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CNN Saturday Morning News
Reporter's Notebook: Bush Prepares for Trip to Europe
Aired June 09, 2001 - 09:42 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Continuing our "Reporter's Notebook," something a little different today. We thought there were two stories worth talking about, the McVeigh execution, which of course we just handled with Jeff Flock, lot of you critical of our coverage on that, and we appreciate your comments. Please send them to us whenever you have a rant or a rave for CNN.
Now let's turn it to Kelly Wallace, who is in -- remains in the bucolic setting in and around the Crawford, Texas, area, not invited in the ranch, but at least nearby. Kelly...
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Nearby, not that close.
O'BRIEN: Yes, Kelly is -- the president on the cusp of a very important trip to Europe, lot of contentious issues percolating along. Let's get right to a phone call.
Bob is in Virginia. Good morning, Bob.
CALLER: Good morning, Miles, and good morning, Kelly. By the way, happy birthday, Miles.
O'BRIEN: Oh, thank you.
CALLER: Kelly, my question to you is this. How is President Bush going to convince the European Union that this missile defense shield will work? And how is he going to convince them that it will not start another arms race, particularly Russia's being so adamantly opposed to it?
WALLACE: Well, you touched on two very, very big questions and big challenges for this president. He certainly will go there saying that this system will not just protect the United States but that it will also protect European allies, the president saying that there are new threats around the world. He will try to convince the allies of this. The defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has been in Europe presenting some more intelligence information about these new threats to convince the allies that the need is there.
Also, the more that the U.S. can work with countries like Russia, as we've noted, the president will be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And if the president can convince Russia that the U.S. should pursue such a system, that maybe the two countries can work together, and if Russia at some point would be willing, which it has so far not shown any interest or any decision to support amending that ballistic, antiballistic missile treaty, that would help convince some of these European allies.
But again, the other question, will it work? There have been a number of tests of the system that have failed, so a lot of skeptics out there. I believe the next test is scheduled for the summer, so if that test proves to be successful, that would help the president as well.
But Bob, a big, big challenge ahead for the president.
O'BRIEN: All right. We got an e-mail question here, but I haven't been able to get the font to work properly, so I'm going to have to read it to you. Just take my word for it, it's here.
Barbara Weeks of Mississippi has this for you, Kelly. "Why is it necessary to have approval from any other country to have a means to protect our country from enemy attack?"
WALLACE: Well, it isn't necessary to have approval from other countries, and the U.S. can go ahead and unilaterally start developing its land, sea, and air-based system, a very expensive system. But of course if the U.S. were to do that, and not engage or consult with allies, and get them very angry at the United States, well, of course that could have enormous implications for the U.S., which needs to have a strong alliance with Europe and with Russia and other countries around the world.
So the U.S. certainly could pursue this on its own, but it believes, and of course it needs to have the support or at least to stem some of the criticism of countries such as Europe -- European nations. And that's what the president will be trying to do.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's get one more call in for you, Kelly. This one comes from Catherine, who is in Georgia. Good morning, Catherine.
CALLER: Good morning, Kelly and Miles. My question is for Kelly. Kelly, do you think that the conversation of the Middle East will come up with the other European countries, considering that most European countries feel that the U.S. is way too lenient and sends way too much financial aid to Israel, which they in turn use to slaughter innocent Palestinian children?
WALLACE: Well, I certainly think that the conversation will definitely come up, the president meeting the U.S.-European Union summit will be taking place in Sweden. This likely to be an issue. U.S. had been criticized by some for maybe being on the sidelines of this issue for a while, but it has certainly stepped up its involvement, sending envoys to the region. Other European nations have been involved.
The U.S., though, feeling that it is supporting this process as much as possible. But I do believe you're likely to hear from those nations, because Europe definitely concerned about what happens in the Middle East could spread and impact other countries around the world.
O'BRIEN: All right, CNN's Kelly Wallace. Kelly, you going to be on Air Force One for this one?
WALLACE: I don't get to go on this one.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I'm sorry.
WALLACE: Major Garrett gets this trip.
O'BRIEN: All right.
WALLACE: I get the next summit in July in Italy.
O'BRIEN: Ah, well, that's not so bad. You'll eat well...
WALLACE: That's not bad at all.
O'BRIEN: ... when you go on that one.
All right. Kelly Wallace, who will be keeping the home fires burning as the president and the rest of the CNN crew heads off on this European trip. Thanks for being with us, as always, on our "Reporter's Notebook."
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