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American Morning
White House Redoubles Efforts to Win Security Council Support
Aired March 11, 2003 - 09:04 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: The White House redoubles its efforts to win Security Council support for an Iraq war resolution. A vote is expected later this week.
Suzanne Malveaux joins us from the White House, where white stuff is falling this morning.
Good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
It's a very important day for the Bush administration. A number of high level meetings that are taking place this morning here. We saw already here at the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as head of the CIA, George Tenet, the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, and secretary of homeland security, all of them meeting with the president this morning. There is a robust debate taking place, whether or not they should extend that March 17 deadline for Saddam Hussein to comply, perhaps by days, or even as much as a week, not by weeks or months. This is something that, of course, the Bush administration really quite divided on this issue, but the administration is insisting that at least that vote be taken sometime this week on that U.N. resolution.
Another point here is the British proposal of perhaps establishing these benchmarks for Saddam Hussein to hit before that deadline. Those include possibly interviews with scientists outside of Iraq, as well as providing information for that which was unaccounted, VX gas, as well as anthrax, and also information on prohibited missiles and aircraft. All of this being taken into account, into consideration. The administration debating this, and of course, what complicates the matter is France and Russia threatening to veto the resolution. Why are they going to go ahead? Why are they moving forward? Clearly, the administration wants the support of the U.N. Security council -- Paula.
ZAHN: Do they think they're going to get those nine votes, even if there is a veto?
MALVEAUX: The administration is increasingly becoming less optimistic about that. They say publicly, they think they'll be able to get those nine votes. It seems every as if every day, there is another monkey wrench thrown into the equation here. But the administration is going to push until very end. They say they want that vote by the end of the week. The president will continue to make those calls today, as well as his top advisers, but it's really anyone's guess.
ZAHN: Suzanne Malveaux. Good luck and enjoy the snow.
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Aired March 11, 2003 - 09:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The White House redoubles its efforts to win Security Council support for an Iraq war resolution. A vote is expected later this week.
Suzanne Malveaux joins us from the White House, where white stuff is falling this morning.
Good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
It's a very important day for the Bush administration. A number of high level meetings that are taking place this morning here. We saw already here at the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as head of the CIA, George Tenet, the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, and secretary of homeland security, all of them meeting with the president this morning. There is a robust debate taking place, whether or not they should extend that March 17 deadline for Saddam Hussein to comply, perhaps by days, or even as much as a week, not by weeks or months. This is something that, of course, the Bush administration really quite divided on this issue, but the administration is insisting that at least that vote be taken sometime this week on that U.N. resolution.
Another point here is the British proposal of perhaps establishing these benchmarks for Saddam Hussein to hit before that deadline. Those include possibly interviews with scientists outside of Iraq, as well as providing information for that which was unaccounted, VX gas, as well as anthrax, and also information on prohibited missiles and aircraft. All of this being taken into account, into consideration. The administration debating this, and of course, what complicates the matter is France and Russia threatening to veto the resolution. Why are they going to go ahead? Why are they moving forward? Clearly, the administration wants the support of the U.N. Security council -- Paula.
ZAHN: Do they think they're going to get those nine votes, even if there is a veto?
MALVEAUX: The administration is increasingly becoming less optimistic about that. They say publicly, they think they'll be able to get those nine votes. It seems every as if every day, there is another monkey wrench thrown into the equation here. But the administration is going to push until very end. They say they want that vote by the end of the week. The president will continue to make those calls today, as well as his top advisers, but it's really anyone's guess.
ZAHN: Suzanne Malveaux. Good luck and enjoy the snow.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Support>
