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CNN Saturday Morning News
Bush is Pushing for U.N. Deadline For
Aired March 08, 2003 - 08:00 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: More now on our top story. The Bush administration pushing a U.N. deadline on Iraq. On Monday, Iraq may report that it destroyed chemical and biological weapons in the 1990s. On Monday or Tuesday, the Security Council may vote on a new deadline resolution. It calls on Saddam Hussein to disarm by March 17. Specifically, the proposal calls for Iraq's unconditional, immediate and active cooperation to give up all weapons and delivery systems banned by previous U.S. resolutions.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the proposed new resolution does not appear to be winning any new supporters for the U.S. position.
For more now, we bring in senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth -- Richard, what's the latest?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's difficult to say at this early hour on a Saturday, but it appears the undecided six, those non-permanent members of the Security Council, the so-called swing votes, have not been persuaded yet. There are still days of negotiations ahead, though. But the Security Council has put Iraq on notice if they approve the U.S. and British deadline resolution that March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, will be the day, the last day that Iraq can turn over all of its weapons of mass destruction.
This morning in Baghdad, a demand in return from the Iraqi leadership to the Security Council. Saddam Hussein's government is demanding that the U.N. Security Council, after 12 years, lift economic sanctions. The statement said, "The embargo against Iraq should be lifted totally and comprehensibly after America's motives were revealed to the world and after Iraq abided by Security Council resolutions.
Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, seen there yesterday, opened the debate yesterday. He said that Iraq has conducted real disarmament and has made progress as it has destroyed many Al Samoud 2 missiles. But he said there are still a lot of other open questions. But he said it'll take months to clear all of this up. And now there's a March 17th deadline.
Last evening's Council consultations did not resolve differences. U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Negroponte, defended the legality of any U.S. military action, even if it doesn't obtain a second resolution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: we've always maintained that as far as the United States is concerned, there are already ample legal authorities for us to act and that we didn't think this resolution was necessary. But out of deference to other friends on the Council, who felt that such a resolution was desirable, we have pursued this resolution and we will now pursue it, as the president said yesterday, to a vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: The president has said he wants to see countries on the Security Council show their cards. And right now the big powers on the Council who have vetoes are opposed to this deal, this deadline. Russia's deputy foreign minister today said Russia would do all it could to oppose the resolution. And the lobbying is going to continue, Anderson. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin leaves tomorrow night for a three country Africa swing to those nations who sit on the Security Council and are the swing votes -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Richard Roth live at the United Nations this morning.
Thanks very much -- Heidi.
RODHAM CLINTON: The White House is pushing hard to line up support on the Security Council. For more on this we bring in White House correspondent Dana Bash -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, over the next few days, President Bush himself and his top aides will be engaged in an intensive diplomatic effort to try to pass the resolution giving Iraq a March 17th deadline to disarm. Mr. Bush called Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday afternoon after the two countries introduced the resolution at the United Nations and when he makes the calls to Security Council members, those on the fence, he will be asking for their vote. Now, a senior administration official said they decided to go with this, as John Negroponte just alluded to, go with this deadline because they got some of the, got a sense from some of the undecided countries on the Security Council that they preferred to give Saddam Hussein one last chance to disarm before endorsing any kind of military force.
And the White House has said for some time they are in the last diplomatic phase, but on March 17th, regardless of what happens, according to a senior Bush official, it will "close the diplomatic window" and in dealing with Iraq it will be the final opportunity.
Now, Bush officials say they remain optimistic they can get the votes they need, but if the resolution does not pass, the administration maintains the president has all the authorities he needs already to attack Iraq -- Heidi.
RODHAM CLINTON: All right, Dana Bash, thank you so much. Well, did President Bush's speech Thursday night convince you the U.S. has to go to war with Iraq? Actually, that is a little more specific than what we asked on our question of the day, which says, "Has the president convinced you America must go to war?"
We would like to hear from you. E-mail us now at wam@cnn.com. We'll be reading your responses a little bit later this morning.
COOPER: Well, Heidi, since the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed there's been a lot of talk that authorities are getting closer to Osama bin Laden. Al Jazeera television journalist Yosri Fouda is here to discuss that possibility and how much Mohammed may know about bin Laden's whereabouts.
Mr. Fouda, thanks very much for joining us this morning.
You interviewed Khalid Shaikh Mohammed back in April. What kind of a man is he? I mean in person, what were your, what's your take on him?
YOSRI FOUDA, REPORTER, "AL-JAZEERA": Well, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed struck me as very shrewd, very much of a man of action. He didn't really strike me as a man of Allah as much as he struck me as someone who knew exactly what he wanted. He was very much security conscious.
If you described Osama bin Laden as the chairman of al Qaeda, then perhaps you would describe Khalid Shaikh Mohammed as the CEO of the company. So he was the man who was entrusted with getting things going, planning and following up and seeing things through.
COOPER: I'm interested, you said not a man of Allah. What do you mean?
FOUDA: I think Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, when he joined al Qaeda, he, it was more of a marriage of convenience. He had a long history of, family history of Jihad, so to speak, against America. He is an uncle of Ramzi Yousef, who was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was involved in the 1995 Philippines based Bojanka attempt to hijack a dozen U.S. airliners. And he was involved with the Jihad in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
And when he fell with one of his associates immediately after the Soviets were out of Afghanistan, bin Laden was just moving to Afghanistan and he saw in bin Laden some sort of a leader. And bin Laden saw in Khalid Shaikh Mohammed some sort of a guru, someone who can translate his ideas.
So he is very much of a pragmatic man. He, of course, he prayed and he knows about Islam. When we were together there, along with Ramzi bin al-shibh, although bin al-Shibh was seven or eight years our junior, it was Ramzi who led us in the prayers, not Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
COOPER: That's interesting. And what sort of a sense did you get about his communication with Osama bin Laden? Did you get a sense he was in active communication, regular communication and did you get any sense of how he managed that communication?
FOUDA: Well, at the time, if you remember, Anderson, I met him in April of last year and that was the time that nobody knew anything about bin Laden, whether, indeed, he was alive at all. But Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh would give me every assurance that the man was still alive and well and the world will hear from him on his time.
During my on camera interview with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, he always referred to Osama bin Laden in the present tense. Once, though, he made what I thought was a slip of the tongue, referring to him in the past tense. He said that he was in constant touch with bin Laden. But looking back at it, truly, I think he was not really in direct touch with bin Laden. I think he reluctantly accepted a proposition by one of his aides to receive a journalist, who happened to be myself, so that he can perhaps boost the morale of his own people and also mark the upcoming, the then upcoming first anniversary of his finest hour.
But I gathered at the time that he was not really in direct contact with bin Laden himself.
COOPER: This may not be a fair question but judging from the -- I mean you spent a fair amount of time with the man, probably you're one of the few journalists who has done so -- do you think he's going to talk? I mean do you think he's likely, you know, when he talked to interrogators and they say that people in a sense want to talk, they want to kind of, they're proud of their accomplishments and often want to tell the investigators what they've done and what they've planned, do you think Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will talk?
I'm sorry, we've run into some technical problems. We've lost the satellite with interviewing Yosri Fouda, chief investigative correspondent for Al Jazeera. We apologize for that and we will try to follow up in our discussions at some later date.
Thanks very much.
Now on Monday we begin a special series called Eye On bin-Laden. Where is the world's most wanted man? We are going to explore whether the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, as we were just talking about, will help lead to his capture. That's going to be on AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN beginning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.
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 March 8, 2003 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: More now on our top story. The Bush administration pushing a U.N. deadline on Iraq. On Monday, Iraq may report that it destroyed chemical and biological weapons in the 1990s. On Monday or Tuesday, the Security Council may vote on a new deadline resolution. It calls on Saddam Hussein to disarm by March 17. Specifically, the proposal calls for Iraq's unconditional, immediate and active cooperation to give up all weapons and delivery systems banned by previous U.S. resolutions.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the proposed new resolution does not appear to be winning any new supporters for the U.S. position.
For more now, we bring in senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth -- Richard, what's the latest?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's difficult to say at this early hour on a Saturday, but it appears the undecided six, those non-permanent members of the Security Council, the so-called swing votes, have not been persuaded yet. There are still days of negotiations ahead, though. But the Security Council has put Iraq on notice if they approve the U.S. and British deadline resolution that March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, will be the day, the last day that Iraq can turn over all of its weapons of mass destruction.
This morning in Baghdad, a demand in return from the Iraqi leadership to the Security Council. Saddam Hussein's government is demanding that the U.N. Security Council, after 12 years, lift economic sanctions. The statement said, "The embargo against Iraq should be lifted totally and comprehensibly after America's motives were revealed to the world and after Iraq abided by Security Council resolutions.
Hans Blix, the chief U.N. weapons inspector, seen there yesterday, opened the debate yesterday. He said that Iraq has conducted real disarmament and has made progress as it has destroyed many Al Samoud 2 missiles. But he said there are still a lot of other open questions. But he said it'll take months to clear all of this up. And now there's a March 17th deadline.
Last evening's Council consultations did not resolve differences. U.S. ambassador to the U.N., John Negroponte, defended the legality of any U.S. military action, even if it doesn't obtain a second resolution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN NEGROPONTE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: we've always maintained that as far as the United States is concerned, there are already ample legal authorities for us to act and that we didn't think this resolution was necessary. But out of deference to other friends on the Council, who felt that such a resolution was desirable, we have pursued this resolution and we will now pursue it, as the president said yesterday, to a vote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: The president has said he wants to see countries on the Security Council show their cards. And right now the big powers on the Council who have vetoes are opposed to this deal, this deadline. Russia's deputy foreign minister today said Russia would do all it could to oppose the resolution. And the lobbying is going to continue, Anderson. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin leaves tomorrow night for a three country Africa swing to those nations who sit on the Security Council and are the swing votes -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Richard Roth live at the United Nations this morning.
Thanks very much -- Heidi.
RODHAM CLINTON: The White House is pushing hard to line up support on the Security Council. For more on this we bring in White House correspondent Dana Bash -- good morning, Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Well, over the next few days, President Bush himself and his top aides will be engaged in an intensive diplomatic effort to try to pass the resolution giving Iraq a March 17th deadline to disarm. Mr. Bush called Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday afternoon after the two countries introduced the resolution at the United Nations and when he makes the calls to Security Council members, those on the fence, he will be asking for their vote. Now, a senior administration official said they decided to go with this, as John Negroponte just alluded to, go with this deadline because they got some of the, got a sense from some of the undecided countries on the Security Council that they preferred to give Saddam Hussein one last chance to disarm before endorsing any kind of military force.
And the White House has said for some time they are in the last diplomatic phase, but on March 17th, regardless of what happens, according to a senior Bush official, it will "close the diplomatic window" and in dealing with Iraq it will be the final opportunity.
Now, Bush officials say they remain optimistic they can get the votes they need, but if the resolution does not pass, the administration maintains the president has all the authorities he needs already to attack Iraq -- Heidi.
RODHAM CLINTON: All right, Dana Bash, thank you so much. Well, did President Bush's speech Thursday night convince you the U.S. has to go to war with Iraq? Actually, that is a little more specific than what we asked on our question of the day, which says, "Has the president convinced you America must go to war?"
We would like to hear from you. E-mail us now at wam@cnn.com. We'll be reading your responses a little bit later this morning.
COOPER: Well, Heidi, since the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed there's been a lot of talk that authorities are getting closer to Osama bin Laden. Al Jazeera television journalist Yosri Fouda is here to discuss that possibility and how much Mohammed may know about bin Laden's whereabouts.
Mr. Fouda, thanks very much for joining us this morning.
You interviewed Khalid Shaikh Mohammed back in April. What kind of a man is he? I mean in person, what were your, what's your take on him?
YOSRI FOUDA, REPORTER, "AL-JAZEERA": Well, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed struck me as very shrewd, very much of a man of action. He didn't really strike me as a man of Allah as much as he struck me as someone who knew exactly what he wanted. He was very much security conscious.
If you described Osama bin Laden as the chairman of al Qaeda, then perhaps you would describe Khalid Shaikh Mohammed as the CEO of the company. So he was the man who was entrusted with getting things going, planning and following up and seeing things through.
COOPER: I'm interested, you said not a man of Allah. What do you mean?
FOUDA: I think Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, when he joined al Qaeda, he, it was more of a marriage of convenience. He had a long history of, family history of Jihad, so to speak, against America. He is an uncle of Ramzi Yousef, who was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was involved in the 1995 Philippines based Bojanka attempt to hijack a dozen U.S. airliners. And he was involved with the Jihad in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
And when he fell with one of his associates immediately after the Soviets were out of Afghanistan, bin Laden was just moving to Afghanistan and he saw in bin Laden some sort of a leader. And bin Laden saw in Khalid Shaikh Mohammed some sort of a guru, someone who can translate his ideas.
So he is very much of a pragmatic man. He, of course, he prayed and he knows about Islam. When we were together there, along with Ramzi bin al-shibh, although bin al-Shibh was seven or eight years our junior, it was Ramzi who led us in the prayers, not Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
COOPER: That's interesting. And what sort of a sense did you get about his communication with Osama bin Laden? Did you get a sense he was in active communication, regular communication and did you get any sense of how he managed that communication?
FOUDA: Well, at the time, if you remember, Anderson, I met him in April of last year and that was the time that nobody knew anything about bin Laden, whether, indeed, he was alive at all. But Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh would give me every assurance that the man was still alive and well and the world will hear from him on his time.
During my on camera interview with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, he always referred to Osama bin Laden in the present tense. Once, though, he made what I thought was a slip of the tongue, referring to him in the past tense. He said that he was in constant touch with bin Laden. But looking back at it, truly, I think he was not really in direct touch with bin Laden. I think he reluctantly accepted a proposition by one of his aides to receive a journalist, who happened to be myself, so that he can perhaps boost the morale of his own people and also mark the upcoming, the then upcoming first anniversary of his finest hour.
But I gathered at the time that he was not really in direct contact with bin Laden himself.
COOPER: This may not be a fair question but judging from the -- I mean you spent a fair amount of time with the man, probably you're one of the few journalists who has done so -- do you think he's going to talk? I mean do you think he's likely, you know, when he talked to interrogators and they say that people in a sense want to talk, they want to kind of, they're proud of their accomplishments and often want to tell the investigators what they've done and what they've planned, do you think Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will talk?
I'm sorry, we've run into some technical problems. We've lost the satellite with interviewing Yosri Fouda, chief investigative correspondent for Al Jazeera. We apologize for that and we will try to follow up in our discussions at some later date.
Thanks very much.
Now on Monday we begin a special series called Eye On bin-Laden. Where is the world's most wanted man? We are going to explore whether the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, as we were just talking about, will help lead to his capture. That's going to be on AMERICAN MORNING WITH PAULA ZAHN beginning at 7:00 a.m. Eastern.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
