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American Morning
Achievements in Iraq
Aired October 08, 2003 - 07:16 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: The daily setbacks in Iraq and the negative coverage they draw from the media have put the White House on the offensive lately. In the last few days, top officials in the Bush administration have been emphasizing the positive, touting the accomplishments of the rebuilding effort.
CNN's White House correspondent Dana Bash is live for us at the White House this morning.
Dana -- good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And there has been growing concern, not only with private conversations that you have with officials here at the White House, but also with Republicans outside the administration that the administration is losing the PR battle when it comes to Iraq.
Now, the White House has been trying. The president about a month ago, of course, gave a major address to the nation, talking about his $87 billion request to help rebuild Iraq and help the military there. But for the most part, that has not helped him. His poll ratings with and in general and certainly with regard to Iraq have been slipping over the past month. So, the White House is trying to get around what President Bush referred to on Friday as the "filter." That would be us, Soledad, the national media.
And his national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, will be going out later today and making what a senior official told me this morning will be a pointed speech, rebutting some of the criticism of Dr. David Kay's report saying that Saddam Hussein was, in fact, a threat and he did have some perhaps weapons programs or weapons programs were in the making. The vice president will give a speech very similar on Friday.
And, Soledad, the president will be going to New Hampshire to talk about all of this tomorrow.
Now, the key part of the White House strategy is to talk about this through the local media. They want to get this out around the national media.
Back to you -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Dana, a quick question for you about this investigation into the CIA leak. The deadline was yesterday for documents in relation to this investigation. Were all the White House staffers able to get their documents in under the deadline?
BASH: For the most part, yes. Officials here at the White House say that the bulk of the documents, or at least signatures saying that they didn't have any documents, were turned in by 5:00. There are some extenuating circumstances. Some White House aides were traveling and so forth.
But the other bit of news here, Soledad, is that, according to government sources, some White House officials have been contacted to set up the first interviews by FBI officials in this leak's investigation.
O'BRIEN: The investigation moving forward then. Dana Bash, as always, thanks. Appreciate it.
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 October 8, 2003 - 07:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The daily setbacks in Iraq and the negative coverage they draw from the media have put the White House on the offensive lately. In the last few days, top officials in the Bush administration have been emphasizing the positive, touting the accomplishments of the rebuilding effort.
CNN's White House correspondent Dana Bash is live for us at the White House this morning.
Dana -- good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
And there has been growing concern, not only with private conversations that you have with officials here at the White House, but also with Republicans outside the administration that the administration is losing the PR battle when it comes to Iraq.
Now, the White House has been trying. The president about a month ago, of course, gave a major address to the nation, talking about his $87 billion request to help rebuild Iraq and help the military there. But for the most part, that has not helped him. His poll ratings with and in general and certainly with regard to Iraq have been slipping over the past month. So, the White House is trying to get around what President Bush referred to on Friday as the "filter." That would be us, Soledad, the national media.
And his national security advisor, Condoleezza Rice, will be going out later today and making what a senior official told me this morning will be a pointed speech, rebutting some of the criticism of Dr. David Kay's report saying that Saddam Hussein was, in fact, a threat and he did have some perhaps weapons programs or weapons programs were in the making. The vice president will give a speech very similar on Friday.
And, Soledad, the president will be going to New Hampshire to talk about all of this tomorrow.
Now, the key part of the White House strategy is to talk about this through the local media. They want to get this out around the national media.
Back to you -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: All right, Dana, a quick question for you about this investigation into the CIA leak. The deadline was yesterday for documents in relation to this investigation. Were all the White House staffers able to get their documents in under the deadline?
BASH: For the most part, yes. Officials here at the White House say that the bulk of the documents, or at least signatures saying that they didn't have any documents, were turned in by 5:00. There are some extenuating circumstances. Some White House aides were traveling and so forth.
But the other bit of news here, Soledad, is that, according to government sources, some White House officials have been contacted to set up the first interviews by FBI officials in this leak's investigation.
O'BRIEN: The investigation moving forward then. Dana Bash, as always, thanks. Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
