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CNN Live Sunday

Cheney Stays in London On His Way to Middle East

Aired March 10, 2002 - 17:01   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: Vice President Cheney is staying overnight in London on his way to the Middle East. He's on a 12-nation trip that will take him to Israel as well as many of Iraq's immediate neighbors. CNN's senior White House correspondent John King is traveling with the vice president, and he joins us now by phone in London.

Good evening.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Fredricka. As you noted, Mr. Cheney here in London, perhaps the easiest stop of his 12-nation tour. He will have meetings tomorrow with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, those meetings on an anniversary, the six-month anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Both leaders to discuss ongoing cooperation and the military campaign under way and potential future fronts in the war, and, of course, an emphasis in recent weeks on Iraq and what the administration plans to do to follow up on the president's promise to confront Iraqi President Saddam Hussein over what the United States says is evidence that he is back about the business of amassing weapons of mass destruction.

That will be a topic of conversation here, as will be this new diplomatic push in the Middle East. The administration's special envoy is in region. Traveling with Mr. Cheney is Ambassador William Burns, one of the top diplomats from the Bush administration when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their conversations here with a close friend of the United States, the British prime minister, then 11 nations in the Middle East; four of them actually border Iraq. Mr. Cheney to make the point that President Bush meant and he understands there's great sensitivity in the region, some outright public opposition to any military confrontation with Saddam Hussein.

The vice president, we are told by senior aides, will say by no means is any military action against the Iraqi regime imminent, but that the president is determined to follow through on his promise. Obviously in the region as well, he will try to improve intelligence sharing between these nations, and one stop Mr. Cheney will make is in Yemen, where some senior administration officials say they are worried that with already significant al Qaeda activity to begin with, they are worried that that country, as well as others in the region, not become a new operating base for al Qaeda, as many of its operatives flee Afghanistan -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well, John, the vice president heading into a rather volatile region. Can you talk at all about what kind of security measures are being taken?

KING: Well, there are extreme security measures being taken. Among them, we've been asked by the White House not to disclose exact details of the president's schedule, the order of the countries he'll visit. The White House asking us to do that because they say there is a continuing terrorist threat. There are other security measures that we see, whether it's a police presence even here in London -- we know about Secret Service and other military precautions about the vice president's trip.

We don't want to disclose the details of those, but it is obvious to us that there are some extra added security precautions because of the region he is going into. Some of the countries viewed as still quite significant risks of terrorist activities by the United States government.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much. John King, joining us on the telephone from London there, the first stop in the vice president's 12-nation tour.

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