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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Joe Moore

Aired January 19, 2003 - 07:32   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Chicago has recently added itself to the growing list of cities that have passed anti-war statements in light of a possible war with Iraq. The city council last week voted 46 to 1 against a preemptive military strike unless Iraq is shown to be a real threat to the U.S. The alderman who cast the lone dissenting vote was supposed to join this morning. Unfortunately, he canceled last night.
But we do have Joe Moore. He's the alderman who sponsored the resolution. He joins us now from Chicago.

Good morning to you.

JOE MOORE, CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL: Good morning, Heidi.

COLLINS: Thanks for being here, Joe.

MOORE: Thank you for having me.

COLLINS: Tell us, you know, in first looking at this, you just look at it and say well, what does the city have to do with it? Why do we care about what the individual cities think?

MOORE: Well, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a war against Iraq will cost our nation between eight and $13 billion a month. Where is that money going to come from? The president's already indicating he's not going to raise taxes. Indeed, he has indicated he's going to try to lower taxes even more. The money can only come from one place, either through more deficit spending or a cut in more federal programs.

Just about every program that affects the quality of life in my neighborhood, the Rogers Park Community in Chicago, or any other neighborhood in any city, village or town in this country is funded at least in part by federal dollars. Affordable housing, health care, transportation, public safety, they all receive in part funding from the federal government. Those programs are going to suffer even more cuts than they've already suffered if we have to finance a war in Iraq.

Secondly, we have many young men and women who are going to be called to fight that war. Young men and women who live in my neighborhood. And we're vitally concerned about their welfare and their lives. And so I believe...

COLLINS: Well, Mr. Moore, does this... MOORE: ...for those reasons, it has a very direct affect on cities, towns and villages throughout our nation.

COLLINS: Understandably so. But Mr. Moore, does this resolution offer any support to the troops?

MOORE: Absolutely. In fact, one of the provisions in the resolution does state specifically that if we do go to war, we do support our troops, we do support our military personnel, even if we oppose the policies that sent them there.

COLLINS: In what way?

MOORE: In -- by providing them with the moral support, the wishing for their welfare and their well being. The bottom line is though the best way to support the troops is not to send them into battle when there are other avenues to avoid a war.

COLLINS: Now if I understand correctly, one of the things that I read about this particular story was that you called or the city in general, which this 46 to 1 vote, called Saddam Hussein a tyrant and said that he needs to be removed from power. How will you propose to do that?

MOORE: Well, indeed, Saddam Hussein is a tyrant. Indeed he had to be removed from power. But there are other ways of doing it. Kim Jong, the leader in North Korea, is a tyrant as well. Yet this nation is pursuing a diplomatic approach in dealing with him. There are tyrants, unfortunately, throughout the world. We do not -- we will -- we should not abandon our longstanding policy of not preemptively invading another nation, simply to try to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

Ultimately, it's up to the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam. For 50 years, we had a policy of containment against the Soviet Union. It was a brutal regime there. Eventually, it crumbled under its own weight. We should not sacrifice the lives of our young men and women. We should not sacrifice literally billions and billions of dollars that need to be spent on needs in this country to depart from a longstanding policy, and a good policy in this nation, of not preemptively striking another country.

COLLINS: Well, what happens now? What happens with this proposal? Will you take it to Washington?

MOORE: Absolutely. This resolution will be -- copies of this resolution will be given to our congressional delegation in Illinois and to the president of the United States. Chicago's the largest city thus far to enact this resolution. It joins dozens and dozens of other towns and cities and villages throughout our nation who are speaking out against a war on Iraq at this time.

COLLINS: All right.

MOORE: And let me tell you one other thing is that, you know, Chicago is not Berkeley and San Francisco or Madison, Wisconsin. Those are great cities, but Chicago represents middle America. And the 46 to 1 vote that we had in the city council was absolutely amazing because it crossed the entire spectrum of political philosophies in our very diverse city. I think it...

COLLINS: All right, Mr. Moore, I'm sorry we've going to have to cut it short. We understand your position now.

MOORE: Well, thank you very much for having me this morning.

COLLINS: And we do appreciate you being here, sir. Joe Moore from the city -- Chicago city council. Thank you.

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 January 19, 2003 - 07:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Chicago has recently added itself to the growing list of cities that have passed anti-war statements in light of a possible war with Iraq. The city council last week voted 46 to 1 against a preemptive military strike unless Iraq is shown to be a real threat to the U.S. The alderman who cast the lone dissenting vote was supposed to join this morning. Unfortunately, he canceled last night.
But we do have Joe Moore. He's the alderman who sponsored the resolution. He joins us now from Chicago.

Good morning to you.

JOE MOORE, CHICAGO CITY COUNCIL: Good morning, Heidi.

COLLINS: Thanks for being here, Joe.

MOORE: Thank you for having me.

COLLINS: Tell us, you know, in first looking at this, you just look at it and say well, what does the city have to do with it? Why do we care about what the individual cities think?

MOORE: Well, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that a war against Iraq will cost our nation between eight and $13 billion a month. Where is that money going to come from? The president's already indicating he's not going to raise taxes. Indeed, he has indicated he's going to try to lower taxes even more. The money can only come from one place, either through more deficit spending or a cut in more federal programs.

Just about every program that affects the quality of life in my neighborhood, the Rogers Park Community in Chicago, or any other neighborhood in any city, village or town in this country is funded at least in part by federal dollars. Affordable housing, health care, transportation, public safety, they all receive in part funding from the federal government. Those programs are going to suffer even more cuts than they've already suffered if we have to finance a war in Iraq.

Secondly, we have many young men and women who are going to be called to fight that war. Young men and women who live in my neighborhood. And we're vitally concerned about their welfare and their lives. And so I believe...

COLLINS: Well, Mr. Moore, does this... MOORE: ...for those reasons, it has a very direct affect on cities, towns and villages throughout our nation.

COLLINS: Understandably so. But Mr. Moore, does this resolution offer any support to the troops?

MOORE: Absolutely. In fact, one of the provisions in the resolution does state specifically that if we do go to war, we do support our troops, we do support our military personnel, even if we oppose the policies that sent them there.

COLLINS: In what way?

MOORE: In -- by providing them with the moral support, the wishing for their welfare and their well being. The bottom line is though the best way to support the troops is not to send them into battle when there are other avenues to avoid a war.

COLLINS: Now if I understand correctly, one of the things that I read about this particular story was that you called or the city in general, which this 46 to 1 vote, called Saddam Hussein a tyrant and said that he needs to be removed from power. How will you propose to do that?

MOORE: Well, indeed, Saddam Hussein is a tyrant. Indeed he had to be removed from power. But there are other ways of doing it. Kim Jong, the leader in North Korea, is a tyrant as well. Yet this nation is pursuing a diplomatic approach in dealing with him. There are tyrants, unfortunately, throughout the world. We do not -- we will -- we should not abandon our longstanding policy of not preemptively invading another nation, simply to try to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

Ultimately, it's up to the Iraqi people to overthrow Saddam. For 50 years, we had a policy of containment against the Soviet Union. It was a brutal regime there. Eventually, it crumbled under its own weight. We should not sacrifice the lives of our young men and women. We should not sacrifice literally billions and billions of dollars that need to be spent on needs in this country to depart from a longstanding policy, and a good policy in this nation, of not preemptively striking another country.

COLLINS: Well, what happens now? What happens with this proposal? Will you take it to Washington?

MOORE: Absolutely. This resolution will be -- copies of this resolution will be given to our congressional delegation in Illinois and to the president of the United States. Chicago's the largest city thus far to enact this resolution. It joins dozens and dozens of other towns and cities and villages throughout our nation who are speaking out against a war on Iraq at this time.

COLLINS: All right.

MOORE: And let me tell you one other thing is that, you know, Chicago is not Berkeley and San Francisco or Madison, Wisconsin. Those are great cities, but Chicago represents middle America. And the 46 to 1 vote that we had in the city council was absolutely amazing because it crossed the entire spectrum of political philosophies in our very diverse city. I think it...

COLLINS: All right, Mr. Moore, I'm sorry we've going to have to cut it short. We understand your position now.

MOORE: Well, thank you very much for having me this morning.

COLLINS: And we do appreciate you being here, sir. Joe Moore from the city -- Chicago city council. Thank you.

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