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CNN Sunday Morning

Bush Continues to Make International Case for War With Iraq

Aired September 15, 2002 - 11:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: On the issue of Iraq, only a handful of American allies are publicly supporting the Bush administration's campaign pushing U.N. weapons inspections. Still, President Bush and his top advisers continue to make their case on disarmament. We check in now with CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, who joins us from the White House this morning. Hi there, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fred. President Bush is really gaining momentum. Now this plea to Saddam Hussein to hold him accountable through a new United Nations resolution gaining a lot of international support now. It was just yesterday that the president was hosting Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, at Camp David. Berlusconi saying that while he did not support any type of unilateral action by the United States in dealing with Saddam Hussein, he certainly praised the president for going before the world body, the United Nations, asking for support.

And today, administration officials are making their case, really facing their critics, the nay-sayers, the world leaders who are saying they need more evidence to prove that they have to go after Saddam Hussein in any type of immediate way, saying that, first of all, what more evidence do you need? That he has violated 16 U.N. resolutions, that he has sponsored terrorism, has links to al Qaeda, as well as obtaining weapons of mass destruction. They say that the United Nations is responsible for holding him accountable.

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COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: He delivered a powerful speech on Thursday. Everybody wanted us to be multilateral. Everybody wanted us to come to the U.N. He did that, and he came and did not issue a declaration of war, but he issued a declaration of purpose, that the U.N. will had to be obeyed.

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MALVEAUX: Now, that vision, spelled out by Secretary of State Colin Powell to CNN earlier today, really three components to it: First of all, outlining the U.N. resolutions violations that were committed by Saddam Hussein. Secondly, the conditions for Saddam Hussein to comply with those U.N. resolutions. And third, the consequences for noncompliance.

And as you know, Fredricka, that is really the sticking point of the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, besides -- aside from Britain, expressing no type of support for military action. There is really an ongoing debate whether or not there will be one resolution or two resolutions, one calling for the compliance; second, for calling for consequences. Secretary Powell saying that he would prefer just one resolution, that really if you had two, it would allow Saddam Hussein to stonewall, telling allies that, look, if you're going to sign onto the first resolution saying these are the requirements for weapons of mass destruction to be destroyed, then you have to take it a step further. That means enforce that resolution -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Now, the deputy prime minister of Iraq said that they are willing to comply on certain levels of conditions. One of those conditions being that they want a "credible, balanced formula," in the words of Tariq Aziz. Is the Bush administration in any way responding to that more specifically?

MALVEAUX: Well, the Bush administration is really laughing at that. They say there is no possibility of negotiations. Powell earlier today saying that he has had years to comply and that really they're not going to pay any attention to the makeup of the team or whether or not they ask for sanctions or not sanctions, what their timetable is. They say it is really on Saddam Hussein. The United Nations is going to be holding him accountable to those U.N. resolutions. It's going to be within weeks, perhaps as early as next week that he hopes to have a U.N. resolution on the table that they're all in agreement with, but they're saying that, look, the time for negotiations has long since passed. That is not going to happen. It is simply going to be requirements for those U.N. resolutions to be met.

WHITFIELD: And is any way is the Bush administration weighing public support for this war against or, you know, possibly a war against Iraq?

MALVEAUX: Well, actually there is good news for the Bush administration. According to just the "Newsweek" poll that was released yesterday, showing that at least the American public seems to be getting behind the Bush administration. I want to give you at least one figure here: 67 percent of Americans support using military force against Iraq. That being from the "Newsweek" poll, showing that there is a growing number of Americans that seem to be behind the administration.

There is another figure, however, that says 57 percent say it's still very important that Bush have support from the European allies. So, still, a lot of nervousness about going this alone.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Suzanne. Almost like we planned it. Appreciate it.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

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