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American Morning
Intelligence Issue
Aired July 11, 2003 - 09:00 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the question of intelligence on Iraq before the State of the Union speech. This morning, President Bush says intelligence officials cleared the speech in which he cited a British report about Iraq trying to buy nuclear weapons material. Well, on Monday, the White House said that information was faulty, it shouldn't have been in the speech. The president made his comments in Entebbe, Uganda.
And CNN's Chris Burns is traveling with the president, joins us live from there.
Chris, good morning.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad. Well, it's an idyllic spot here on the edge of Lake Victoria here in Uganda to talk with Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda about AIDS, about regional conflicts killing millions of people, but the press here hounded the president about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, how he could use the information used before the war against Iraq to go to war against Iraq. During his State of the Union Speech back in January, he alleged that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy nuclear materials from Africa.
The president was -- later -- his people later this week said that it was not true. It turned out to be false. But there were elements of truth in it. The president was asked today how that line got into his speech and was he upset about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I gave a speech to the nation that was clarified cleared by the intelligence service, and it was a speech that detailed to the American people the dangers posed by the Saddam Hussein regime, and my government took the appropriate response to those dangers. And as a result, the world is going to be more secure and more peaceful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: It was just a week after that State of the Union Speech that Secretary of State Colin Powell went before the United Nations and did not include that information. He was grilled about that last night by the media, and he said that there was not enough information to support that and he did not go ahead with that. But he also said there was no campaign of disinformation against the American people. They were not misled. They were informed about the threat of Saddam Hussein, and that was the reason they went to war against Iraq.
Also this morning, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, was grilled about that as well on Air Force One, and she said, yes, the CIA did approve that line put in the State of the Union Address, but it was approved with changes, and the changes are very important. The changes no longer mentioned Niger or Niger. It mentioned Africa. The president said Africa. He didn't say Niger. And about the uranium, they dropped the amount of uranium that was allegedly sought by Saddam Hussein.
So these are important points that the Bush administration is making, saying that this was not disinformation, that they were changed, but the basic ground rules and the ground reason for going to war against Iraq still stands the same, that Saddam Hussein had a weapons of mass destruction program. But those questions will continue. And of course Democrats are clamoring back in Washington for an investigation until weapons of mass destruction are actually found in Iraq, and that is a big question.
Now, the president did take time to commend Yoweri Museveni for his fight against AIDS. He's been very successful here, and for taking a leadership role trying to solve conflicts in the region, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where millions have died.
Back to you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Chris Burns. Chris, thank you for that update, reporting to us from Uganda this morning.
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 July 11, 2003 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the question of intelligence on Iraq before the State of the Union speech. This morning, President Bush says intelligence officials cleared the speech in which he cited a British report about Iraq trying to buy nuclear weapons material. Well, on Monday, the White House said that information was faulty, it shouldn't have been in the speech. The president made his comments in Entebbe, Uganda.
And CNN's Chris Burns is traveling with the president, joins us live from there.
Chris, good morning.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Soledad. Well, it's an idyllic spot here on the edge of Lake Victoria here in Uganda to talk with Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda about AIDS, about regional conflicts killing millions of people, but the press here hounded the president about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, how he could use the information used before the war against Iraq to go to war against Iraq. During his State of the Union Speech back in January, he alleged that Saddam Hussein was trying to buy nuclear materials from Africa.
The president was -- later -- his people later this week said that it was not true. It turned out to be false. But there were elements of truth in it. The president was asked today how that line got into his speech and was he upset about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I gave a speech to the nation that was clarified cleared by the intelligence service, and it was a speech that detailed to the American people the dangers posed by the Saddam Hussein regime, and my government took the appropriate response to those dangers. And as a result, the world is going to be more secure and more peaceful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: It was just a week after that State of the Union Speech that Secretary of State Colin Powell went before the United Nations and did not include that information. He was grilled about that last night by the media, and he said that there was not enough information to support that and he did not go ahead with that. But he also said there was no campaign of disinformation against the American people. They were not misled. They were informed about the threat of Saddam Hussein, and that was the reason they went to war against Iraq.
Also this morning, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, was grilled about that as well on Air Force One, and she said, yes, the CIA did approve that line put in the State of the Union Address, but it was approved with changes, and the changes are very important. The changes no longer mentioned Niger or Niger. It mentioned Africa. The president said Africa. He didn't say Niger. And about the uranium, they dropped the amount of uranium that was allegedly sought by Saddam Hussein.
So these are important points that the Bush administration is making, saying that this was not disinformation, that they were changed, but the basic ground rules and the ground reason for going to war against Iraq still stands the same, that Saddam Hussein had a weapons of mass destruction program. But those questions will continue. And of course Democrats are clamoring back in Washington for an investigation until weapons of mass destruction are actually found in Iraq, and that is a big question.
Now, the president did take time to commend Yoweri Museveni for his fight against AIDS. He's been very successful here, and for taking a leadership role trying to solve conflicts in the region, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where millions have died.
Back to you, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Chris Burns. Chris, thank you for that update, reporting to us from Uganda this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
