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CNN Saturday Morning News

Bush Expected to Deliver Frank Speech to U.N.

Aired November 10, 2001 - 09:27   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is about to address the United Nations General Assembly. It will be his first speech before the world body, and the president's expected to have some blunt talk about the fight against terrorism.

CNN's Kelly Wallace joins us now live from the U.N. in New York. She, of course, is always on top of what the president is doing. Hi, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, she hopes to be. Good morning to you, Kyra. Nice setup there.

Well, we are expecting, of course, to hear from the president, Kyra. As you know, this his first address as president to the United Nations. This meeting, this General Assembly meeting was expected to take place in September, at the end of September, but of course it was rescheduled after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

And Mr. Bush expected to use his speech to sound the call again, in the words of one of his top aides, in this international fight against terrorism.

But he's also expected to say that words of sympathy and condolences are just not enough. He will say now is the time for action, that he is looking for concrete steps from countries in this fight against terrorism.

His aides say the president is not expected to name names, not expected to reveal countries, countries he thinks might not be doing enough. But, aides say, those countries likely to know who they are.

And Kyra, you have probably heard this before, talk of what the White House calls the Bush doctrine, and that is the president's belief that not only are terrorists guilty, and not only should they be held accountable, but so should countries which finance them, support them, and harbor them.

So this a very big and important speech for the president. And Kyra, as you know, on the sidelines of these meetings, the president will have an opportunity to meet face to face with a number of world leaders, the heads of state including Uganda, the Congo, South Africa, also a very, very important meeting, he will have his first face-to- face meeting, I believe, with Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf. And as you know, Pakistan has been a very important ally to the United States in this fight against terrorism. The Pakistani president has been talking about his concern about the military campaign, wanting it to be short and targeted, and also looking for possibly some suspension during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins in just a few days.

So that likely to be a topic the two men discuss later today.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Kelly, you mentioned the president won't specifically name countries. I think I under -- if that's how I understood it. But he has come out and said he is not going to meet with Yasser Arafat, correct?

WALLACE: That is correct, and that's a very good point, because this meeting, when it was supposed to happen in September, was believed to have the United States trying to achieve some real progress in the Middle East. The hope also was that during this weekend, they could, the United States, U.S. officials, could get some type of breakthrough between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

As you know, the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, deciding not to come to the meeting, and U.S. officials making it clear that President Bush would not have his first face-to-face meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat here. Condoleezza Rice, the president's top national security adviser, making it very clear, the president, his top aides believe that Arafat needs to do more to root out the terrorists. Condoleezza Rice saying, you know, You can't stand with us against the al-Qaeda network and then hug Hezbollah or Hamas.

So clearly, some strong words. Colin Powell, though, Kyra, the secretary of state, will be meeting with Arafat. He was out on many television networks yesterday making it clear the president is engaged and is doing everything possible to try and bring about peace in the Middle East.

And as you know, Kyra, a lot of Arab leaders somewhat concerned. We heard the Saudi Arabian foreign minister in an interview with "The New York Times" on Friday making it clear that he thinks the United States needs to do a lot more. And so a lot of Arab leaders looking for more action on the part of the president -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Kelly Wallace live from the U.N. in New York, thank you so much.

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