Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
The Latest Words From Condoleezza Rice
Aired July 11, 2003 - 08:07 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: Back with Suzanne Malveaux right now, tracking the latest words from Condoleezza Rice, a bit of war of words, too, over what was said and what was approved last January in the president's State of the Union address, live in Entebbe, Uganda with Suzanne right now again with us -- good afternoon there.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Bill.
Really, this is an issue that is not going away and it became very clear that the White House had to address it before the plane even landed in Uganda. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice went in the back of the plane to address this very issue. She spoke for 50 minutes defending the Bush administration, saying that it did not intend to mislead the public in making its case for war.
Now, here's how it happened. You may recall that in the State of the Union address the president made the claim that Iraq was trying to acquire uranium from Africa. He used that statement to support the claim that Saddam Hussein was trying to build a nuclear weapons program, to make the case for the U.S. to go to war.
Well, since then it has become clear that at least part of that information used to make that statement was inaccurate, specifically, that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Niger, that that was not correct.
But the administration is arguing that the broad statement was accurate and, in fact, that it was approved by the CIA. Dr. Rice said this morning, she said if the CIA, the director of Central Intelligence, had said take this out of the speech, it would have been gone. We have a high standard for the president's speeches.
Now, there's also some confusion, however, over what happened between the seven days when the president made his State of the Union address and when Secretary Powell went before the United Nations to make the case for war. He did not use that line about the uranium trying to be obtained from Africa. He said that was because State Department intelligence, they did not feel comfortable with that.
Dr. Rice said there was no new intelligence between the two speeches, again, trying to defend the administration, saying that they did not intend to mislead the public -- Bill.
HEMMER: Suzanne Malveaux, a breaking story again from Entebbe, Uganda.
Suzanne was with us last hour as soon as this news came across. She's with us again. More as we get it, again, as the president continues his trip in Africa.
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 - 08:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back with Suzanne Malveaux right now, tracking the latest words from Condoleezza Rice, a bit of war of words, too, over what was said and what was approved last January in the president's State of the Union address, live in Entebbe, Uganda with Suzanne right now again with us -- good afternoon there.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good afternoon, Bill.
Really, this is an issue that is not going away and it became very clear that the White House had to address it before the plane even landed in Uganda. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice went in the back of the plane to address this very issue. She spoke for 50 minutes defending the Bush administration, saying that it did not intend to mislead the public in making its case for war.
Now, here's how it happened. You may recall that in the State of the Union address the president made the claim that Iraq was trying to acquire uranium from Africa. He used that statement to support the claim that Saddam Hussein was trying to build a nuclear weapons program, to make the case for the U.S. to go to war.
Well, since then it has become clear that at least part of that information used to make that statement was inaccurate, specifically, that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Niger, that that was not correct.
But the administration is arguing that the broad statement was accurate and, in fact, that it was approved by the CIA. Dr. Rice said this morning, she said if the CIA, the director of Central Intelligence, had said take this out of the speech, it would have been gone. We have a high standard for the president's speeches.
Now, there's also some confusion, however, over what happened between the seven days when the president made his State of the Union address and when Secretary Powell went before the United Nations to make the case for war. He did not use that line about the uranium trying to be obtained from Africa. He said that was because State Department intelligence, they did not feel comfortable with that.
Dr. Rice said there was no new intelligence between the two speeches, again, trying to defend the administration, saying that they did not intend to mislead the public -- Bill.
HEMMER: Suzanne Malveaux, a breaking story again from Entebbe, Uganda.
Suzanne was with us last hour as soon as this news came across. She's with us again. More as we get it, again, as the president continues his trip in Africa.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
