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CNN Sunday Morning

When Do U.S. Casualties in Iraq Become Political Liability for Bush?

Aired June 22, 2003 - 08:21   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.


THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: At what point do U.S. military casualties become a political liability? With more on the hurdles Iraq presents for the Bush administration, CNN political analyst Bill Schneider joins us now live from our Washington bureau to talk about this.
And Bill, so far, the numbers are more than 50 Americans have lost their lives inside Iraq since major combat declared over. So, is there actually a number in here where it becomes a political liability?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, everyone in Washington is aware of the number, 138, which is number of Americans killed in the military hostilities up until May 1, when the president declared action was over. As the number of Americans in Iraq which are getting killed, it's now about one a day. As it begins to approach the number who are killed in the war then you're going to see more and more questions raised by Congress, by the news media and you're going to see the president have to make more and more statements.

That's why he went on the radio yesterday to say we're acting decisively against the threats. It hasn't turned against him yet. But those numbers as they grow, are going to become more serious.

ROBERTS: And we're just learning you know, over the weekend yesterday, there was a U.S. Humvee that was traveling along near the town of Hit that ran over a land mine. Two U.S. soldiers were injured during that situation.

I guess, at what point do we start to realize here the fact that the danger over there still exists and President Bush though, continues on trying to search for the weapons of mass destruction. When does that factor into the fact that the loss of American life and the lack of finding WMD?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the weapons of mass destruction so far haven't amounted to a big political issue in this country. They have in Britain where Prime Minister Tony Blair has been thrown on the defensive and is under a barrage of criticism.

Oddly, however, it's not a big issue here. For instance, when we polled on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and asked people do you think that Americans -- that the administration deliberately misled the U.S. public on the issue of weapons of mass destruction? By two to one, Americans continued to say no. They don't believe that the administration has deliberately misled the American people. And as you can see, that really hasn't changed over the last few weeks.

The bigger issue is what is our mission now in Iraq? The danger is Americans continue to see pictures and read stories that the situation on the ground there is not under control. That the number of Americans slowly, one a day, are being killed. It if there was a sudden attack, comparable to what happened, tragically in Lebanon in the 1980s, when a couple hundred Americans were killed that would bring the issue -- that would dramatize it. And Americans would say, what exactly are we trying to achieve there?

Americans like the idea what we should win and get out. Well, we haven't gotten out. We did win, but we haven't gotten out.

ROBERTS: And Bill, there are also some new job approval ratings for the president done by Gallup last week, show a slight dip in the approval rating, right?

SCHNEIDER: That's right. After the war, the president's ratings you see in April were at 71 percent. And they've slowly drifted down over the last couple of months. They're now -- his overall job approval is at 62 percent. That's still pretty good. Anything over 60 is great.

But what's interesting, you don't see it here, but his rating on handling world affairs is below that, it's 58 percent. And that's taking a drop over the last month. And so when the president's rating on world affair is lower than his overall job rating, that was always his strength. That's the beginning of concern in the White House and that's probably what prompted the president to go on the radio yesterday and talk about the fact that the situation is under control.

You know, when he ran for president, he criticized the idea of nation building, said American military should not be used for that purpose. That's exactly what they're doing now in Iraq. And Americans will support that because they think we were right to go into Iraq, but they want to know this is an achievable mission that we're making progress toward. And so far the news has not been good.

ROBERTS: No, today, a pipeline explosion taking place near the town of Hit, that's a setback for Iraqi reconstruction trying to get the oil moving once again.

Our Bill Schneider live for us in Washington.

Bill, thanks very much, good to talk to you as always.

SCHNEIDER: Good to talk to you Thomas.

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




for Bush?>


Aired June 22, 2003 - 08:21   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: At what point do U.S. military casualties become a political liability? With more on the hurdles Iraq presents for the Bush administration, CNN political analyst Bill Schneider joins us now live from our Washington bureau to talk about this.
And Bill, so far, the numbers are more than 50 Americans have lost their lives inside Iraq since major combat declared over. So, is there actually a number in here where it becomes a political liability?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, everyone in Washington is aware of the number, 138, which is number of Americans killed in the military hostilities up until May 1, when the president declared action was over. As the number of Americans in Iraq which are getting killed, it's now about one a day. As it begins to approach the number who are killed in the war then you're going to see more and more questions raised by Congress, by the news media and you're going to see the president have to make more and more statements.

That's why he went on the radio yesterday to say we're acting decisively against the threats. It hasn't turned against him yet. But those numbers as they grow, are going to become more serious.

ROBERTS: And we're just learning you know, over the weekend yesterday, there was a U.S. Humvee that was traveling along near the town of Hit that ran over a land mine. Two U.S. soldiers were injured during that situation.

I guess, at what point do we start to realize here the fact that the danger over there still exists and President Bush though, continues on trying to search for the weapons of mass destruction. When does that factor into the fact that the loss of American life and the lack of finding WMD?

SCHNEIDER: Well, the weapons of mass destruction so far haven't amounted to a big political issue in this country. They have in Britain where Prime Minister Tony Blair has been thrown on the defensive and is under a barrage of criticism.

Oddly, however, it's not a big issue here. For instance, when we polled on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and asked people do you think that Americans -- that the administration deliberately misled the U.S. public on the issue of weapons of mass destruction? By two to one, Americans continued to say no. They don't believe that the administration has deliberately misled the American people. And as you can see, that really hasn't changed over the last few weeks.

The bigger issue is what is our mission now in Iraq? The danger is Americans continue to see pictures and read stories that the situation on the ground there is not under control. That the number of Americans slowly, one a day, are being killed. It if there was a sudden attack, comparable to what happened, tragically in Lebanon in the 1980s, when a couple hundred Americans were killed that would bring the issue -- that would dramatize it. And Americans would say, what exactly are we trying to achieve there?

Americans like the idea what we should win and get out. Well, we haven't gotten out. We did win, but we haven't gotten out.

ROBERTS: And Bill, there are also some new job approval ratings for the president done by Gallup last week, show a slight dip in the approval rating, right?

SCHNEIDER: That's right. After the war, the president's ratings you see in April were at 71 percent. And they've slowly drifted down over the last couple of months. They're now -- his overall job approval is at 62 percent. That's still pretty good. Anything over 60 is great.

But what's interesting, you don't see it here, but his rating on handling world affairs is below that, it's 58 percent. And that's taking a drop over the last month. And so when the president's rating on world affair is lower than his overall job rating, that was always his strength. That's the beginning of concern in the White House and that's probably what prompted the president to go on the radio yesterday and talk about the fact that the situation is under control.

You know, when he ran for president, he criticized the idea of nation building, said American military should not be used for that purpose. That's exactly what they're doing now in Iraq. And Americans will support that because they think we were right to go into Iraq, but they want to know this is an achievable mission that we're making progress toward. And so far the news has not been good.

ROBERTS: No, today, a pipeline explosion taking place near the town of Hit, that's a setback for Iraqi reconstruction trying to get the oil moving once again.

Our Bill Schneider live for us in Washington.

Bill, thanks very much, good to talk to you as always.

SCHNEIDER: Good to talk to you Thomas.

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




for Bush?>