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CNN Sunday Morning
Bush: Iraqi WMDs Will Be Found
Aired May 04, 2003 - 08:03 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.
ROBIN MEADE, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to shift some gears right now. President Bush says that he knows that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and says that they will be found. The president is at his ranch in Crawford, Texas this weekend.
And our Chris Burns is there and joins us now with more of Mr. Bush's agenda.
Good morning, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Robin. The president having a rather quiet day here at the ranch. Not too great a weather, but he will spend the day relaxing as far as we know until tomorrow when he goes on to Arkansas to push his tax cut plan. Now, that's instead of having -- the plans were a few months ago anyway, to go tomorrow to Canada to see Jean Chretien, the prime minister. That having been scrapped after Jean Chretien had opposed vehemently this war in Iraq.
That contrasts with the visit we saw with Prime Minister John Howard of Australia over the weekend here at the Crawford ranch. Flew over here in Air Force One with the president and the president giving his thanks to the Australians for having contributed 2,000 troops and their support in the war in Iraq.
President Bush commending Mr. Howard for his courage and his words and Mr. Howard commending the president for his leadership, but also noting that it's very important to push ahead with the Middle East peace process. That Road Map that will make for a Palestinian state by 2005. He's saying that will be an important way to consolidate the progress that has been made in Iraq.
The president having been asked about the dogged question of weapons of Mass destruction. The reason why the president went to war against Iraq not having yet been found, the president saying that Saddam Hussein did a good job of hiding them but they will be found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He spent 14 years hiding weapons of mass destruction. I mean he spent an entire decade making sure that inspectors would never find them. Iraq's the size of the state of California. It's got tunnels, caves, all kinds of complexes, we'll find them and it will be a matter of time to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Meanwhile, a senior administration official says that three of the five divisions -- U.S. divisions in Iraq will -- should be pull out by fall. That's if they do find replacement troops and if things stabilize, not requiring those troops to be there. There's a lot of pressure on the White House to push ahead with that, to try to push the troops out.
You look at latest poll from "Newsweek" suggesting that support for keeping troops in a year or more is now fallen below 50 percent. It's costing about $2 billion a month to keep those forces in there. So, a lot of pressure to try to stabilize that country, get a government going and get the troops out -- Robin.
MEADE: Chris, before you go. What does the administration feel would be enough in terms of inspectors there in Iraq to find, what it says, are the weapons of mass destruction?
BURNS: Well, that is a good question; the last we heard is that the Bush administration plans to send about a thousand more inspectors. They are including former U.N. inspectors. A lot of experts there going to hundreds of sites. It's going to take some time. And as the president said, caves and tunnels, there are all kinds of places to look in a country the size of California.
So, it's going to be a very difficult process. The Bush administration expressing confidence that they will find those weapons or elements of those weapons, but a lot of skepticism by others saying that they don't expect to find anything. There are some officials who say that Saddam Hussein simply destroyed or dumped a lot of those weapons or will element of those weapons. So a lot might not be found -- Robin.
MEADE: All right. Chris Burns, live this morning, thank you so 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 May 4, 2003 - 08:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROBIN MEADE, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to shift some gears right now. President Bush says that he knows that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and says that they will be found. The president is at his ranch in Crawford, Texas this weekend.
And our Chris Burns is there and joins us now with more of Mr. Bush's agenda.
Good morning, Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Robin. The president having a rather quiet day here at the ranch. Not too great a weather, but he will spend the day relaxing as far as we know until tomorrow when he goes on to Arkansas to push his tax cut plan. Now, that's instead of having -- the plans were a few months ago anyway, to go tomorrow to Canada to see Jean Chretien, the prime minister. That having been scrapped after Jean Chretien had opposed vehemently this war in Iraq.
That contrasts with the visit we saw with Prime Minister John Howard of Australia over the weekend here at the Crawford ranch. Flew over here in Air Force One with the president and the president giving his thanks to the Australians for having contributed 2,000 troops and their support in the war in Iraq.
President Bush commending Mr. Howard for his courage and his words and Mr. Howard commending the president for his leadership, but also noting that it's very important to push ahead with the Middle East peace process. That Road Map that will make for a Palestinian state by 2005. He's saying that will be an important way to consolidate the progress that has been made in Iraq.
The president having been asked about the dogged question of weapons of Mass destruction. The reason why the president went to war against Iraq not having yet been found, the president saying that Saddam Hussein did a good job of hiding them but they will be found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He spent 14 years hiding weapons of mass destruction. I mean he spent an entire decade making sure that inspectors would never find them. Iraq's the size of the state of California. It's got tunnels, caves, all kinds of complexes, we'll find them and it will be a matter of time to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Meanwhile, a senior administration official says that three of the five divisions -- U.S. divisions in Iraq will -- should be pull out by fall. That's if they do find replacement troops and if things stabilize, not requiring those troops to be there. There's a lot of pressure on the White House to push ahead with that, to try to push the troops out.
You look at latest poll from "Newsweek" suggesting that support for keeping troops in a year or more is now fallen below 50 percent. It's costing about $2 billion a month to keep those forces in there. So, a lot of pressure to try to stabilize that country, get a government going and get the troops out -- Robin.
MEADE: Chris, before you go. What does the administration feel would be enough in terms of inspectors there in Iraq to find, what it says, are the weapons of mass destruction?
BURNS: Well, that is a good question; the last we heard is that the Bush administration plans to send about a thousand more inspectors. They are including former U.N. inspectors. A lot of experts there going to hundreds of sites. It's going to take some time. And as the president said, caves and tunnels, there are all kinds of places to look in a country the size of California.
So, it's going to be a very difficult process. The Bush administration expressing confidence that they will find those weapons or elements of those weapons, but a lot of skepticism by others saying that they don't expect to find anything. There are some officials who say that Saddam Hussein simply destroyed or dumped a lot of those weapons or will element of those weapons. So a lot might not be found -- Robin.
MEADE: All right. Chris Burns, live this morning, thank you so 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
