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American Morning
Showdown Iraq: The Pressure is On
Aired February 07, 2003 - 07:32 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: Want to get back to the latest on Iraq right now. To the White House where the president says the U.S. is open to a second U.N. resolution that would make it clear that Iraq must disarm. That clearly the signal from the White House yesterday with the words of the president "the game is over."
Dana Bash now live on the front lawn with more on what is being said today.
Good morning -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well the president made clear that Saddam Hussein's time is up for in terms of giving up his weapons of mass destruction. He didn't ask for him to give up his weapons of mass destruction, instead he said very pointedly that it's really now in the ball and this ball is in the court of the United Nations and they, at this point, are risking irrelevancy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On November 8, by demanding the immediate disarmament of Iraq, the United Nations Security Council spoke with clarity and authority. Now, the Security Council will show whether its words have any meaning. Having made its demands, the Security Council must not back down when those demands are defied and mocked by a dictator.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now with Colin Powell standing by his side, the president said he is open to a second resolution at the United Nations, but he did not explicitly say that that resolution would have to guarantee or authorize the use of force. The White House has been making it very clear that they believe that under previous resolutions, specifically 1441 that passed in November, they already have that authorization to use force.
So the open question now is if there is a second resolution, what it would say, and that is going to be the subject of intense diplomacy going on right now to see if they can cobble to (ph) get there's (ph) some kind of compromise language on a second resolution -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana, quickly here, in Iraq, apparently some interview has taken place with one of these -- the inspectors and one of the Iraqi scientists. Apparently they met for about three-and-a-half hours. Any reaction from the White House about possible moves on the Iraqi side that are conciliatory?
BASH: Well that's another thing that the president himself brought up yesterday, Bill. He made clear that you know when Iraq makes moves like the one that they've -- the ones that they've been making lately in terms of allowing Iraqi scientists to be interviewed, he was warning some of the -- of the allies at the U.N., don't be fooled. He said that this is just a game of deception, and it is something that the White House is concerned about that these kinds of moves by Saddam Hussein could hurt their diplomacy, so to speak, at the United Nations.
HEMMER: Thanks, Dana. Dana Bash at the White House 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 February 7, 2003 - 07:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Want to get back to the latest on Iraq right now. To the White House where the president says the U.S. is open to a second U.N. resolution that would make it clear that Iraq must disarm. That clearly the signal from the White House yesterday with the words of the president "the game is over."
Dana Bash now live on the front lawn with more on what is being said today.
Good morning -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
Well the president made clear that Saddam Hussein's time is up for in terms of giving up his weapons of mass destruction. He didn't ask for him to give up his weapons of mass destruction, instead he said very pointedly that it's really now in the ball and this ball is in the court of the United Nations and they, at this point, are risking irrelevancy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: On November 8, by demanding the immediate disarmament of Iraq, the United Nations Security Council spoke with clarity and authority. Now, the Security Council will show whether its words have any meaning. Having made its demands, the Security Council must not back down when those demands are defied and mocked by a dictator.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now with Colin Powell standing by his side, the president said he is open to a second resolution at the United Nations, but he did not explicitly say that that resolution would have to guarantee or authorize the use of force. The White House has been making it very clear that they believe that under previous resolutions, specifically 1441 that passed in November, they already have that authorization to use force.
So the open question now is if there is a second resolution, what it would say, and that is going to be the subject of intense diplomacy going on right now to see if they can cobble to (ph) get there's (ph) some kind of compromise language on a second resolution -- Bill.
HEMMER: Dana, quickly here, in Iraq, apparently some interview has taken place with one of these -- the inspectors and one of the Iraqi scientists. Apparently they met for about three-and-a-half hours. Any reaction from the White House about possible moves on the Iraqi side that are conciliatory?
BASH: Well that's another thing that the president himself brought up yesterday, Bill. He made clear that you know when Iraq makes moves like the one that they've -- the ones that they've been making lately in terms of allowing Iraqi scientists to be interviewed, he was warning some of the -- of the allies at the U.N., don't be fooled. He said that this is just a game of deception, and it is something that the White House is concerned about that these kinds of moves by Saddam Hussein could hurt their diplomacy, so to speak, at the United Nations.
HEMMER: Thanks, Dana. Dana Bash at the White House 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
