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Bush Administration Pressuring Liberia's President to Reasoning

Aired July 03, 2003 - 08:02   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: The Bush administration is pressuring Liberia's president to reasoning. But there's still no decision on whether U.S. peacekeepers will be dispatched to the war torn country.
John King joins us now live from the White House with the very latest on all of this -- good morning to you, John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

No final decision from the president, but intense planning under way at the Pentagon and here at the White House. As you noted, the most urgent focus now is on trying to get Charles Taylor to step aside as president of Liberia and leave the country. U.S. officials say there would be no peace to keep, no reason to send in U.S. troops as part of a peacekeeping mission of President Taylor stays in power and the civil war in Liberia continues to rage on.

But as those diplomatic efforts continue, Mr. Bush, we are told, has discussed with top military advisers a plan to send in somewhere in the area of 500 to 1,000 U.S. troops to lead an international peacekeeping mission.

The president said yesterday sending in the troops is one of the urgent options he is discussing with Secretary of State Colin Powell, among others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're looking at all options. I've tasked the secretary of state to talk to Kofi Annan on how best to deal with Liberia. We're concerned when we see suffering. The people are suffering there. They've got -- the political instability is such that people are panicking. And but the good news is there's a cease-fire in place now. And one of the things that Colin is going to do is to work closely with the United Nations to see how best to keep the cease-fire in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Again, officials stressing no final decision made, but all indications from senior administration officials are is that the president is committed to doing something to help out with the peacekeeping mission and we are told the leading option is a U.S. force of about 500 to 1,000 peacekeepers. And, we are told, a decision is possible today. More likely, though, because of the diplomacy, the effort to get President Taylor to step aside, more likely a bit later in the week -- Heidi.

COLLINS: John, back to Iraq for just a moment, if we could.

Today's grenade attack against U.S. soldiers in Baghdad is exactly the kind of attack the president was addressing yesterday.

Any reaction at this point from the administration?

KING: No reaction directly to this latest attack, except for White House officials who say that they expect this to happen in a dangerous place. There is discussion behind the scenes here at the White House about the political fallout from the president's remarks yesterday, the president saying, "Bring 'em on." That was his attitude to those who want to attack U.S. forces.

Aides insisting what the president meant was that he would not be scared out of Iraq, that he would not be rushed out of Iraq before the job is done by factions trying to attack U.S. troops. But some here say perhaps he could have chosen better words.

They're not so much worried about the Democratic criticism that the president's rhetoric is macho and that he is essentially taunting or daring the enemy to attack U.S. troops. What they are concerned most about is that if some American is killed over today, tomorrow or in the next few days that the parent of that troop coming home dead might wonder what the president meant -- Heidi.

COLLINS: John King live from the White House this morning.

Thanks, John.

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




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Aired July 3, 2003 - 08:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: The Bush administration is pressuring Liberia's president to reasoning. But there's still no decision on whether U.S. peacekeepers will be dispatched to the war torn country.
John King joins us now live from the White House with the very latest on all of this -- good morning to you, John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.

No final decision from the president, but intense planning under way at the Pentagon and here at the White House. As you noted, the most urgent focus now is on trying to get Charles Taylor to step aside as president of Liberia and leave the country. U.S. officials say there would be no peace to keep, no reason to send in U.S. troops as part of a peacekeeping mission of President Taylor stays in power and the civil war in Liberia continues to rage on.

But as those diplomatic efforts continue, Mr. Bush, we are told, has discussed with top military advisers a plan to send in somewhere in the area of 500 to 1,000 U.S. troops to lead an international peacekeeping mission.

The president said yesterday sending in the troops is one of the urgent options he is discussing with Secretary of State Colin Powell, among others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're looking at all options. I've tasked the secretary of state to talk to Kofi Annan on how best to deal with Liberia. We're concerned when we see suffering. The people are suffering there. They've got -- the political instability is such that people are panicking. And but the good news is there's a cease-fire in place now. And one of the things that Colin is going to do is to work closely with the United Nations to see how best to keep the cease-fire in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Again, officials stressing no final decision made, but all indications from senior administration officials are is that the president is committed to doing something to help out with the peacekeeping mission and we are told the leading option is a U.S. force of about 500 to 1,000 peacekeepers. And, we are told, a decision is possible today. More likely, though, because of the diplomacy, the effort to get President Taylor to step aside, more likely a bit later in the week -- Heidi.

COLLINS: John, back to Iraq for just a moment, if we could.

Today's grenade attack against U.S. soldiers in Baghdad is exactly the kind of attack the president was addressing yesterday.

Any reaction at this point from the administration?

KING: No reaction directly to this latest attack, except for White House officials who say that they expect this to happen in a dangerous place. There is discussion behind the scenes here at the White House about the political fallout from the president's remarks yesterday, the president saying, "Bring 'em on." That was his attitude to those who want to attack U.S. forces.

Aides insisting what the president meant was that he would not be scared out of Iraq, that he would not be rushed out of Iraq before the job is done by factions trying to attack U.S. troops. But some here say perhaps he could have chosen better words.

They're not so much worried about the Democratic criticism that the president's rhetoric is macho and that he is essentially taunting or daring the enemy to attack U.S. troops. What they are concerned most about is that if some American is killed over today, tomorrow or in the next few days that the parent of that troop coming home dead might wonder what the president meant -- Heidi.

COLLINS: John King live from the White House this morning.

Thanks, John.

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




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