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American Morning

Discussion with Colin Powell

Aired November 18, 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: Secretary of State Colin Powell already is in Europe. He's in Brussels today trying to smooth over relations with his European partners.
I sat down with the secretary of state yesterday before he left Washington. This time the topic was the ongoing friction over weapons of mass destruction and whether or not he believes the public's trust has been fractured because of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think everybody was hoping that suddenly a warehouse door would be opened and there all it was. It didn't turn out that way. But the information that we have provided to the American people, to the international community, to the Congress was the best information that the intelligence community had. Not cooked intelligence.

Before I made my presentation on the 5th of February, I sat out at the CIA with the director, Mr. Tenet, the deputy director, Mr. Mclaughlin, and all of their analysts. And we went over the best information they had. And what I presented on the 5th of February represented that and George Tenet was sitting there right with me. We were confident in it.

For 12 years, Iraq was given the opportunity to prove us we were -- prove we were wrong. All of your intelligence is a fraud. Well, they didn't take that opportunity. And they had to pay the consequences.

I'm confident when Dr. Kay finishes his work, the head of the support group, the group that's looking for this material, when he examines all of the documentation that he has in his possession now, completes all the interviews that he will be conducting about people who have knowledge of these programs, you will see that there was a program to develop weapons of mass destruction.

We will see whether...

HEMMER: You're still confident of that?

POWELL: We will see how many of these dual use commercial facilities really were just in time chemical or biological facilities...

HEMMER: Which means? POWELL: Which means that they were all ready to get into the development of these kinds of weapons from whatever commercial applications they had once the sanctions had been relieved and once the U.N. had gone away.

I can assure you that Saddam Hussein never lost the intention to have these kinds of weapons. He had them before. The state of his program at the time we invaded, people can debate that while Dr. Kay does his work. But never believe that he gave up the intention. And if we had ever just turned away and said well, forget about it, let's let the sanctions off, let's leave him alone, the inspectors go away, I can assure you that he would have gone right back in the track he had been on for all those years, to have these weapons, and it would have been a threat to the region and a threat to the world, a threat especially if those weapons goes in the hands of terrorists and a direct threat to us as a result.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Again, defiant yesterday in his answer to all of those questions about WMD.

Next hour, Secretary Powell joins us to talk about what he would say to the families of American soldiers and Marines killed in Iraq.

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 November 18, 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: Secretary of State Colin Powell already is in Europe. He's in Brussels today trying to smooth over relations with his European partners.
I sat down with the secretary of state yesterday before he left Washington. This time the topic was the ongoing friction over weapons of mass destruction and whether or not he believes the public's trust has been fractured because of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think everybody was hoping that suddenly a warehouse door would be opened and there all it was. It didn't turn out that way. But the information that we have provided to the American people, to the international community, to the Congress was the best information that the intelligence community had. Not cooked intelligence.

Before I made my presentation on the 5th of February, I sat out at the CIA with the director, Mr. Tenet, the deputy director, Mr. Mclaughlin, and all of their analysts. And we went over the best information they had. And what I presented on the 5th of February represented that and George Tenet was sitting there right with me. We were confident in it.

For 12 years, Iraq was given the opportunity to prove us we were -- prove we were wrong. All of your intelligence is a fraud. Well, they didn't take that opportunity. And they had to pay the consequences.

I'm confident when Dr. Kay finishes his work, the head of the support group, the group that's looking for this material, when he examines all of the documentation that he has in his possession now, completes all the interviews that he will be conducting about people who have knowledge of these programs, you will see that there was a program to develop weapons of mass destruction.

We will see whether...

HEMMER: You're still confident of that?

POWELL: We will see how many of these dual use commercial facilities really were just in time chemical or biological facilities...

HEMMER: Which means? POWELL: Which means that they were all ready to get into the development of these kinds of weapons from whatever commercial applications they had once the sanctions had been relieved and once the U.N. had gone away.

I can assure you that Saddam Hussein never lost the intention to have these kinds of weapons. He had them before. The state of his program at the time we invaded, people can debate that while Dr. Kay does his work. But never believe that he gave up the intention. And if we had ever just turned away and said well, forget about it, let's let the sanctions off, let's leave him alone, the inspectors go away, I can assure you that he would have gone right back in the track he had been on for all those years, to have these weapons, and it would have been a threat to the region and a threat to the world, a threat especially if those weapons goes in the hands of terrorists and a direct threat to us as a result.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Again, defiant yesterday in his answer to all of those questions about WMD.

Next hour, Secretary Powell joins us to talk about what he would say to the families of American soldiers and Marines killed in Iraq.

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