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American Morning
President Says Blunt Message Should be Delivered to Iraq
Aired February 07, 2003 - 09:02 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: The president says a blunt message right now should be delivered to Iraq. They must disarm, he says, or face the consequences.
Dana Bash live at the White House on the Front Lawn, watching and waiting on more word today from there.
Good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, you're right, Bill, the pressure from the president certainly was turned up yesterday. And the White House does believe that despite the public comments today from some of the key allies, like France and Russia, the world, in general, is moving their way in dealing with Iraq.
But there is concern here that Iraq is trying to show that they're bending to go some of the U.N. demands by allowing things like interviews with Iraqi scientists in the effort to thwart any kind of momentum that the White House has picked up since the Secretary of State Colin Powell made his presentation at the U.N. on Wednesday.
So the president said, made very clear, that he believes time is up for Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will not wait to see what terrorists or terror states could do with chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein can now be expected to begin another round of empty concessions, transparently false denials. No doubt, he will play a last-minute game of deception. The game is over. All of the world can rise to this moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, while making clear that they have essentially given up on Saddam Hussein complying with any kind of weapons inspections, the White House is now putting their focus on getting as much international support as possible, a focus on some of the reluctant allies like France and Russia, trying to really rally reluctant members of the United Nations.
The president making clear that the United Nations made a promise to use, potentially use force in November and that their relevance is at stake here, and that's really what the president and the White House is trying to do right now, gather international support.
HEMMER: Dana thank you. Dana Bash, Front Lawn of the White House.
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 7, 2003 - 09:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The president says a blunt message right now should be delivered to Iraq. They must disarm, he says, or face the consequences.
Dana Bash live at the White House on the Front Lawn, watching and waiting on more word today from there.
Good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Well, you're right, Bill, the pressure from the president certainly was turned up yesterday. And the White House does believe that despite the public comments today from some of the key allies, like France and Russia, the world, in general, is moving their way in dealing with Iraq.
But there is concern here that Iraq is trying to show that they're bending to go some of the U.N. demands by allowing things like interviews with Iraqi scientists in the effort to thwart any kind of momentum that the White House has picked up since the Secretary of State Colin Powell made his presentation at the U.N. on Wednesday.
So the president said, made very clear, that he believes time is up for Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will not wait to see what terrorists or terror states could do with chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons. Saddam Hussein can now be expected to begin another round of empty concessions, transparently false denials. No doubt, he will play a last-minute game of deception. The game is over. All of the world can rise to this moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, while making clear that they have essentially given up on Saddam Hussein complying with any kind of weapons inspections, the White House is now putting their focus on getting as much international support as possible, a focus on some of the reluctant allies like France and Russia, trying to really rally reluctant members of the United Nations.
The president making clear that the United Nations made a promise to use, potentially use force in November and that their relevance is at stake here, and that's really what the president and the White House is trying to do right now, gather international support.
HEMMER: Dana thank you. Dana Bash, Front Lawn of the White House.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
