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American Morning
Possible War with Iraq One of Several Threats White House Handling
Aired February 13, 2003 - 08:05 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: Possible war with Iraq is just one of several threats the White House is handling all at the same time. Some new revelations about North Korea's capabilities and the possibility of new terror attacks in the U.S. also have the Bush administration very concerned.
Let's check in with John King, who joins us from the White House with a sense of how they're going to take care of all this stuff -- good morning, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.
Add a struggling U.S. economy to the mix, as well, and follow the president today and you will get a bit of a sample of the challenges facing him. Mr. Bush came out of the Oval Office just a few minutes ago. He is now on his way to Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Bush will have one event on the economy there, then he will move on to a naval base, where he will talk to U.S. forces and talk about the challenges he faces overseas. One, of course, is North Korea, that revelation or the reaffirmation from the CIA yesterday that North Korea perhaps has a missile capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States.
The White House is hoping to resolve the stand-off over North Korea's nuclear program peacefully and diplomatically. It has now been referred to the U.N. Security Council. White House officials are telling us they see several steps ahead, the first being Security Council condemnation of North Korea. But no debate about sanctions right away, if the White House gets its view, again, hoping to resolve this diplomatically over the course of the next several weeks or months.
On Iraq, the timetable, of course, is much more urgent, the president moving by the end of this week, early next week to try to get a decision out of the Security Council to move away from inspections that the administration says are a failure toward possible military confrontation. And that missile Nic Robertson was just discussing will now be a central argument of the Bush administration's case. Secretary Powell and others from the United States will make the case that how can the Security Council ask to prolong an inspections regime when it adopted a resolution that said Iraq must comply completely and fully and immediately and yet even as the inspectors are in Iraq, Iraq is producing missiles that are in violation of its commitment.
So tough diplomatic challenges for the president. He will also highlight some of his tough domestic challenges today while traveling in Florida, discussing the economy even as he tries to accelerate the timetable for dealing with Iraq -- Paula.
ZAHN: How do you think the White House really expects all this to play out at the U.N.?
KING: Well, they keep telling us privately that they think in the end they can force consensus. They also say that much of it is up to the tone and the tenor of that report from Dr. Blix tomorrow. They say if he lays out the case that Iraq is still not cooperating, the White House is simply going to stand up and present the case to the Security Council, how could you have passed a resolution 15 to nothing that says Iraq must be honest, must fully and accurately and immediately comply and now that Iraq is not complying want to drag the process on? A direct challenge to the relevance of the Security Council will come from this White House over the next several days.
ZAHN: Thanks so much, John.
John King reporting from a very chilly White House lawn.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Handling>
Aired February 13, 2003 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Possible war with Iraq is just one of several threats the White House is handling all at the same time. Some new revelations about North Korea's capabilities and the possibility of new terror attacks in the U.S. also have the Bush administration very concerned.
Let's check in with John King, who joins us from the White House with a sense of how they're going to take care of all this stuff -- good morning, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Paula.
Add a struggling U.S. economy to the mix, as well, and follow the president today and you will get a bit of a sample of the challenges facing him. Mr. Bush came out of the Oval Office just a few minutes ago. He is now on his way to Jacksonville, Florida. Mr. Bush will have one event on the economy there, then he will move on to a naval base, where he will talk to U.S. forces and talk about the challenges he faces overseas. One, of course, is North Korea, that revelation or the reaffirmation from the CIA yesterday that North Korea perhaps has a missile capable of reaching the West Coast of the United States.
The White House is hoping to resolve the stand-off over North Korea's nuclear program peacefully and diplomatically. It has now been referred to the U.N. Security Council. White House officials are telling us they see several steps ahead, the first being Security Council condemnation of North Korea. But no debate about sanctions right away, if the White House gets its view, again, hoping to resolve this diplomatically over the course of the next several weeks or months.
On Iraq, the timetable, of course, is much more urgent, the president moving by the end of this week, early next week to try to get a decision out of the Security Council to move away from inspections that the administration says are a failure toward possible military confrontation. And that missile Nic Robertson was just discussing will now be a central argument of the Bush administration's case. Secretary Powell and others from the United States will make the case that how can the Security Council ask to prolong an inspections regime when it adopted a resolution that said Iraq must comply completely and fully and immediately and yet even as the inspectors are in Iraq, Iraq is producing missiles that are in violation of its commitment.
So tough diplomatic challenges for the president. He will also highlight some of his tough domestic challenges today while traveling in Florida, discussing the economy even as he tries to accelerate the timetable for dealing with Iraq -- Paula.
ZAHN: How do you think the White House really expects all this to play out at the U.N.?
KING: Well, they keep telling us privately that they think in the end they can force consensus. They also say that much of it is up to the tone and the tenor of that report from Dr. Blix tomorrow. They say if he lays out the case that Iraq is still not cooperating, the White House is simply going to stand up and present the case to the Security Council, how could you have passed a resolution 15 to nothing that says Iraq must be honest, must fully and accurately and immediately comply and now that Iraq is not complying want to drag the process on? A direct challenge to the relevance of the Security Council will come from this White House over the next several days.
ZAHN: Thanks so much, John.
John King reporting from a very chilly White House lawn.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Handling>
