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CNN Live Sunday
Asian Leaders Monitor Situation in Iraq
Aired January 12, 2003 - 18:18 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq and global security are on the minds of Asian leaders. As CNN's Maria Ressa explains they are trying to diffuse the threat of terror at home while keeping an eye on Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced she would not run for reelection in 2004, it shocked her nation. She said politics had gotten too vicious and her country needed a paradigm shift.
GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: Vested interests play a profound, have a profound influence on governance and especially economic policy and I would like to think that now that I am out of the contest for the 2004 presidential elections that gives me much, much more leeway and freedom to pursue (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the reforms that are really needed.
RESSA: Although much of those reforms focus on the economy, Mrs. Arroyo is a key U.S. ally in the war on terror. She says fighting terrorism requires a holistic strategy.
ARROYO: The military solution is to make sure that we win, we win the victories and then the political solution is to continue to talk peace. The cultural solution is that, you know that there is the threat to make the terrorist war a religious war. Instead we must make it opportunity for religious understanding. And the economic solution, of course, is to remove the recruiting grounds for terrorism.
RESSA: That, she says, is why her government continues to negotiate for peace with the MILF, the Moral Islamic Liberation Front, which officials in the region say trained operatives for al Qaeda. Last week, Singapore said the MILF is a threat to regional security.
ARROYO: Well, we are hoping that by dealing with MILF, both militarily and politically, we can get them to understand that they must break all links if any with terrorist groups and that there is life, there is more life for their people if they go on the road of peace.
RESSA: It's the same argument, analysts say, the western world would have to present to Iraq.
(on camera): Mrs. Arroyo remains tight lipped about exactly how far her government will go in supporting an attack on Iraq, saying only that she encourages all nations to have faith in the U.N. process.
Maria Ressa CNN, Manila.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 January 12, 2003 - 18:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq and global security are on the minds of Asian leaders. As CNN's Maria Ressa explains they are trying to diffuse the threat of terror at home while keeping an eye on Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA RESSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced she would not run for reelection in 2004, it shocked her nation. She said politics had gotten too vicious and her country needed a paradigm shift.
GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: Vested interests play a profound, have a profound influence on governance and especially economic policy and I would like to think that now that I am out of the contest for the 2004 presidential elections that gives me much, much more leeway and freedom to pursue (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the reforms that are really needed.
RESSA: Although much of those reforms focus on the economy, Mrs. Arroyo is a key U.S. ally in the war on terror. She says fighting terrorism requires a holistic strategy.
ARROYO: The military solution is to make sure that we win, we win the victories and then the political solution is to continue to talk peace. The cultural solution is that, you know that there is the threat to make the terrorist war a religious war. Instead we must make it opportunity for religious understanding. And the economic solution, of course, is to remove the recruiting grounds for terrorism.
RESSA: That, she says, is why her government continues to negotiate for peace with the MILF, the Moral Islamic Liberation Front, which officials in the region say trained operatives for al Qaeda. Last week, Singapore said the MILF is a threat to regional security.
ARROYO: Well, we are hoping that by dealing with MILF, both militarily and politically, we can get them to understand that they must break all links if any with terrorist groups and that there is life, there is more life for their people if they go on the road of peace.
RESSA: It's the same argument, analysts say, the western world would have to present to Iraq.
(on camera): Mrs. Arroyo remains tight lipped about exactly how far her government will go in supporting an attack on Iraq, saying only that she encourages all nations to have faith in the U.N. process.
Maria Ressa CNN, Manila.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
