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American Morning

War of Words Being Waged Across Atlantic

Aired December 11, 2003 - 08:10   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: There is a war of words being waged across the Atlantic now after the Bush administration's decision announced to keep major trading partners from getting lucrative construction contracts in Iraq. Among those with a cold shoulder include France and Germany and Russia, all three opposing the war.
In a statement earlier today, a top European Union official summed up the feelings this way, and quoting now, "The U.S. decision is gratuitous and extremely unhelpful. We should be seeking to bring people together and not divide them."

More now from the White House and the front lawn.

Suzanne Malveaux watching this story for us -- good morning.

What's being said now?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, President Bush late yesterday working the phones. He called French President Jacques Chirac. He called Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to explain to all three as to why it was their countries were excluded from nearly $18 billion in reconstruction projects. Now, these were prearranged telephone calls for President Bush to appeal to them to forgive Iraqi debt and also to allow them to meet former Secretary of State James Baker, who is the point man in that task.

Of course, the timing of all this certainly could not be worse. Leaders around the world expressing a great deal of anger for being left out. And it was that yesterday publicly the White House expressed confidence that it would not see any kind of -- loose any diplomatic ground in all of this. But privately Bush aides really conceding that the timing couldn't be worse, the way that this policy was announced yesterday, the White House did express some flexibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This decision has been made. It was made through an inter-agency process and we fully support it. I'm saying that if countries want to participate in the coalition efforts in Iraq, then circumstances can change. We can discuss that with them if that is the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, senior administration officials say that it is not a prerequisite to contribute military troops in the Iraqi reconstruction effort, but they certainly say cutting out some of the criticism as well as contributing financially will certainly help in getting on that list -- Bill.

HEMMER: And just to further that last point there, the United States is still working to draft all this month to help with the reconstruction of that country. One official in Canada says you can forget about us giving more money at this time. Don't know if that's going to be a government policy from Ottawa.

How concerned are they, though, about not raising more money now as a result of this policy?

MALVEAUX: Well, Bill, you're certainly seeing a backlash here. It was Russian officials yesterday who also said look, we are not going to forgive Iraqi debt anymore. There's quite billions of Iraqi debt. From them, you have the European Commission saying we're going to look at the WTO rules to see whether or not this is a violation of international trade law. So, of course, the administration is concerned about this and one way that they express that, President Bush yesterday on the phone with those leaders, trying to explain this.

They say yes, of course, we're still open to further discussions to explain that -- Baker, as well, saying, of course, they have flexibility in this.

HEMMER: Suzanne, thanks.

Suzanne Malveaux from the White House 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 December 11, 2003 - 08:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is a war of words being waged across the Atlantic now after the Bush administration's decision announced to keep major trading partners from getting lucrative construction contracts in Iraq. Among those with a cold shoulder include France and Germany and Russia, all three opposing the war.
In a statement earlier today, a top European Union official summed up the feelings this way, and quoting now, "The U.S. decision is gratuitous and extremely unhelpful. We should be seeking to bring people together and not divide them."

More now from the White House and the front lawn.

Suzanne Malveaux watching this story for us -- good morning.

What's being said now?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, President Bush late yesterday working the phones. He called French President Jacques Chirac. He called Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to explain to all three as to why it was their countries were excluded from nearly $18 billion in reconstruction projects. Now, these were prearranged telephone calls for President Bush to appeal to them to forgive Iraqi debt and also to allow them to meet former Secretary of State James Baker, who is the point man in that task.

Of course, the timing of all this certainly could not be worse. Leaders around the world expressing a great deal of anger for being left out. And it was that yesterday publicly the White House expressed confidence that it would not see any kind of -- loose any diplomatic ground in all of this. But privately Bush aides really conceding that the timing couldn't be worse, the way that this policy was announced yesterday, the White House did express some flexibility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This decision has been made. It was made through an inter-agency process and we fully support it. I'm saying that if countries want to participate in the coalition efforts in Iraq, then circumstances can change. We can discuss that with them if that is the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, senior administration officials say that it is not a prerequisite to contribute military troops in the Iraqi reconstruction effort, but they certainly say cutting out some of the criticism as well as contributing financially will certainly help in getting on that list -- Bill.

HEMMER: And just to further that last point there, the United States is still working to draft all this month to help with the reconstruction of that country. One official in Canada says you can forget about us giving more money at this time. Don't know if that's going to be a government policy from Ottawa.

How concerned are they, though, about not raising more money now as a result of this policy?

MALVEAUX: Well, Bill, you're certainly seeing a backlash here. It was Russian officials yesterday who also said look, we are not going to forgive Iraqi debt anymore. There's quite billions of Iraqi debt. From them, you have the European Commission saying we're going to look at the WTO rules to see whether or not this is a violation of international trade law. So, of course, the administration is concerned about this and one way that they express that, President Bush yesterday on the phone with those leaders, trying to explain this.

They say yes, of course, we're still open to further discussions to explain that -- Baker, as well, saying, of course, they have flexibility in this.

HEMMER: Suzanne, thanks.

Suzanne Malveaux from the White House 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