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CNN Sunday Morning
Azores Summit About to Get Under Way
Aired March 16, 2003 - 08:05 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair make their way to the mid-Atlantic, we want to get a preview of today's summit session. White House correspondent Chris Burns is already at the meeting site in the Azores and he joins us now. Chris, what's the latest?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Anderson. Well, President Bush has left, his wheels up. He on his way in Air Force One on the way over here to Terceira Island, part of the Azores island chain. This is an island of cow pastures and this military base shared by this military. And in a community center, that's where the president is going to be meeting with Jose Maria Aznar, the prime minister of Spain, as well as Tony Blair, the prime minister of Britain.
They will be talking about what the next step will be. Many see this as a war council. However, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser who is traveling with President Bush, is saying this is the last push for peace. But still, here are some other comments from other people who are around this meeting.
Think of Jack Straw, the foreign minister of Britain, saying that war is much more probable right now. Think of Jose Maria Aznar saying earlier today that he believes that you don't need another U.N. resolution to go ahead with war against Iraq to disarm it. That is the position of President Bush as well.
So we're very interested to see what comes out of this meeting. They'll have a press conference after this meeting, and this will last a couple of hours this afternoon. The could perhaps withdraw their U.N. resolution to avoid it going down in flames because they still don't have the votes on the U.N. Security Council for that. That could bode badly. That could mean the path to war is much, much closer than in the last few days -- Anderson.
COOPER: Chris, there are already a lot of observers saying this is such a short summit on such short notice. It is only a summit of the willing, a coalition of the willing, so to speak. How is this going to be interpreted? I mean there are some already saying this is nothing more than a PR event.
BURNS: Well, absolutely. A lot of diplomats at the U.N. believe that the peace process is dead in the water. That this is really just a way to show that the three leaders are together, that they probably will make some kind of mention of this road map to peace for the Middle East that President Bush spoke of a couple of days ago, seeing it as kind of a political cover for Tony Blair and for us.
Now both of them are very much under fire back at home. More than half of their populations, according to polls there, indicate that they are against a war against Iraq even with a U.N. backing.
COOPER: All right. Chris Burns live in the Azores, thanks very much.
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 March 16, 2003 - 08:05 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: As President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair make their way to the mid-Atlantic, we want to get a preview of today's summit session. White House correspondent Chris Burns is already at the meeting site in the Azores and he joins us now. Chris, what's the latest?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Anderson. Well, President Bush has left, his wheels up. He on his way in Air Force One on the way over here to Terceira Island, part of the Azores island chain. This is an island of cow pastures and this military base shared by this military. And in a community center, that's where the president is going to be meeting with Jose Maria Aznar, the prime minister of Spain, as well as Tony Blair, the prime minister of Britain.
They will be talking about what the next step will be. Many see this as a war council. However, Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser who is traveling with President Bush, is saying this is the last push for peace. But still, here are some other comments from other people who are around this meeting.
Think of Jack Straw, the foreign minister of Britain, saying that war is much more probable right now. Think of Jose Maria Aznar saying earlier today that he believes that you don't need another U.N. resolution to go ahead with war against Iraq to disarm it. That is the position of President Bush as well.
So we're very interested to see what comes out of this meeting. They'll have a press conference after this meeting, and this will last a couple of hours this afternoon. The could perhaps withdraw their U.N. resolution to avoid it going down in flames because they still don't have the votes on the U.N. Security Council for that. That could bode badly. That could mean the path to war is much, much closer than in the last few days -- Anderson.
COOPER: Chris, there are already a lot of observers saying this is such a short summit on such short notice. It is only a summit of the willing, a coalition of the willing, so to speak. How is this going to be interpreted? I mean there are some already saying this is nothing more than a PR event.
BURNS: Well, absolutely. A lot of diplomats at the U.N. believe that the peace process is dead in the water. That this is really just a way to show that the three leaders are together, that they probably will make some kind of mention of this road map to peace for the Middle East that President Bush spoke of a couple of days ago, seeing it as kind of a political cover for Tony Blair and for us.
Now both of them are very much under fire back at home. More than half of their populations, according to polls there, indicate that they are against a war against Iraq even with a U.N. backing.
COOPER: All right. Chris Burns live in the Azores, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
