Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
President Bush Pushing Economic Plan
Aired May 05, 2003 - 08:11 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the Bush administration says it doesn't think U.S. searchers will just stumble on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. As in the past, key U.S. officials are saying information from Iraqis will be needed so the banned weapons can be found.
Meanwhile today, President Bush will be pushing his economic plan.
Dana Bash is at the White House now with the very latest on that -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.
You know, even as the war began, when you talked to administration officials, they really began to downplay the idea that U.S. and coalition forces would find weapons of mass destruction quickly. They said it should take months to find them. And yesterday the president, or at least over the weekend in Crawford, the president also tried to lower expectations, continued to lower expectations, saying they will be found, he does believe that, it's just a question of how quickly that will happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He spent 14 years hiding weapons of mass destruction. I mean he spent an entire decade making sure that inspectors would never find them. Iraq's the size of the state of California. It's got tunnels, caves, all kinds of complexes. We'll find them and it's going to be a matter of time to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, one thing that the administration had been counting on was interviewing and finding scientists and other Iraqis that had information, knowledge about the weapons of mass destruction and that they would start talking very quickly, as soon as Saddam Hussein had been ousted from power. And by all accounts that hasn't happened yet. The president made clear that he believes that once you get to the lower level people, they will start talking. The higher level people just aren't going to talk yet.
But Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking yesterday, did say that he believes weapons of mass destruction will be found. He, of course, sort of staked his credibility on this when he went to the U.N. a few months before the war, saying that he believed that certainly they were there. But the administration is saying that they will find it, even though polls are showing that the American people don't necessarily think it's necessary at this point, because they feel that the war was justified. But the administration does believe it's key to the international credibility -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Dana Bash at the White House this morning.
Thanks, Dana.
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 May 5, 2003 - 08:11 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the Bush administration says it doesn't think U.S. searchers will just stumble on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. As in the past, key U.S. officials are saying information from Iraqis will be needed so the banned weapons can be found.
Meanwhile today, President Bush will be pushing his economic plan.
Dana Bash is at the White House now with the very latest on that -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Heidi.
You know, even as the war began, when you talked to administration officials, they really began to downplay the idea that U.S. and coalition forces would find weapons of mass destruction quickly. They said it should take months to find them. And yesterday the president, or at least over the weekend in Crawford, the president also tried to lower expectations, continued to lower expectations, saying they will be found, he does believe that, it's just a question of how quickly that will happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He spent 14 years hiding weapons of mass destruction. I mean he spent an entire decade making sure that inspectors would never find them. Iraq's the size of the state of California. It's got tunnels, caves, all kinds of complexes. We'll find them and it's going to be a matter of time to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, one thing that the administration had been counting on was interviewing and finding scientists and other Iraqis that had information, knowledge about the weapons of mass destruction and that they would start talking very quickly, as soon as Saddam Hussein had been ousted from power. And by all accounts that hasn't happened yet. The president made clear that he believes that once you get to the lower level people, they will start talking. The higher level people just aren't going to talk yet.
But Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking yesterday, did say that he believes weapons of mass destruction will be found. He, of course, sort of staked his credibility on this when he went to the U.N. a few months before the war, saying that he believed that certainly they were there. But the administration is saying that they will find it, even though polls are showing that the American people don't necessarily think it's necessary at this point, because they feel that the war was justified. But the administration does believe it's key to the international credibility -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Dana Bash at the White House this morning.
Thanks, Dana.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
