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American Morning

Pushing for Middle East Peace

Aired June 11, 2003 - 07:06   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is urging Israeli and Palestinian leaders to show some restraint, hoping that the eruption of new violence will not disrupt the renewed peace efforts for the Middle East.
Our senior White House correspondent, John King, is live with more.

John -- good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Israel is responding to a rare rebuke from the Bush White House by saying it had every right and good reason to launch that assassination attempt against Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantissi yesterday. Israel says it will give the White House intelligence showing that Rantissi is and was behind planning of more attacks on Israeli citizens. But Mr. Bush used the attack as an effort -- as the potential prospect of setting back his efforts to get the Israeli- Palestinian peace process back on track.

So, Mr. Bush and other senior officials delivering a rare public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government. It started yesterday morning with phone calls from senior White House aides. And then in the Oval Office yesterday afternoon, Mr. Bush delivered the criticism himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I regret the loss of innocent life. I am concerned that the attacks will make it more difficult for the Palestinian leadership to fight off terrorist attacks. I'm also -- don't believe the attacks helped Israeli security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: What worries the White House most is that this new violence will only add to the mistrust and it will put aside the fragile momentum Mr. Bush thought he had generated last week at his Mideast mid summit in Aqaba, Jordan. The White House is sending a new special envoy to the region. Ambassador John Wolf should be on the ground by the end of the weekend, early next week at the latest.

And, again, U.S. officials say they will closely watch this situation. They are hoping now after two or three days of violence that there is a period of calm and that the two leaders can get back on the path toward implementing the peace plan. And the White House is getting some help from Egypt today as it tries to meet with Palestinian officials to try to convince the militant groups not to respond with even more violence -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We'll talk a little bit of domestic politics, John. What about this ongoing controversy over child tax credits for low-income families? And shall we call it the "conversation" going on between the White House and the House?

KING: Well, there is a dispute right now between the Bush White House and the Republican leadership in the House. That is rare, too, differences between this president and his top Republican allies in Congress.

It is because of a democratic move in the wake of the last big tax cut bill. There is a child tax credit in the last tax cut bill, but the Democrats realized as it was passing that many low-income Americans did not benefit. They quickly stepped forward and made a political issue of this.

The Senate has responded by passing another $10 billion plan that would extend that child tax plan to low-income Americans. The House says, fine, it will go along, but it says if it's going to go along, it might as well put that provision in a much bigger tax bill, $82 billion. The Senate will never pass that bill. The president is trying to get his allies in the House to back off and to agree with the Senate approach, to a much smaller provision.

KAGAN: John King at the White House -- John, thank you.

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 June 11, 2003 - 07:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is urging Israeli and Palestinian leaders to show some restraint, hoping that the eruption of new violence will not disrupt the renewed peace efforts for the Middle East.
Our senior White House correspondent, John King, is live with more.

John -- good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

Israel is responding to a rare rebuke from the Bush White House by saying it had every right and good reason to launch that assassination attempt against Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantissi yesterday. Israel says it will give the White House intelligence showing that Rantissi is and was behind planning of more attacks on Israeli citizens. But Mr. Bush used the attack as an effort -- as the potential prospect of setting back his efforts to get the Israeli- Palestinian peace process back on track.

So, Mr. Bush and other senior officials delivering a rare public criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government. It started yesterday morning with phone calls from senior White House aides. And then in the Oval Office yesterday afternoon, Mr. Bush delivered the criticism himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I regret the loss of innocent life. I am concerned that the attacks will make it more difficult for the Palestinian leadership to fight off terrorist attacks. I'm also -- don't believe the attacks helped Israeli security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: What worries the White House most is that this new violence will only add to the mistrust and it will put aside the fragile momentum Mr. Bush thought he had generated last week at his Mideast mid summit in Aqaba, Jordan. The White House is sending a new special envoy to the region. Ambassador John Wolf should be on the ground by the end of the weekend, early next week at the latest.

And, again, U.S. officials say they will closely watch this situation. They are hoping now after two or three days of violence that there is a period of calm and that the two leaders can get back on the path toward implementing the peace plan. And the White House is getting some help from Egypt today as it tries to meet with Palestinian officials to try to convince the militant groups not to respond with even more violence -- Daryn.

KAGAN: We'll talk a little bit of domestic politics, John. What about this ongoing controversy over child tax credits for low-income families? And shall we call it the "conversation" going on between the White House and the House?

KING: Well, there is a dispute right now between the Bush White House and the Republican leadership in the House. That is rare, too, differences between this president and his top Republican allies in Congress.

It is because of a democratic move in the wake of the last big tax cut bill. There is a child tax credit in the last tax cut bill, but the Democrats realized as it was passing that many low-income Americans did not benefit. They quickly stepped forward and made a political issue of this.

The Senate has responded by passing another $10 billion plan that would extend that child tax plan to low-income Americans. The House says, fine, it will go along, but it says if it's going to go along, it might as well put that provision in a much bigger tax bill, $82 billion. The Senate will never pass that bill. The president is trying to get his allies in the House to back off and to agree with the Senate approach, to a much smaller provision.

KAGAN: John King at the White House -- John, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.