Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

WMD: Burden of Proof

Aired July 13, 2003 - 08:00   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.


JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Was President Bush and his administration out of step in the march to war with Iraq? There is a growing chorus that's saying yes. And they're turning a deaf ear on Ari Fleischer's insistence that the controversy is now over.
CNN's Bob Franken joins us from Washington with the latest.

It's going to be a busy day on the talk shows, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is. And actually, the talk shows can sometimes be just nothing more than background noise. I think this particular case, what comes out of those talk shows and the headlines they generate the next day could be quite significant as the story continues to unfold. It is clearly not over yet.

The taking of responsibility by the CIA director George Tenet did not seem to change things. President Bush has made his way back right into the teeth of the controversy now after being thousands of miles away, but not far enough away to avoid the controversy over this.

And what we're seeing now is some repeating of stories that had been going on over the months about the skepticism of the administration's claims about Iraq. Skepticism about the claim Iraq had been shopping in Africa for uranium, the one that has caused so much attention. Skepticism about that all the way back in October there was debate about that and it influenced what the president said and did not say in a speech he made in Cincinnati. And of course, there was also skepticism about the link that was claimed by some elements of the administration, the link between Iraq and al Qaeda. We've been familiar with that for months.

Well, all that is coming back again because of what was said in the State of the Union message. And of course, as you pointed out, the calls for some sort of action are getting a little bit more aggressive. The various political candidates among the Democrats, presidential candidates, are now becoming a little bit more forthright, outspoken after being intimidated for months by the president's role in Iraq and the war against terror. They're now becoming quite quote spoken.

Others, too, like Democratic John Breaux, who's one of the few Democratic senators not running for president but he was quite outspoken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN BREAUX (D), LOUISIANA: The president should not be praising George Tenet. He should be asking George Tenet to step down. It's one thing for the Central Intelligence Agency to be giving information to the president of the United States for a State of the Union Address that we later find out is incorrect information. It's quite another thing for the head of the CIA to give information to the president of the United States that they know at that time is incorrect information. That is unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now, people who are experts in this say that there's a never-ending negotiation going on between presidents and their intelligence community to try and use the super secret material to the best advantage of whatever the political point of view is. But there are others who say in this case, the stakes were so high, such as casualties in Iraq, that the administration crossed the line. This is the debate that's going on and we can expect to see reach full fury today as you said, John, on the Sunday talk shows.

VAUSE: Bob, you mentioned that many Democrats will be stepping up their attacks seeing this as a chance to challenge the administration. But given the fact that so many Democrats were defending in their silence when it came to opposing the war in Iraq, do they lack credibility on this matter?

FRANKEN: Well, we'll see. The fact is, is they always concerned about political fallout. And we'll have to see now if they're able to bridge the gap between their silence and implicit support of the Iraq situation and the circumstance that's come up now. I can tell you that probably a lot of conversations have been had with the various staff people to try to make sure one doesn't seem inconsistent with the other.

VAUSE: OK. CNN'S Bob Franken reporting for us live this morning in Washington.

Thank you, Bob.

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 July 13, 2003 - 08:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Was President Bush and his administration out of step in the march to war with Iraq? There is a growing chorus that's saying yes. And they're turning a deaf ear on Ari Fleischer's insistence that the controversy is now over.
CNN's Bob Franken joins us from Washington with the latest.

It's going to be a busy day on the talk shows, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is. And actually, the talk shows can sometimes be just nothing more than background noise. I think this particular case, what comes out of those talk shows and the headlines they generate the next day could be quite significant as the story continues to unfold. It is clearly not over yet.

The taking of responsibility by the CIA director George Tenet did not seem to change things. President Bush has made his way back right into the teeth of the controversy now after being thousands of miles away, but not far enough away to avoid the controversy over this.

And what we're seeing now is some repeating of stories that had been going on over the months about the skepticism of the administration's claims about Iraq. Skepticism about the claim Iraq had been shopping in Africa for uranium, the one that has caused so much attention. Skepticism about that all the way back in October there was debate about that and it influenced what the president said and did not say in a speech he made in Cincinnati. And of course, there was also skepticism about the link that was claimed by some elements of the administration, the link between Iraq and al Qaeda. We've been familiar with that for months.

Well, all that is coming back again because of what was said in the State of the Union message. And of course, as you pointed out, the calls for some sort of action are getting a little bit more aggressive. The various political candidates among the Democrats, presidential candidates, are now becoming a little bit more forthright, outspoken after being intimidated for months by the president's role in Iraq and the war against terror. They're now becoming quite quote spoken.

Others, too, like Democratic John Breaux, who's one of the few Democratic senators not running for president but he was quite outspoken.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN BREAUX (D), LOUISIANA: The president should not be praising George Tenet. He should be asking George Tenet to step down. It's one thing for the Central Intelligence Agency to be giving information to the president of the United States for a State of the Union Address that we later find out is incorrect information. It's quite another thing for the head of the CIA to give information to the president of the United States that they know at that time is incorrect information. That is unacceptable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Now, people who are experts in this say that there's a never-ending negotiation going on between presidents and their intelligence community to try and use the super secret material to the best advantage of whatever the political point of view is. But there are others who say in this case, the stakes were so high, such as casualties in Iraq, that the administration crossed the line. This is the debate that's going on and we can expect to see reach full fury today as you said, John, on the Sunday talk shows.

VAUSE: Bob, you mentioned that many Democrats will be stepping up their attacks seeing this as a chance to challenge the administration. But given the fact that so many Democrats were defending in their silence when it came to opposing the war in Iraq, do they lack credibility on this matter?

FRANKEN: Well, we'll see. The fact is, is they always concerned about political fallout. And we'll have to see now if they're able to bridge the gap between their silence and implicit support of the Iraq situation and the circumstance that's come up now. I can tell you that probably a lot of conversations have been had with the various staff people to try to make sure one doesn't seem inconsistent with the other.

VAUSE: OK. CNN'S Bob Franken reporting for us live this morning in Washington.

Thank you, Bob.

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