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American Morning
Discussion with Governor Bill Richardson
Aired February 24, 2003 - 08:15 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: As promised, we want to get to Washington right now to talk more about the situation with Iraq and also the latest diplomatic moves regarding North Korea.
Bill Richardson, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in the Clinton years, now governor of New Mexico, is our guest this morning in D.C.
Good to see you, Governor.
Good morning to you.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Thank you. Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Make sense of the words today from Iraq. Seriously considering destroying these missiles. Will make a decision soon. Why not just come out and say it, we're going to do it, and get rid of them?
RICHARDSON: Well, this is Iraq's typical stall game. They're saying they're considering it. They'll take their sweet time to decide. It's an effort to delay and basically build more support for their position with France and Russia. Russia, the foreign, ex- foreign minister, Primikov is there. Primikov has been in Iraq the last three crises. It's a ploy to basically buy time for the Iraqis.
I don't believe that the Iraqis are going to comply, not just with the missile, but also allowing Iraqi scientists to be interrogated. Possibly they'll do a little breakthrough on the reconnaissance flights. But the basic stance will be to delay and not comply fully with that Security Council resolution.
HEMMER: Listen, given that answer and looking at the screen here, we have the words here in the form of a question, "is war inevitable?" You believe war will happen. Is that the reason for some of the reasons you just stated, more games, more hide and seek?
RICHARDSON: Well, I believe war is inevitable. It's very near inevitable. I think nonetheless the United States should proceed with a second resolution to try to get Iraq in material breach and a serious consequences language. But it's going to be uphill in the Security Council. I think the objective should be to get abstentions from France and Russia and then get nine votes out of the 15 in the permanent Security Council and that's going to be uphill. But I think it is doable. There's a little bit of time till Hans Blix's next report in early March. So I think it's incumbent upon the United States to get that Security Council resolution approved. Otherwise, there will be a lot of loss of international prestige.
HEMMER: Yes, on North Korea right now, the secretary of state is traveling in Asia, in Beijing earlier today. The North Koreans say they want direct talks with the U.S.
Do you think that will happen and is that the only way right now to avert this crisis?
RICHARDSON: I think those talks will happen, Bill. I think that the secretary of state wisely is waiting until the new South Korean president takes office in a few days before the U.S. announces that we're going to have face to face talks.
What Powell is also doing is building support among our Asian allies -- Japan, South Korea, China -- to pressure North Korea in a multilateral fashion. I don't think that necessarily is going to work according to our plan because I don't think China, for instance, wants to be helpful. They like the instability that the North Korean situation causes. So eventually it's going to be face to face talks between the United States and North Korea, possibly at a lower level first, in exchange for North Korea getting a pledge from the United States that we won't attack them.
North Korea then reduces its nuclear arsenal, freezes some of its nuclear development. That's a deal that I see coming in the next few months. But I think the secretary of state is wisely talking to our allies in the region. But the answer has got to be face to face talks. That's the only way the North Koreans are going to move.
HEMMER: Thank you, Governor.
Good to talk to you again.
RICHARDSON: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Bill Richardson 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 24, 2003 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: As promised, we want to get to Washington right now to talk more about the situation with Iraq and also the latest diplomatic moves regarding North Korea.
Bill Richardson, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in the Clinton years, now governor of New Mexico, is our guest this morning in D.C.
Good to see you, Governor.
Good morning to you.
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Thank you. Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Make sense of the words today from Iraq. Seriously considering destroying these missiles. Will make a decision soon. Why not just come out and say it, we're going to do it, and get rid of them?
RICHARDSON: Well, this is Iraq's typical stall game. They're saying they're considering it. They'll take their sweet time to decide. It's an effort to delay and basically build more support for their position with France and Russia. Russia, the foreign, ex- foreign minister, Primikov is there. Primikov has been in Iraq the last three crises. It's a ploy to basically buy time for the Iraqis.
I don't believe that the Iraqis are going to comply, not just with the missile, but also allowing Iraqi scientists to be interrogated. Possibly they'll do a little breakthrough on the reconnaissance flights. But the basic stance will be to delay and not comply fully with that Security Council resolution.
HEMMER: Listen, given that answer and looking at the screen here, we have the words here in the form of a question, "is war inevitable?" You believe war will happen. Is that the reason for some of the reasons you just stated, more games, more hide and seek?
RICHARDSON: Well, I believe war is inevitable. It's very near inevitable. I think nonetheless the United States should proceed with a second resolution to try to get Iraq in material breach and a serious consequences language. But it's going to be uphill in the Security Council. I think the objective should be to get abstentions from France and Russia and then get nine votes out of the 15 in the permanent Security Council and that's going to be uphill. But I think it is doable. There's a little bit of time till Hans Blix's next report in early March. So I think it's incumbent upon the United States to get that Security Council resolution approved. Otherwise, there will be a lot of loss of international prestige.
HEMMER: Yes, on North Korea right now, the secretary of state is traveling in Asia, in Beijing earlier today. The North Koreans say they want direct talks with the U.S.
Do you think that will happen and is that the only way right now to avert this crisis?
RICHARDSON: I think those talks will happen, Bill. I think that the secretary of state wisely is waiting until the new South Korean president takes office in a few days before the U.S. announces that we're going to have face to face talks.
What Powell is also doing is building support among our Asian allies -- Japan, South Korea, China -- to pressure North Korea in a multilateral fashion. I don't think that necessarily is going to work according to our plan because I don't think China, for instance, wants to be helpful. They like the instability that the North Korean situation causes. So eventually it's going to be face to face talks between the United States and North Korea, possibly at a lower level first, in exchange for North Korea getting a pledge from the United States that we won't attack them.
North Korea then reduces its nuclear arsenal, freezes some of its nuclear development. That's a deal that I see coming in the next few months. But I think the secretary of state is wisely talking to our allies in the region. But the answer has got to be face to face talks. That's the only way the North Koreans are going to move.
HEMMER: Thank you, Governor.
Good to talk to you again.
RICHARDSON: Thank you, Bill.
HEMMER: Bill Richardson 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
