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CNN Saturday Morning News

Bush, British P.M. to Discuss Iraq Plan

Aired September 07, 2002 - 08:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we begin this hour with the White House effort to line up support for a campaign to get rid of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Today at Camp David, President Bush is meeting Tony Blair, the British prime minister. He is the only international leader currently backing possible U.S. military action against Iraq.
With the latest from Washington, CNN White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux -- Suzanne.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Well, President Bush left the White House just yesterday for Camp David. He is going to be discussing Iraq with British Prime Minister Tony Blair today, White House aides calling it a critical discussion. These two leaders share in their resolve to overthrow Saddam Hussein and, as you know, Britain is the only country aside from Israel that has expressed any type of support for regime change and even the possibility of using military action to do so.

Now, the president is involved in preparing for his final draft to go before the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday to make the case, to outline this case. We are told that he is going to tell the international community that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the world, that he has broken United Nations agreements. The "Washington Post" taking it even one step further and saying that without international support, the United States will be forced to go it alone.

Now, all of this is part of a campaign really on the international stage to make the case for the need to oust Saddam Hussein. It was just yesterday the president was on the phone making a series of calls. He called French President Jacques Chirac, he called China's Jiang Zemin, as well as Russia's Vladimir Putin. We are told that the purpose of those talks was to tell them, yes, that we value your opinion, again, to reiterate Saddam Hussein is a threat to the world, but also to tell those leaders that the administration has not yet made a decision about to handle that threat, but this is really just the beginning steps -- Charles.

MOLINEAUX: Suzanne, now, we've heard, of course, about the Bush administration bringing in top members of Congress in the soundproof room outlining the evidence, some of it probably secret, that the administration says that it has against Iraq.

Is there any indication that something comparable might be attempted on the international stage or might have been part of those phone calls?

MALVEAUX: Well, what we have been told is that before the United Nations General Assembly that he is going to make a full, comprehensive argument for why Saddam Hussein is a threat to the world, that it's going to introduce evidence saying that yes, that we see that he has weapons of mass destruction, that he is trying to build his arsenal, that he'll make that case.

It is unclear whether or not this will be new information and new intelligence that we have not heard before, but it is going to be a very strong case, White House officials are telling us. I must tell you that the reaction, the initial reaction to those phone calls, however, really didn't seem to sway anyone's opinion. The White House saying it really wasn't meant to, it was simply an introduction to these talks, to open up these talks. But just to quote the spokesperson for Vladimir Putin just yesterday, he said that Putin expressed serious doubts regarding the grounds for the use of force in relation to Iraq and that in terms of both international law and global politics.

Also, a spokesperson for Chirac went on to say that it is up to the Security Council to take appropriate measures, they should be debated at that time.

We are told that the White House is going to go ahead and offer the United Nations, saying look, let's look, let's take another look at the resolution, let's take another look at inspections, but again, that that is not enough.

MOLINEAUX: OK, thank you very much, Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.

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