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CNN Saturday Morning News
Bush Hosts Australian Prime Minister at Crawford Ranch
Aired May 03, 2003 - 09:03 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You may be relaxing this weekend. President Bush is as well, but he's getting some work in as well.
We want to check in from the western White House, Crawford, Texas. Our own Chris Burns is standing by -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, Anderson.
It's not very often that President Bush has heads of state over to his ranch here at Crawford. Prime Minister John Howard of Australia is one of them. He's there right now. He spent the night after flying aboard Air Force One with the president from the San Francisco Bay area. They arrived here, had a dinner of beef tenderloin, okra, and grits.
And they'll have more conversations today and have a photo opportunity with some words with a few reporters later today. We'll get that to you.
What they will be talking about, well, Australia had committed 2,000 troops to the war in Iraq, so this is bit of payback for John Howard, who faced down his own public opinion and is now very popular for that commitment.
Now, they will also be talking about the postwar stabilization. That is a very big issue. In fact, "The New York Times" today reporting that the U.S. would like to reduce its force from 130,000 down to 30,000 by this fall. How will they do that? They will pull in other countries to do that. Perhaps Australia might be able to offer a few more thousand troops.
The president talking about the postwar reconstruction in his appearance yesterday at an arms factory in northern California, where he talked both about the economy, unemployment just having reached 6 percent, he's saying, the president's saying that it -- this is yet another reason why his tax plan of cutting taxes by $550 billion-plus over the next 10 years is desperately needed to create at least a million more jobs in the next year and a half.
President also, however, talking about the commitment in Iraq, how the war -- how the commitment -- the war -- the main combat is over, but the reconstruction is barely begun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will restore the hospitals, rebuild the schools, provide needed infrastructure in a country that didn't have half as many hospitals as it needed or schools as it needed or needed infrastructure as was required, because Saddam Hussein was willing to spend money on luxurious palaces, not on the people of Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Now, the president stays through Monday. He goes on to Arkansas on Monday to talk with small-business owners about his jobs- creating tax plan, how he would like to create jobs with that cut in taxes.
What was he supposed to do on Monday before that? He had planned to meet with the prime minister of Canada, Jean Chretien, but Jean Chretien opposing the war, the president put off that trip indefinitely, so an obvious snub to the Canadian prime minister, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Busy weekend. Chris Burns, thanks 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 May 3, 2003 - 09:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You may be relaxing this weekend. President Bush is as well, but he's getting some work in as well.
We want to check in from the western White House, Crawford, Texas. Our own Chris Burns is standing by -- Chris.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, hello, Anderson.
It's not very often that President Bush has heads of state over to his ranch here at Crawford. Prime Minister John Howard of Australia is one of them. He's there right now. He spent the night after flying aboard Air Force One with the president from the San Francisco Bay area. They arrived here, had a dinner of beef tenderloin, okra, and grits.
And they'll have more conversations today and have a photo opportunity with some words with a few reporters later today. We'll get that to you.
What they will be talking about, well, Australia had committed 2,000 troops to the war in Iraq, so this is bit of payback for John Howard, who faced down his own public opinion and is now very popular for that commitment.
Now, they will also be talking about the postwar stabilization. That is a very big issue. In fact, "The New York Times" today reporting that the U.S. would like to reduce its force from 130,000 down to 30,000 by this fall. How will they do that? They will pull in other countries to do that. Perhaps Australia might be able to offer a few more thousand troops.
The president talking about the postwar reconstruction in his appearance yesterday at an arms factory in northern California, where he talked both about the economy, unemployment just having reached 6 percent, he's saying, the president's saying that it -- this is yet another reason why his tax plan of cutting taxes by $550 billion-plus over the next 10 years is desperately needed to create at least a million more jobs in the next year and a half.
President also, however, talking about the commitment in Iraq, how the war -- how the commitment -- the war -- the main combat is over, but the reconstruction is barely begun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will restore the hospitals, rebuild the schools, provide needed infrastructure in a country that didn't have half as many hospitals as it needed or schools as it needed or needed infrastructure as was required, because Saddam Hussein was willing to spend money on luxurious palaces, not on the people of Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNS: Now, the president stays through Monday. He goes on to Arkansas on Monday to talk with small-business owners about his jobs- creating tax plan, how he would like to create jobs with that cut in taxes.
What was he supposed to do on Monday before that? He had planned to meet with the prime minister of Canada, Jean Chretien, but Jean Chretien opposing the war, the president put off that trip indefinitely, so an obvious snub to the Canadian prime minister, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Busy weekend. Chris Burns, thanks 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
