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CNN Sunday Morning

White House Officials Defend Substance of State of Union Speech

Aired July 13, 2003 - 11:06   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.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Britain is also being challenged about its reasons for joining the coalition that deposed Saddam Hussein, this time by former U.N. Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix. He's taking issue with Britain's claim Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons in 45 minutes, saying, quote, "I think that was a fundamental mistake. I don't know exactly how they calculated this figure of 45 minutes in the dossier of September last year. That seems pretty far off the mark to me." Those comments coming from Hans Blix.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is defending his government's statements about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium in Africa. He wrote a House of Commons committee saying, quote, "UK officials were confident that the dossier statement was based on reliable intelligence which we had not shared with the U.S., for good reasons, which I have given your committee in private session." That from British Foreign Minister Jack Straw.

Well, now let's get a little bit more on the Bush White House reaction of all of this from our Dana Bash. And it looks like President Bush has a fairly busy week ahead of him, even though he's just now back from his five-nation African tour, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. You're right, the president just got back late last night from that five-day, five-nation tour on the continent of Africa. And already this morning, Fredricka, his top advisers are out doing damage control on the whole issue of those 16 words you were just talking to Bob Franken about that were in the president's State of the Union address. Those, of course, saying that Iraq was trying to get uranium from the continent of Africa. And those words, the White House is now saying, were dubious and should not have been in the speech.

However, what the White House, Fredricka, is saying this morning is that this should not sort of color the whole concept of why the president said it was important to go to war. And what Condoleezza Rice said to Wolf Blitzer, in a taping for "LATE EDITION" that we will soon see on CNN in a short while, she said that what is important to know is that the White House stands behind the idea that Saddam Hussein was trying to reconstitute his nuclear program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, UNITED STATES NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It is 16 words and it has become an enormously overblown issue. The president of the United States did not go to war because of a question of whether or not Saddam Hussein sought uranium in Africa. He took the American people and American forces to war because this was a bloody tyrant who, for 12 years, has defied the international community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And, Fredricka, as you can imagine, democrats are just not buying it, the whole idea that the White House is trying to close this case. John Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts, who is also running for president, also told Wolf Blitzer that he believes what is important is not that George Tenet takes the fall for this, but he thinks that the White House needs to answer questions about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No, the case is not closed. I don't believe that George Tenet saying something about responsibility ends the question of ultimate responsibility. Nor does it answer the question or questions about what really happened. Nor does it provide an answer which is the most critical one, which is, are Americans safer today than they were three years ago? And do we have the kind of knowledge about our intelligence gathering that allows us to make the judgment that we are safer?

I believe there are enormous questions still about the overall intelligence given to the Congress, the quality of that intelligence, and even about the politics that entered into the judgment of taking that famous phrase out of one speech, but leaving it in another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And, Fredricka, what democrats and some republicans are saying that they are concerned about here is the fact that, because there are questions about intelligence and the communications efforts between the intelligence community and the White House, this could color future operations and future issues with important governments and important countries like Syria and others that the U.S. does have problems with. And the intelligence for those issues and those countries are very important to keep accurate and keep correct. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash from the White House, 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




Speech>


Aired July 13, 2003 - 11:06   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Britain is also being challenged about its reasons for joining the coalition that deposed Saddam Hussein, this time by former U.N. Chief Weapons Inspector Hans Blix. He's taking issue with Britain's claim Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons in 45 minutes, saying, quote, "I think that was a fundamental mistake. I don't know exactly how they calculated this figure of 45 minutes in the dossier of September last year. That seems pretty far off the mark to me." Those comments coming from Hans Blix.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is defending his government's statements about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium in Africa. He wrote a House of Commons committee saying, quote, "UK officials were confident that the dossier statement was based on reliable intelligence which we had not shared with the U.S., for good reasons, which I have given your committee in private session." That from British Foreign Minister Jack Straw.

Well, now let's get a little bit more on the Bush White House reaction of all of this from our Dana Bash. And it looks like President Bush has a fairly busy week ahead of him, even though he's just now back from his five-nation African tour, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. You're right, the president just got back late last night from that five-day, five-nation tour on the continent of Africa. And already this morning, Fredricka, his top advisers are out doing damage control on the whole issue of those 16 words you were just talking to Bob Franken about that were in the president's State of the Union address. Those, of course, saying that Iraq was trying to get uranium from the continent of Africa. And those words, the White House is now saying, were dubious and should not have been in the speech.

However, what the White House, Fredricka, is saying this morning is that this should not sort of color the whole concept of why the president said it was important to go to war. And what Condoleezza Rice said to Wolf Blitzer, in a taping for "LATE EDITION" that we will soon see on CNN in a short while, she said that what is important to know is that the White House stands behind the idea that Saddam Hussein was trying to reconstitute his nuclear program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, UNITED STATES NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It is 16 words and it has become an enormously overblown issue. The president of the United States did not go to war because of a question of whether or not Saddam Hussein sought uranium in Africa. He took the American people and American forces to war because this was a bloody tyrant who, for 12 years, has defied the international community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And, Fredricka, as you can imagine, democrats are just not buying it, the whole idea that the White House is trying to close this case. John Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts, who is also running for president, also told Wolf Blitzer that he believes what is important is not that George Tenet takes the fall for this, but he thinks that the White House needs to answer questions about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No, the case is not closed. I don't believe that George Tenet saying something about responsibility ends the question of ultimate responsibility. Nor does it answer the question or questions about what really happened. Nor does it provide an answer which is the most critical one, which is, are Americans safer today than they were three years ago? And do we have the kind of knowledge about our intelligence gathering that allows us to make the judgment that we are safer?

I believe there are enormous questions still about the overall intelligence given to the Congress, the quality of that intelligence, and even about the politics that entered into the judgment of taking that famous phrase out of one speech, but leaving it in another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And, Fredricka, what democrats and some republicans are saying that they are concerned about here is the fact that, because there are questions about intelligence and the communications efforts between the intelligence community and the White House, this could color future operations and future issues with important governments and important countries like Syria and others that the U.S. does have problems with. And the intelligence for those issues and those countries are very important to keep accurate and keep correct. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash from the White House, 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




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