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American Morning
Last Diplomatic Bid?
Aired March 06, 2003 - 07:07 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: If a compromise is put forward at the U.N., what chance does it have of passing?
Let's check in with Kenneth Pollack, who is a CNN analyst, who is the director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. He joins us from Washington this morning.
Good morning -- welcome back, Kenneth.
KENNETH POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: Good morning, Paula. Good to see you.
ZAHN: So, what are the chances here of a compromise? Would the U.S. ever back this resolution that's being bandied about?
POLLACK: Well, I think they might, because I think that it does have some possibilities for them. On the plus side for the administration, I think it will be helpful for them in particular in getting Tony Blair into a better position. Right now, Blair is in a very tenuous spot, and I think it would actually be good for Blair in terms of his domestic opinion that he can go back to his people and say, look, we gave him one more chance and he didn't come clean.
I think it would also be helpful for the United States, because while it's true, as Tommy Franks said yesterday, that we've got forces in place so that we could start the war if we wanted to, we've still got a lot of forces moving into place. And every day that passes, we'll get more and that's better for us.
But on the flip side, there's also a real potential downside for the United States. There's a real risk out there, which is, at the end of the day, Saddam will almost certainly make some compromises. So, if we and the British put forward a resolution that says, you've got a week to do the following things, he probably will come through on at least a few of them, at least partially, and that might make it even harder for the U.S. to build the coalition it wants.
ZAHN: Well, Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged as much yesterday when he said that Saddam Hussein is succeeding in fracturing the U.N., as well as the world community. Let's replay a little bit of what the secretary of state had to say yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Saddam Hussein is betting that some members of the council will not sanction the use of force despite all of the evidence of his continued refusal to disarm. Divisions among us -- and there are divisions among us -- if these divisions continue, will only convince Saddam Hussein that he is right. But I can assure you he is wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Kenneth, do you believe the U.N. is playing into the hands of Saddam Hussein?
POLLACK: Unfortunately, I think they do. It's one of the problems that we've got there, which is that while the opponents of war may be absolutely well-intentioned and don't really want to comment on what exactly their intentions are, there is no question that this is exactly what Saddam Hussein wants to see happen.
You know, Saddam has not been very quiet about his strategy for handling this crisis. He has said very publicly, my job, my strategy is to play for time to string this thing out.
And so, paradoxically, you know, the awful catch-22 here is that every time you have a country coming forward and saying let's give him some more time, this doesnt get Saddam moving in the direction of cooperation. In fact, it does exactly the opposite. It simply convinces Saddam that his strategy is working, and that he doesnt have to cooperate.
ZAHN: Do you think there's going to be a war, Kenneth?
POLLACK: Absolutely. I think the Bush administration decided a while ago that war is the only recourse. I think that it's just a question of whether it's days away or weeks away.
ZAHN: Kenneth Pollack, thanks for your perspective -- always good to see you.
POLLACK: Thank you, Paula.
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 March 6, 2003 - 07:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: If a compromise is put forward at the U.N., what chance does it have of passing?
Let's check in with Kenneth Pollack, who is a CNN analyst, who is the director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. He joins us from Washington this morning.
Good morning -- welcome back, Kenneth.
KENNETH POLLACK, CNN ANALYST: Good morning, Paula. Good to see you.
ZAHN: So, what are the chances here of a compromise? Would the U.S. ever back this resolution that's being bandied about?
POLLACK: Well, I think they might, because I think that it does have some possibilities for them. On the plus side for the administration, I think it will be helpful for them in particular in getting Tony Blair into a better position. Right now, Blair is in a very tenuous spot, and I think it would actually be good for Blair in terms of his domestic opinion that he can go back to his people and say, look, we gave him one more chance and he didn't come clean.
I think it would also be helpful for the United States, because while it's true, as Tommy Franks said yesterday, that we've got forces in place so that we could start the war if we wanted to, we've still got a lot of forces moving into place. And every day that passes, we'll get more and that's better for us.
But on the flip side, there's also a real potential downside for the United States. There's a real risk out there, which is, at the end of the day, Saddam will almost certainly make some compromises. So, if we and the British put forward a resolution that says, you've got a week to do the following things, he probably will come through on at least a few of them, at least partially, and that might make it even harder for the U.S. to build the coalition it wants.
ZAHN: Well, Secretary of State Colin Powell acknowledged as much yesterday when he said that Saddam Hussein is succeeding in fracturing the U.N., as well as the world community. Let's replay a little bit of what the secretary of state had to say yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Saddam Hussein is betting that some members of the council will not sanction the use of force despite all of the evidence of his continued refusal to disarm. Divisions among us -- and there are divisions among us -- if these divisions continue, will only convince Saddam Hussein that he is right. But I can assure you he is wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Kenneth, do you believe the U.N. is playing into the hands of Saddam Hussein?
POLLACK: Unfortunately, I think they do. It's one of the problems that we've got there, which is that while the opponents of war may be absolutely well-intentioned and don't really want to comment on what exactly their intentions are, there is no question that this is exactly what Saddam Hussein wants to see happen.
You know, Saddam has not been very quiet about his strategy for handling this crisis. He has said very publicly, my job, my strategy is to play for time to string this thing out.
And so, paradoxically, you know, the awful catch-22 here is that every time you have a country coming forward and saying let's give him some more time, this doesnt get Saddam moving in the direction of cooperation. In fact, it does exactly the opposite. It simply convinces Saddam that his strategy is working, and that he doesnt have to cooperate.
ZAHN: Do you think there's going to be a war, Kenneth?
POLLACK: Absolutely. I think the Bush administration decided a while ago that war is the only recourse. I think that it's just a question of whether it's days away or weeks away.
ZAHN: Kenneth Pollack, thanks for your perspective -- always good to see you.
POLLACK: Thank you, Paula.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
