq. The secretary of state will present the Bush administration's strongest case yet for taking action against Saddam Hussein's regime.
Dana Bash joins us now from the White House with a look at what they are saying there in advance of the secretary's appearance -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, as you've been talking about all morning, the stakes for this presentation really couldn't be higher, in part because the president himself previewed this in his State of the Union address.
Now, here at the White House, I should say, at this hour, the president himself is giving a briefing to key members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans. He's giving them a preview of what the secretary will say later today.
Now, the secretary's presentation, we are told, will be about a 90 minute long presentation, audio, video, really a multi-media presentation the likes of which the U.N. hasn't seen in quite some time. And the main thrust of Secretary Powell's presentation will be to show officials at the U.N. that Iraq is, first of all, has weapons of mass destruction and second of all, is hiding them from the inspectors, the very inspectors that the U.N. sent to Iraq to find them.
Now, here are some of the main thrusts of Secretary Powell's argument today.
First of all, he's going to say that, show satellite photographs that show that just before weapons inspectors arrived at sites, Iraqis intentionally moved their weapons of mass destruction. Also, he will show, play intercepted conversations between Iraqi officials discussing how to hide weapons and coaching Iraqi scientists on what to say to U.N. officials. And he will also give some intelligence of recent Iraqi imports of banned materials.
Now, the secretary has been up in New York for a day now. Yesterday he met with some Chinese officials. And we are told that, also, part of this presentation later today, Paula, will be a discussion of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda. He will not make this, we are told, a big part of the presentation, but he will talk about the fact that some al Qaeda operatives did make it into Iraq.
Now, Secretary Powell along with a lot of folks here at the White House have been sifting through mountains, really mountains of intelligence, classified information that they say really does show that Iraq is, has weapons of mass destruction and is not complying with the U.N. and the U.N.'s will. And they've been sifting through this trying to figure out really what they can release, what they can show in today's presentation that won't hurt their intelligence sources and really get anybody in serious danger.
The other thing I should say is that somebody who will be sitting by Secretary Powell's side today will be the CIA director, George Tenet. That will certainly be symbolic, to show that what the secretary is showing is real, hard evidence of the U.S. claim that Saddam Hussein does have these weapons of mass destruction -- Paula.
ZAHN: Thanks for the update, Dana Bash.
Dana just mentioned that some of the congressional leaders will be coming out of a weekly breakfast that is held with the president. And when they surface and take to the mikes, we will cover it live. I just wanted to give you that warning in case I have to rudely interrupt my next guest.
In advance of Colin Powell's U.N. presentation, British Prime Minister Tony Blair lobbied French President Jacques Chirac to join a U.S.-led coalition against Iraq. But Chirac believes the inspection process isn't complete yet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRES. JACQUES CHIRAC, FRANCE: I consider that we must wait. I mean, after all, we adopted one particular strategy, which was that of inspection. And so I feel that we have to have confidence in the inspectors, and that's my case, and I believe, in fact, it's everybody's case. And we have to allow them the freedom to have the amount of time that they need.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Well, that gives us an idea of just what Secretary of State Powell is up against this morning.
So what can we expect from him as he tries to build the U.S. case?
Let's go to Sante Fe, New Mexico, where Governor Bill Richardson is standing by, a former U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
Good morning, sir.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: How do want me to address you this morning? As governor?
RICHARDSON: How about governor? I've finally made it. ZAHN: Governor will do.
You have gotten and idea from some of our White House reporting as to what Secretary of State Powell is going to lay out and how he is going to do it. Based on what you've heard so far, how convincing -- and particularly -- in particular will this intercepted audiotape be?
RICHARDSON: Well, I think this is going to be the most important appearance of an American official at the United Nations since Adlai Stevenson tried to convince the world that the Russians had missiles in Cuba. Sort of the stakes are very high, Paula.
I think that it's been established that Iraq is not cooperating. Even the U.N. inspectors have said that. So there's a higher threshold.
Secretary Powell, if he does show telephone intercepts, that's going to be a first. That, hopefully that won't compromise sources and methods. But I think the stakes are so high that he's going to have to use that.
In addition, I think purchases of weapons related equipment that the Iraqis have done in the past, the trying to influence the scientists, having Iraqis present when U.N. inspectors are interviewing scientists.
The audience, though, here, Paula, is very limited. You, we just heard the French president. France can kill you in the Security Council if you don't get their support. You have to, they have the veto power. They're the most skillful diplomats in getting support within the U.N. So that's a key audience. World opinion, too. I mean we are losing international support on this.
And, also, I think Colin Powell, who's probably the most admired guy in the country, he has to really the American people behind the president's policy. I notice even here in New Mexico a little bit of deterioration of that support.
ZAHN: You know, you talked about really the three separate audiences he will be addressing today. Let's come back to France for a moment. Do you believe it is possible for Colin Powell to move the French on this one?
RICHARDSON: The French are going to be watching one part of Colin Powell's speech and that is the potential Iraqi ties to al Qaeda. That's a big issue in France. If there is corroborative evidence linking al Qaeda to Iraq other than just visits and spies talking to each other, then I think we will start moving France.
But in addition to that, I believe that France needs a higher threshold besides the fact that Iraq is deceiving inspectors, that it has failed to disarm. If France goes with us, then Russia will be with us, China will be with us, Britain will -- well, has been with us, but I think the second big issue the administration will confront -- it'll depend on Powell's speech -- is do we seek a second U.N. Security Council saying that there's material breach, basically giving us authority to go militarily?
That's going to be the key and that'll depend on the reaction to Secretary Powell's speech.
ZAHN: In closing, I want to talk about that other very important audience that you touched upon, the American public. And according to a new Gallup poll, almost nine out of 10 Americans say that the briefing today will be important in deciding their views on attacking Iraq.
How does Secretary Powell convince this overwhelming majority of Americans that this would be the right thing to do?
RICHARDSON: Well, first of all, Colin Powell is the most trusted and most popular American. So that's a big plus for the administration. Secondly, you know, Americans like evidence. They want to see photographs. They want to see evidence of mobile labs that the Iraqis are moving. They want to see those telephone intercepts. But I think here this threshold is a little dangerous, Paula, because what you don't want to do is compromise some of the sources and methods that we have of getting those telephone intercepts. You don't want the Iraqis to know how extensive our eavesdropping is or anybody.
So I'm going to be very, very interested in the juggling act that is going to be performed. But we have to go all out. You know, the president has staked this as a huge issue for him. He has to show a lot of evidence, photographs, you know, 90 minutes, they're jazzing it up. I think that's important. And there's probably nobody better than Colin Powell to do it.
So I think that they'll come out OK. But what'll be decisive is do we seek a second U.N. Security Council?
ZAHN: Sure.
RICHARDSON: I think we should. And then, secondly, is world and American opinion going to shift back to the administration's position, because it's been drifting away.
ZAHN: That's what we'll all be watching for.
Governor Bill Richardson, thanks for getting up at the crack of dawn to be with us this morning.
RICHARDSON: Thank you.
ZAHN: We appreciate it.
We just wanted to remind you all to stay tuned to CNN for special coverage of Colin Powell at the United Nations beginning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, when Wolf Blitzer will be joining me -- Bill.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It almost sounds like a prosecutor in moot court today, on the job for Colin Powell, presenting this evidence and allowing the jury of the world to look at it and decide for themselves what they think.
ZAHN: It's going to be a tough challenge.
HEMMER: Oh, I'm with you there.
A big day today there. We also know the Pentagon is taking a major step in the buildup of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf. Another aircraft carrier now heading for the region.
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon up with us this morning for more on that -- Barbara, good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bill, good morning.
Yes, indeed, a fourth aircraft carrier is now on its way to the Persian Gulf region and possible war. The carrier Theodore Roosevelt, accompanied by eight of its surface warships, is now on its way to the Mediterranean. It will be in the region before the month is out.
Now, it will join three aircraft carriers already in the region. Let's run through those. The Harry Truman is already in the Mediterranean. The Constellation is in the Gulf. And the Abraham Lincoln is now in the Arabian Sea.
And, of course, each of these carrier battle groups brings a huge amount of firepower with them, approximately 50 aircraft fighters on each of their decks. They're also accompanied by those surface warships. There's going to be about 20 or more surface warships in the region. All of them capable of firing Tomahawk missiles, those unmanned cruise missiles that everybody expects to see in the opening days of any war against Iraq -- Bill.
HEMMER: Barbara, on another topic that we haven't talked about a lot in the past few months, the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. There is news from them. What's happening there in Cuba?
STARR: Indeed, Bill, there is news. In the last three weeks we now know there have been four suicide attempts by detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay. The first one in this latest spate was on January 16th. A man attempted to hang himself. Apparently quite serious. He's still in the hospital. There have been three attempts since then. The military tells us they are reviewing their procedures at Guantanamo -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Barbara, thank you.
Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Strongest Case Yet>
