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CNN Saturday Morning News
Tough Talk From Donald Rumsfeld Aimed At NATO Allies
Aired February 08, 2003 - 07:33 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.
O'BRIEN: Tough talk today from the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld aimed at some NATO allies. Rumsfeld in Germany for a major security conference.
Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is traveling with the defense secretary and joins us now from Munich -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld has come a little bit into some hostile territory here as he addresses this conference in Munich. When he arrived there were some newspaper headlines, one even calling for his resignation, because of comments he made in congressional testimony, in which he included Germany, along with Libya and Cuba, that countries that weren't necessarily behind the United States and probably wouldn't be helping out. That outraged people here in Germany.
His appearance has also sparked pretty sizable antiwar demonstrations a few blocks from this hotel, about 12,000 or 14,000 antiwar protesters out in the snow protesting mostly peacefully. There have been a few arrests there. But Rumsfeld came in punching here at Munich. He delivered a very forceful presentation about why the threat from Iraq is here and now; why the U.S. and the coalition of the willing needs to take care of it. And he tried to dispute the idea that the U.S. isn't getting support from Europe, mentioning that there are 18 European countries now who have publicly declared that they will be with the United States despite what happens in the United Nations.
Now almost immediately after Rumsfeld's remarks, Joshchka Fisher, the German defense minister, got up and pronounced himself to be unpersuaded. Not that there's not a threat from Saddam Hussein, but that the U.S. and the world needed to act now. He said that they ought to be given more time, and that there's more pressing threat from al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. But Rumsfeld actually argued that giving more time would perhaps increase the chance of war, because it would send a signal to Saddam Hussein that the international community was not really united and not really resolved to take care of this.
So, again, a forceful presentation by Rumsfeld. This meeting is an informal meeting. No action taken, just a chance for the secretary to try to make the case -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jamie, help us understand. I think we in the U.S. expect some recalcitrance, some reluctance on the part of the French in these matters, but not necessarily with the Germans. Why are they so opposed to the Bush administration in all of this?
MCINTYRE: Well Germany of course just had an election. And they have a new government. And the polls here show that about as many as 80 percent of the German public aren't convinced that there ought to be action, military action in Iraq, at least not right now.
And the feeling here is that the U.S. hasn't made the case effectively that there really is no peaceful way to resolve the situation. Now some people feel that if the U.S. goes ahead with war and if Germany doesn't take part, that after the war Germany will probably be inclined to contribute to the peace part of Iraq. But the U.S. says it's not a problem if Germany doesn't want to take part. And it does note that Germany is doing a lot in the war on terrorism, especially in the area of law enforcement -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre in Munich, thank you 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
Aired February 8, 2003 - 07:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
O'BRIEN: Tough talk today from the Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld aimed at some NATO allies. Rumsfeld in Germany for a major security conference.
Our senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is traveling with the defense secretary and joins us now from Munich -- Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Miles, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld has come a little bit into some hostile territory here as he addresses this conference in Munich. When he arrived there were some newspaper headlines, one even calling for his resignation, because of comments he made in congressional testimony, in which he included Germany, along with Libya and Cuba, that countries that weren't necessarily behind the United States and probably wouldn't be helping out. That outraged people here in Germany.
His appearance has also sparked pretty sizable antiwar demonstrations a few blocks from this hotel, about 12,000 or 14,000 antiwar protesters out in the snow protesting mostly peacefully. There have been a few arrests there. But Rumsfeld came in punching here at Munich. He delivered a very forceful presentation about why the threat from Iraq is here and now; why the U.S. and the coalition of the willing needs to take care of it. And he tried to dispute the idea that the U.S. isn't getting support from Europe, mentioning that there are 18 European countries now who have publicly declared that they will be with the United States despite what happens in the United Nations.
Now almost immediately after Rumsfeld's remarks, Joshchka Fisher, the German defense minister, got up and pronounced himself to be unpersuaded. Not that there's not a threat from Saddam Hussein, but that the U.S. and the world needed to act now. He said that they ought to be given more time, and that there's more pressing threat from al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations. But Rumsfeld actually argued that giving more time would perhaps increase the chance of war, because it would send a signal to Saddam Hussein that the international community was not really united and not really resolved to take care of this.
So, again, a forceful presentation by Rumsfeld. This meeting is an informal meeting. No action taken, just a chance for the secretary to try to make the case -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: Jamie, help us understand. I think we in the U.S. expect some recalcitrance, some reluctance on the part of the French in these matters, but not necessarily with the Germans. Why are they so opposed to the Bush administration in all of this?
MCINTYRE: Well Germany of course just had an election. And they have a new government. And the polls here show that about as many as 80 percent of the German public aren't convinced that there ought to be action, military action in Iraq, at least not right now.
And the feeling here is that the U.S. hasn't made the case effectively that there really is no peaceful way to resolve the situation. Now some people feel that if the U.S. goes ahead with war and if Germany doesn't take part, that after the war Germany will probably be inclined to contribute to the peace part of Iraq. But the U.S. says it's not a problem if Germany doesn't want to take part. And it does note that Germany is doing a lot in the war on terrorism, especially in the area of law enforcement -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Jamie McIntyre in Munich, thank you 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
