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American Morning
In Mideast, More Than Three Dozen People Killed in Past Two Days
Aired June 13, 2003 - 08:03 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: To the Middle East now. More than three dozen people killed in the past two days. It was just nine days ago when we saw the handshake at Aqaba. Since then, over 50 deaths on both sides and again today more vows of violence ahead.
John King live from the front lawn for reaction from the administration, what they may or may not do at this point -- John, good morning.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
Amid escalating rhetoric from the region and, of course, the escalating death toll of the past several days, the administration is feverishly working to recreate the hope and optimism you mentioned just nine days ago, the Mideast summit. Since then, we have seen pictures of this -- deadly violence on the Palestinian side and on the Israeli side, as well. The death toll rising on both sides.
Yesterday, some frantic diplomacy. Secretary of State Powell, National Security Adviser Rice, both working the phones. Secretary Powell calling Prime Minister Sharon of Israel, Prime Minister Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. Although, Secretary Powell, importantly, calling several key Arab foreign ministers, appealing to them to crack down on any political, moral, financial support for Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Condoleezza Rice was in Los Angeles as she made her phone calls. And she said in a speech out there that one message the administration is delivering in these phone calls is that amid all this violence and bloodshed, the finger pointing about who is to blame, the president will not accept the violence as an excuse for the Israelis and the Palestinians not implementing the promises they made at that Mideast summit nine days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: President Bush remains committed to the course set at Aqaba because it is the only course that will bring a durable peace and lasting security. This president keeps his promises. He expects all the parties to keep theirs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: It might be hard to be optimistic about diplomacy at this point, but the administration insists it will keep plugging away. The president's new special envoy, Ambassador John Wolf, gets to the region on Sunday. He will have with him a team of other State Department officials, as well as some security experts from the CIA and the like. Their task is to try to get the two sides to implement the early steps in the road map to peace.
And Secretary Powell also returning to the region about eight days from now. He will be in Jordan with the other authors of that so-called road map, representatives from the United Nations, from Russia and from the European Union. The administration is hoping that by the time Secretary Powell comes together with the so-called quartet in Jordan, that we have at least several days of calm and that the emphasis can shift away from all this deadly violence and back toward getting, at least in the early steps, of a path to peace -- Bill.
HEMMER: John King from the White House.
John, thanks for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Two Days>
Aired June 13, 2003 - 08:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: To the Middle East now. More than three dozen people killed in the past two days. It was just nine days ago when we saw the handshake at Aqaba. Since then, over 50 deaths on both sides and again today more vows of violence ahead.
John King live from the front lawn for reaction from the administration, what they may or may not do at this point -- John, good morning.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.
Amid escalating rhetoric from the region and, of course, the escalating death toll of the past several days, the administration is feverishly working to recreate the hope and optimism you mentioned just nine days ago, the Mideast summit. Since then, we have seen pictures of this -- deadly violence on the Palestinian side and on the Israeli side, as well. The death toll rising on both sides.
Yesterday, some frantic diplomacy. Secretary of State Powell, National Security Adviser Rice, both working the phones. Secretary Powell calling Prime Minister Sharon of Israel, Prime Minister Abbas of the Palestinian Authority. Although, Secretary Powell, importantly, calling several key Arab foreign ministers, appealing to them to crack down on any political, moral, financial support for Hamas and other terrorist groups.
Condoleezza Rice was in Los Angeles as she made her phone calls. And she said in a speech out there that one message the administration is delivering in these phone calls is that amid all this violence and bloodshed, the finger pointing about who is to blame, the president will not accept the violence as an excuse for the Israelis and the Palestinians not implementing the promises they made at that Mideast summit nine days ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: President Bush remains committed to the course set at Aqaba because it is the only course that will bring a durable peace and lasting security. This president keeps his promises. He expects all the parties to keep theirs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: It might be hard to be optimistic about diplomacy at this point, but the administration insists it will keep plugging away. The president's new special envoy, Ambassador John Wolf, gets to the region on Sunday. He will have with him a team of other State Department officials, as well as some security experts from the CIA and the like. Their task is to try to get the two sides to implement the early steps in the road map to peace.
And Secretary Powell also returning to the region about eight days from now. He will be in Jordan with the other authors of that so-called road map, representatives from the United Nations, from Russia and from the European Union. The administration is hoping that by the time Secretary Powell comes together with the so-called quartet in Jordan, that we have at least several days of calm and that the emphasis can shift away from all this deadly violence and back toward getting, at least in the early steps, of a path to peace -- Bill.
HEMMER: John King from the White House.
John, thanks for that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Two Days>
