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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Larry Holmes of ANSWER
Aired January 18, 2003 - 07:06 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.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Americans are divided on whether to use force against Iraq. In a recent poll, 56 percent approved, but 38 percent said they were against it.
This weekend, antiwar rallies are planned in Washington and other cities. A group organizing two of the rallies is International ANSWER.
Larry Holmes is with that group, and he's here now to tell us about the rallies from Washington, D.C. Later on, though, we want to let you know that we are going to hear from a guest who thinks that war is necessary.
Larry, thanks for being here this morning. Tell us real quickly, what does ANSWER stand for, International ANSWER?
LARRY HOLMES, INTERNATIONAL ANSWER: ANSWER is an acronym for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism.
COLLINS: Tell us what you have planned for today. Are you expecting quite a few people?
HOLMES: I know that we're going to have tens of thousands of protesters converging on the capital in very cold weather, and perhaps several hundred thousand people. This is very serious. And this may be the last opportunity that those of us in this country who are for peace and not war have a chance to say to the White House and to the nation, No, let us stop this march toward war before the bombs start dropping en masse and the invasion starts.
I think we've got maybe a month, six weeks at best.
And so the demonstration taking place on this weekend that we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday, and he was a drum major for peace, is kind of a dramatic turning point where we've really got to intensify the peace movement, the antiwar movement, stir up the country, and hopefully prevail in this debate.
And I think the people in this country are with us. Some of your polls suggest that.
COLLINS: Larry, tell me, then, what is group's answer to the situation in Iraq?
HOLMES: That's a good question. We don't have an answer. We're an umbrella coalition. There are some who are part of the peace movement who view Iraq as a threat and are concerned about it, and then on the other end of the spectrum, there are some who view the United States military as a threat, perhaps being inspired by King's words 35 years ago, when he said the United States is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.
So it's a broad spectrum. What everyone agrees on, the common ground we have, is that this war is unjustified, it's a mistake, and we must stop it. And then we can continue to debate about Iraq or whatever. But we must not have the war.
COLLINS: Do you have any reaction, Larry, and your group to the news on Thursday of the U.N. weapons inspectors finding chemical warheads in Iraq that were not declared and not mentioned in the weapons declaration? And do you think there might be more, since those were not mentioned? Is there a response to that, or feeling...
HOLMES: I think that...
COLLINS: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) about that?
HOLMES: ... I think that if we were not talking about that in the context of a war -- a serious war where people are going to die, Iraqi people, U.S. troops, et cetera -- that that finding wouldn't even rate a small story, much less a headline. And that is why we've got to stop the war, because the war has blown everything out of context.
I mean, who knows what a half a dozen empty shells means? It seems to be a sideshow and somewhat ludicrous that someone somewhere is looking at this and trying to justify a war, trying to use that as a pretext to start killing people.
So we need to put all of this in perspective, get rational, get sane, and stop.
COLLINS: All right, Larry, the rally's at 11:00 Eastern, right?
HOLMES: The rally's at 11:00 on the West Capitol, and we're going to march through Washington, D.C. We're going to the Washington Naval Yard, and we're going to have many important speakers: Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton, Jessica Lange, Tyne Daley...
COLLINS: All right. All right, wonderful. Larry Holmes with International ANSWER, we do appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
HOLMES: Thank you.
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 January 18, 2003 - 07:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Americans are divided on whether to use force against Iraq. In a recent poll, 56 percent approved, but 38 percent said they were against it.
This weekend, antiwar rallies are planned in Washington and other cities. A group organizing two of the rallies is International ANSWER.
Larry Holmes is with that group, and he's here now to tell us about the rallies from Washington, D.C. Later on, though, we want to let you know that we are going to hear from a guest who thinks that war is necessary.
Larry, thanks for being here this morning. Tell us real quickly, what does ANSWER stand for, International ANSWER?
LARRY HOLMES, INTERNATIONAL ANSWER: ANSWER is an acronym for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism.
COLLINS: Tell us what you have planned for today. Are you expecting quite a few people?
HOLMES: I know that we're going to have tens of thousands of protesters converging on the capital in very cold weather, and perhaps several hundred thousand people. This is very serious. And this may be the last opportunity that those of us in this country who are for peace and not war have a chance to say to the White House and to the nation, No, let us stop this march toward war before the bombs start dropping en masse and the invasion starts.
I think we've got maybe a month, six weeks at best.
And so the demonstration taking place on this weekend that we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday, and he was a drum major for peace, is kind of a dramatic turning point where we've really got to intensify the peace movement, the antiwar movement, stir up the country, and hopefully prevail in this debate.
And I think the people in this country are with us. Some of your polls suggest that.
COLLINS: Larry, tell me, then, what is group's answer to the situation in Iraq?
HOLMES: That's a good question. We don't have an answer. We're an umbrella coalition. There are some who are part of the peace movement who view Iraq as a threat and are concerned about it, and then on the other end of the spectrum, there are some who view the United States military as a threat, perhaps being inspired by King's words 35 years ago, when he said the United States is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world.
So it's a broad spectrum. What everyone agrees on, the common ground we have, is that this war is unjustified, it's a mistake, and we must stop it. And then we can continue to debate about Iraq or whatever. But we must not have the war.
COLLINS: Do you have any reaction, Larry, and your group to the news on Thursday of the U.N. weapons inspectors finding chemical warheads in Iraq that were not declared and not mentioned in the weapons declaration? And do you think there might be more, since those were not mentioned? Is there a response to that, or feeling...
HOLMES: I think that...
COLLINS: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) about that?
HOLMES: ... I think that if we were not talking about that in the context of a war -- a serious war where people are going to die, Iraqi people, U.S. troops, et cetera -- that that finding wouldn't even rate a small story, much less a headline. And that is why we've got to stop the war, because the war has blown everything out of context.
I mean, who knows what a half a dozen empty shells means? It seems to be a sideshow and somewhat ludicrous that someone somewhere is looking at this and trying to justify a war, trying to use that as a pretext to start killing people.
So we need to put all of this in perspective, get rational, get sane, and stop.
COLLINS: All right, Larry, the rally's at 11:00 Eastern, right?
HOLMES: The rally's at 11:00 on the West Capitol, and we're going to march through Washington, D.C. We're going to the Washington Naval Yard, and we're going to have many important speakers: Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton, Jessica Lange, Tyne Daley...
COLLINS: All right. All right, wonderful. Larry Holmes with International ANSWER, we do appreciate it. Thanks for your time.
HOLMES: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
