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American Morning
French President Says Ready to Work With Britain on Iraq
Aired March 14, 2003 - 07:51 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: I want to get back to the latest developments regarding Iraq, news out of Paris today. French President Jacques Chirac says he is ready to work with Britain to explore new ways of disarming Iraq. What this all means? Unclear.
Jim Bittermann now live in Paris to bring us up to date on what he is hearing.
Jim -- hello. Good afternoon there.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill. Well, the emphasis is unclear for sure. Basically, I wouldn't read a whole lot into this.
Apparently, this came from a telephone conversation that took place this morning between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Jacques Chirac. It may have been an attempt by President Jacques Chirac to bury the hatchet a bit after a couple of very rancorous days here between Great Britain and France, a lot of open sniping at each other.
Basically, the Elysees Palace told us just a few minutes ago that the basics are still the same as the French saw them, and that is that they would like to see peaceful disarmament of Iraq, that the inspections process as far as the French are concerned is working, so that the process should continue and in a peaceful way.
And they continue to reject any automatic use of force in a resolution before the United Nations, and of course, that was part of the resolution that Tony Blair was trying to get before the Security Council and trying to get the French to come on board with. Basically, the feeling is that the inspections process should continue and can continue.
And Mr. Chirac apparently also reiterated this morning something that his foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, said a week ago today, which is that the French no longer is wed this idea of four months for inspections, 120 days. They're willing to negotiate something less than 120 days. But they do not want any kind of inspections procedure that is linked to the automatic use of force -- Bill.
HEMMER: Jim, thanks for keeping us posted there -- Jim Bittermann in Paris.
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 14, 2003 - 07:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get back to the latest developments regarding Iraq, news out of Paris today. French President Jacques Chirac says he is ready to work with Britain to explore new ways of disarming Iraq. What this all means? Unclear.
Jim Bittermann now live in Paris to bring us up to date on what he is hearing.
Jim -- hello. Good afternoon there.
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Bill. Well, the emphasis is unclear for sure. Basically, I wouldn't read a whole lot into this.
Apparently, this came from a telephone conversation that took place this morning between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Jacques Chirac. It may have been an attempt by President Jacques Chirac to bury the hatchet a bit after a couple of very rancorous days here between Great Britain and France, a lot of open sniping at each other.
Basically, the Elysees Palace told us just a few minutes ago that the basics are still the same as the French saw them, and that is that they would like to see peaceful disarmament of Iraq, that the inspections process as far as the French are concerned is working, so that the process should continue and in a peaceful way.
And they continue to reject any automatic use of force in a resolution before the United Nations, and of course, that was part of the resolution that Tony Blair was trying to get before the Security Council and trying to get the French to come on board with. Basically, the feeling is that the inspections process should continue and can continue.
And Mr. Chirac apparently also reiterated this morning something that his foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, said a week ago today, which is that the French no longer is wed this idea of four months for inspections, 120 days. They're willing to negotiate something less than 120 days. But they do not want any kind of inspections procedure that is linked to the automatic use of force -- Bill.
HEMMER: Jim, thanks for keeping us posted there -- Jim Bittermann in Paris.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
