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CNN Live Sunday

Administration Officials Hit Airwaves to Explain 'Axis of Evil'

Aired February 03, 2002 - 17:18   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In President Bush's State of the Union address last week, he described Iran, North Korea and Iraq as "an axis of evil," a label that doesn't sit well with some U.S. allies. As CNN's Kathleen Koch reports, administration officials have hit the airwaves to explain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was tough talk.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil.

KOCH: And the administration Sunday put its first-sting players on the field to move the accusations forward. Iran, Iraq and North Korea, they insist, are now trying to build weapons of mass destruction, but support terrorist networks. Iran, says Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, is letting al Qaeda fighters slip across its border from Afghanistan.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have any number of reports that Iran has been permissive and allowed transit through their country of al Qaeda. We have any number of reports more recently that they have been supplying arms in Afghanistan to various elements in the country.

KOCH: The national security adviser on North Korea.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It is the most aggressive in spreading ballistic missile technology around the world. It is the chief merchant. It's the place that you go if you want to buy ballistic missile technology.

KOCH: The secretary of state on Iraq.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: We suspect they are developing weapons of mass destruction. We more than suspect, we know it. There is an easy way for them to demonstrate that they are not, and that is, as the president has said, let the inspectors in.

KOCH: Internationally, some fear the saber rattling may signal imminent deployment of U.S. troops. A former official of Iraq's neighbor Saudi Arabia says such a strategy there could backfire.

PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL, FORMER SAUDI CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE: If you send invasion forces from outside, you will only rally people to Saddam Hussein, particularly in Iraq. But if it comes from the inside, that's the way to go about it.

KOCH: The Bush administration says it's not looking for a fight.

POWELL: We are not looking for a war. We are trying to avoid war, but we will not resist the challenge that these nations present to us.

KOCH (on camera): For now, the administration hasn't moved beyond tough talk. There's concern that if it did, that could threaten the U.S.' fragile international anti-terrorism coalition.

Kathleen Koch, CNN, the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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