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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview with Terence Samuel

Aired November 22, 2003 - 07:30   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.


ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Bush is back at the White House this morning after a three day state visit to Britain. It was a visit to Britain. It was a visit marked by protests, tough talk on Iraq and, of course, those terror attacks in Turkey.
Joining us to talk about what the visit and what the president did or did not accomplish is Terence Samuel of "U.S. News & World Report."

Well, good morning, Mr. Samuel.

TERENCE SAMUEL, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Good morning, Andrea.

How are you?

KOPPEL: Very well, thank you.

When this trip was originally planned back just after the war last spring, it was supposed to be a victory lap for both leaders.

How do you think the trip came off for President Bush and for the prime minister?

SAMUEL: Well, again, there was obviously no mission accomplished sign hanging over this trip. I think what you saw here were two, two allies who needed to reassure themselves and reassure the rest of the world that they were still firmly in support of what they had done in Iraq. And they did that quite well in terms of making an argument for what they had done.

Obviously, there were concerns about the protests, that the protests would eclipse this event. That turned out not to be the case. However, it was eclipsed by something more horrendous, then, those bombings in Turkey.

KOPPEL: Well, do you think that the bombings in Turkey helped to underscore the message of these two leaders about the worldwide war on terrorism or do you think that it showed continued vulnerability?

SAMUEL: I would say a little bit of both. It certainly gave the president an argument to say that the war on terrorism was not over and that there were enemies out there still to be conquered.

However, it showed that there was clearly a problem with being allied with the United States in this war on terror because clearly in Turkey those blasts were aimed at British targets and they happened while the president was in Britain. The message was clear.

KOPPEL: For the prime minister, and certainly the war -- he is seeing now the fallout from the war among his -- among the polls that have been taken there among the British people. But the fact of the matter is that Tony Blair had a couple of things he had hoped that he might get out of the trip. One had to do with the fate of nine British citizens that are still being held at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba from the Afghan war. And the other had to do with the steel tariffs. Neither of which Mr. Blair got really any movement from Mr. Bush on.

SAMUEL: Yes, I think the overall thing he wanted to show here was that he had some influence in Washington, having stood so closely with the president. And on both of those things, he got nothing to show for it. The administration would only say that it's working on the Guantanamo issue and on the steel tariffs. That is clearly a 2004 political issue and I think Tony Blair's concerns are not going to be as important as those at 1600 Pennsylvania.

KOPPEL: Well, help us out here. In terms of getting into the mind set at 1600 Pennsylvania, why would the White House and President Bush decide not to give Mr. Blair anything?

SAMUEL: I think what you have here is the president's own personal political prospects taking precedence over those of an ally. On the steel tariffs, the president's not sure how to deal with this. It's a crucial issue in crucial battleground states -- Ohio, Pennsylvania, states like that. And he's not sure what he's going to do with it at this point, how to finesse this. And I think on Guantanamo, they're just not sure how to move as quickly as Blair would like on this.

And so what you got was a lot of pretty pictures and a lot of back slapping, but Mr. Blair not getting much else.

KOPPEL: Well, that's right, Campaign 2004 is soon to kick into high gear.

Terence Samuel, thanks so much for coming in this morning.

SAMUEL: Thanks for having me.

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 November 22, 2003 - 07:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Bush is back at the White House this morning after a three day state visit to Britain. It was a visit to Britain. It was a visit marked by protests, tough talk on Iraq and, of course, those terror attacks in Turkey.
Joining us to talk about what the visit and what the president did or did not accomplish is Terence Samuel of "U.S. News & World Report."

Well, good morning, Mr. Samuel.

TERENCE SAMUEL, "U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT": Good morning, Andrea.

How are you?

KOPPEL: Very well, thank you.

When this trip was originally planned back just after the war last spring, it was supposed to be a victory lap for both leaders.

How do you think the trip came off for President Bush and for the prime minister?

SAMUEL: Well, again, there was obviously no mission accomplished sign hanging over this trip. I think what you saw here were two, two allies who needed to reassure themselves and reassure the rest of the world that they were still firmly in support of what they had done in Iraq. And they did that quite well in terms of making an argument for what they had done.

Obviously, there were concerns about the protests, that the protests would eclipse this event. That turned out not to be the case. However, it was eclipsed by something more horrendous, then, those bombings in Turkey.

KOPPEL: Well, do you think that the bombings in Turkey helped to underscore the message of these two leaders about the worldwide war on terrorism or do you think that it showed continued vulnerability?

SAMUEL: I would say a little bit of both. It certainly gave the president an argument to say that the war on terrorism was not over and that there were enemies out there still to be conquered.

However, it showed that there was clearly a problem with being allied with the United States in this war on terror because clearly in Turkey those blasts were aimed at British targets and they happened while the president was in Britain. The message was clear.

KOPPEL: For the prime minister, and certainly the war -- he is seeing now the fallout from the war among his -- among the polls that have been taken there among the British people. But the fact of the matter is that Tony Blair had a couple of things he had hoped that he might get out of the trip. One had to do with the fate of nine British citizens that are still being held at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba from the Afghan war. And the other had to do with the steel tariffs. Neither of which Mr. Blair got really any movement from Mr. Bush on.

SAMUEL: Yes, I think the overall thing he wanted to show here was that he had some influence in Washington, having stood so closely with the president. And on both of those things, he got nothing to show for it. The administration would only say that it's working on the Guantanamo issue and on the steel tariffs. That is clearly a 2004 political issue and I think Tony Blair's concerns are not going to be as important as those at 1600 Pennsylvania.

KOPPEL: Well, help us out here. In terms of getting into the mind set at 1600 Pennsylvania, why would the White House and President Bush decide not to give Mr. Blair anything?

SAMUEL: I think what you have here is the president's own personal political prospects taking precedence over those of an ally. On the steel tariffs, the president's not sure how to deal with this. It's a crucial issue in crucial battleground states -- Ohio, Pennsylvania, states like that. And he's not sure what he's going to do with it at this point, how to finesse this. And I think on Guantanamo, they're just not sure how to move as quickly as Blair would like on this.

And so what you got was a lot of pretty pictures and a lot of back slapping, but Mr. Blair not getting much else.

KOPPEL: Well, that's right, Campaign 2004 is soon to kick into high gear.

Terence Samuel, thanks so much for coming in this morning.

SAMUEL: Thanks for having me.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com