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American Morning

Bush Administration May be Making Some Progress in Gaining Support at U.N.

Aired March 12, 2003 - 09:07   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: The Bush administration may be making some progress in gaining support at U.N. As we just learned from Andrea Koppel from the State Department, the U.S. now believes it has on its side for the second resolution Guinea, Angola, Cameroon and possibly even Pakistan, which would leave the U.S. with just one more vote it would need to get from either Chile or Mexico to get the that all-important nine.
Let's check in with Dana Bash who's standing by at White House. Anything to add to that, Dana. Good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Paula, the president spoke with the leaders of Mexico and Chile last night, talking to them amongst a whole round of phone calls that he has been making personally over the last few days. He will continue to do so today. This morning, he is meeting with his national security team here at the White House. We saw Secretary Powell and others arriving here just a short while ago for what will be another intense day of diplomacy and of behind the scenes kind of compromise and perhaps even some arm twisting to try to get those nine votes. And, Paula, what the White House is making pretty clear at this point is that they are very pessimistic that the resolution that they are going to put forward this week, they are maintaining they want a vote still this week, that that's probably not going to pass because France and Russia have made it clear they are going to veto the resolution.

So what they are desperately trying to do now, and it appears they are getting closer, they are pretty optimistic they're getting closer, is to get nine votes. That would be a majority of the Security Council, that would provide them with what they say is a symbolic victory, or a moral victory, to show that at least the majority of members on the Security Council would support them in any kind of military action against Iraq. They are saying that time is definitely running out.

One thing to kind of keep things in perspective here of what all of this means, you can take a look at the White House talking points today. And one specific quote, I'm quoting here, "Sadly, the unity has been broken and peaceful disarmament looks less and less likely." So that is really the bottom line here, regardless of what happens at the U.N., the White House is very confident the president has all of the authority he needs to use military action, no matter whether it's a coalition through the United Nations or a smaller, what the president likes to call, a coalition of the willing -- Paula. ZAHN: So, Dana, what you're saying is the administration expects to get to the nine, and they don't think there's any language that could be created in the second resolution that would bring the French along? They are absolutely expecting the French to veto this?

BASH: Short of a miracle, they are expecting the French to veto it. But I was talking to somebody at the White House earlier today, and I was talking about the fact that I covered Congress for a while, and people in Congress were very reluctant to be sure that they had the votes they needed to pass legislation before the vote took place, because anything can happen. The same goes with this situation, Paula. They are optimistic that they can get the nine votes. They don't have it quite yet, but they're getting close, but they are being very careful say they have the votes before the vote actually takes place, they have the majority of the votes.

ZAHN: Thank you, Dana Bash reporting at the White House.

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Support at U.N.>


Aired March 12, 2003 - 09:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration may be making some progress in gaining support at U.N. As we just learned from Andrea Koppel from the State Department, the U.S. now believes it has on its side for the second resolution Guinea, Angola, Cameroon and possibly even Pakistan, which would leave the U.S. with just one more vote it would need to get from either Chile or Mexico to get the that all-important nine.
Let's check in with Dana Bash who's standing by at White House. Anything to add to that, Dana. Good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Paula, the president spoke with the leaders of Mexico and Chile last night, talking to them amongst a whole round of phone calls that he has been making personally over the last few days. He will continue to do so today. This morning, he is meeting with his national security team here at the White House. We saw Secretary Powell and others arriving here just a short while ago for what will be another intense day of diplomacy and of behind the scenes kind of compromise and perhaps even some arm twisting to try to get those nine votes. And, Paula, what the White House is making pretty clear at this point is that they are very pessimistic that the resolution that they are going to put forward this week, they are maintaining they want a vote still this week, that that's probably not going to pass because France and Russia have made it clear they are going to veto the resolution.

So what they are desperately trying to do now, and it appears they are getting closer, they are pretty optimistic they're getting closer, is to get nine votes. That would be a majority of the Security Council, that would provide them with what they say is a symbolic victory, or a moral victory, to show that at least the majority of members on the Security Council would support them in any kind of military action against Iraq. They are saying that time is definitely running out.

One thing to kind of keep things in perspective here of what all of this means, you can take a look at the White House talking points today. And one specific quote, I'm quoting here, "Sadly, the unity has been broken and peaceful disarmament looks less and less likely." So that is really the bottom line here, regardless of what happens at the U.N., the White House is very confident the president has all of the authority he needs to use military action, no matter whether it's a coalition through the United Nations or a smaller, what the president likes to call, a coalition of the willing -- Paula. ZAHN: So, Dana, what you're saying is the administration expects to get to the nine, and they don't think there's any language that could be created in the second resolution that would bring the French along? They are absolutely expecting the French to veto this?

BASH: Short of a miracle, they are expecting the French to veto it. But I was talking to somebody at the White House earlier today, and I was talking about the fact that I covered Congress for a while, and people in Congress were very reluctant to be sure that they had the votes they needed to pass legislation before the vote took place, because anything can happen. The same goes with this situation, Paula. They are optimistic that they can get the nine votes. They don't have it quite yet, but they're getting close, but they are being very careful say they have the votes before the vote actually takes place, they have the majority of the votes.

ZAHN: Thank you, Dana Bash reporting at the White House.

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 at U.N.>