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CNN Live Sunday
Interview With Dan Rather
Aired March 02, 2003 - 18:38 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: Reporter interviews with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein are rare, but not impossible now. Just ask Dan Rather. He sat down with the Iraqi dictator. And what did they talk about? Rather tells all to Howard Kurtz, with CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES: What do you do as an interviewer, when Saddam Hussein says something ludicrous, like we didn't lose the Gulf War? Is it your job to correct him, to debate him, to challenge him?
DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS: No, I don't think so. Because I think that is such a -- I think it speaks for itself. And what I'd like to do after a question and answer such as that is just take a long deep pause to let it soak in. And I did come back in that and say, do you understand that most Americans think in effect that that's crazy or delusional.
But this was important to me, Howie, that I went in journalistically, not jingoistically, and I -- you know, the role of the reporter is to be an honest broker of information insofar as that's possible. Everybody has their own style, and indeed, most of us, you know, we change styles from time to time, from interview to interview.
I thought the approach that I brought to the interview was the proper one under those circumstances and at that time. And we can pick it apart, as I said before, and some of the criticism, a lot of the criticism, is justified and I fully understand it.
But I think a statement like that, when he said, you know, I got 100 percent of the vote. I don't think you need to follow-up on a question like that. I think it speaks for itself. And I do think the audience understands that. And when he says I won the Gulf War, I think the audience understands -- I don't think it's necessary -- for once, at least, for once, I didn't want this to be a showboat.
I wanted this to be good journalism. I wanted it to be quality journalism. And I wanted to put on the screen for everybody to decide for themselves the Saddam Hussein who has appeared in the past so greatly to Arabs and other Muslims and the Saddam Hussein that we're about to go to war with, so people understand who he is, what he is and what we're up against.
That's what I wanted to do.
KURTZ: In other words, you didn't want to do a Rather versus Saddam showdown.
But now, the cameras were turned off after about an hour and 40 minutes. You had a lot more time with him then you had expected, and then Saddam invited you into his office and sort of started to ask you questions. Tell us a little bit about that.
RATHER: Well, I thought the interview, the on-camera interview, was clearly over. They said so. And I thought that was it for us. We had gone longer than we had been told in the beginning that it would go -- quite a bit longer. So we took off the microphones and we were about to go our ways.
And he was moving away and the translator said "The president wants you to join him in his office if you'd care to do that."
And I said OK, and we went into his office. Jim Murphy, the executive producer of the "Evening News" was with me. He wasn't sure he was invited, he held back. And Saddam Hussein waved him on in.
And in that roughly hour and 15 minutes, there was another conversation and it was basically taken up with his asking questions, respectfully and calmly. There is a kind of eerie calm about him, given the circumstances he's in. But the main thread of this conversation was...
(CROSSTALK)
RATHER: ... he wanted to know how and why it was -- Sorry?
KURTZ: Were you -- did you feel any awkwardness about being asked by Saddam about the state of American public opinion towards this potential war?
RATHER: Well, frankly, some. You know, my job is to ask the questions, but under the circumstances, and I said to him, you know, I'm not a politician, I'm not a military person, I'm not a diplomat. You've asked me and I'll try to answer the question as directly as I can, along that line, and I did.
His main thing was he wanted to understand two things, he said. One was, why so much public opinion remains behind President Bush. He noted with some satisfaction, I thought, that the president's polls have been dropping some, but he understands that American public opinion is still behind President Bush and probably will be even more so once a full frontal attack happens, if that happens. He understands that and he said, you know, why is that so.
And I gave him the answer that I think anybody else would give him. You know, you need to understand how deeply we feel about what happened on 9-11, how deeply we feel about people such as Osama bin Laden. And as long as you're connected to those two things, and particularly to Osama bin Laden, then that's the reason President Bush has so much support. KURTZ: Right. Let's take a break there.
RATHER: Much of the conversation was along that line.
KURTZ: OK, let's take a break. And when we come back, Dan, we'll ask whether the networks are finally waking up to the anti-war movement.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KURTZ: Welcome back to RELIABLE SOURCES, continuing our conversation with Dan Rather.
One more question on the Saddam interview. You can't have been happy that the Iraqis controlled the cameras, made the videotape, dubbed in their own translation, which I know you had CBS double check. I mean, that's a very unusual set of circumstances.
RATHER: It is, but those are the circumstances that anybody who has interviewed Saddam Hussein, myself included and other people, it's always that way with him. We insisted and they agreed that there were no prior conditions about the questions.
And for whatever you may or may not think about the interview, Saddam Hussein was not given an opportunity to rave on and speak uninterrupted on topics of his choosing. We told them, listen, no conditions about the questions.
We made a request for our own cameras. They rejected that. We made a request that we have one camera there. They rejected that on security grounds, saying don't forget what happened to the leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.
So I would have preferred that we shot it with our own cameras, but it was very important that they agreed and they delivered on the two most important things: no preconditions to the questions and that we would get the full interview, that the integrity of the interview would be delivered, as was to us. And while there was some delay in their doing that -- for what reason I don't know -- they did in the end come through with that.
Am I happy about the circumstances? Certainly not. But anybody who's going to do an interview with Saddam Hussein is going to do the interview under those circumstances.
And, Howie, let me say gently that I don't know of a reporter worthy of the name who wouldn't have taken this opportunity and done the interview under those circumstances, if they had to.
(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 March 2, 2003 - 18:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Reporter interviews with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein are rare, but not impossible now. Just ask Dan Rather. He sat down with the Iraqi dictator. And what did they talk about? Rather tells all to Howard Kurtz, with CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, CNN'S RELIABLE SOURCES: What do you do as an interviewer, when Saddam Hussein says something ludicrous, like we didn't lose the Gulf War? Is it your job to correct him, to debate him, to challenge him?
DAN RATHER, CBS NEWS: No, I don't think so. Because I think that is such a -- I think it speaks for itself. And what I'd like to do after a question and answer such as that is just take a long deep pause to let it soak in. And I did come back in that and say, do you understand that most Americans think in effect that that's crazy or delusional.
But this was important to me, Howie, that I went in journalistically, not jingoistically, and I -- you know, the role of the reporter is to be an honest broker of information insofar as that's possible. Everybody has their own style, and indeed, most of us, you know, we change styles from time to time, from interview to interview.
I thought the approach that I brought to the interview was the proper one under those circumstances and at that time. And we can pick it apart, as I said before, and some of the criticism, a lot of the criticism, is justified and I fully understand it.
But I think a statement like that, when he said, you know, I got 100 percent of the vote. I don't think you need to follow-up on a question like that. I think it speaks for itself. And I do think the audience understands that. And when he says I won the Gulf War, I think the audience understands -- I don't think it's necessary -- for once, at least, for once, I didn't want this to be a showboat.
I wanted this to be good journalism. I wanted it to be quality journalism. And I wanted to put on the screen for everybody to decide for themselves the Saddam Hussein who has appeared in the past so greatly to Arabs and other Muslims and the Saddam Hussein that we're about to go to war with, so people understand who he is, what he is and what we're up against.
That's what I wanted to do.
KURTZ: In other words, you didn't want to do a Rather versus Saddam showdown.
But now, the cameras were turned off after about an hour and 40 minutes. You had a lot more time with him then you had expected, and then Saddam invited you into his office and sort of started to ask you questions. Tell us a little bit about that.
RATHER: Well, I thought the interview, the on-camera interview, was clearly over. They said so. And I thought that was it for us. We had gone longer than we had been told in the beginning that it would go -- quite a bit longer. So we took off the microphones and we were about to go our ways.
And he was moving away and the translator said "The president wants you to join him in his office if you'd care to do that."
And I said OK, and we went into his office. Jim Murphy, the executive producer of the "Evening News" was with me. He wasn't sure he was invited, he held back. And Saddam Hussein waved him on in.
And in that roughly hour and 15 minutes, there was another conversation and it was basically taken up with his asking questions, respectfully and calmly. There is a kind of eerie calm about him, given the circumstances he's in. But the main thread of this conversation was...
(CROSSTALK)
RATHER: ... he wanted to know how and why it was -- Sorry?
KURTZ: Were you -- did you feel any awkwardness about being asked by Saddam about the state of American public opinion towards this potential war?
RATHER: Well, frankly, some. You know, my job is to ask the questions, but under the circumstances, and I said to him, you know, I'm not a politician, I'm not a military person, I'm not a diplomat. You've asked me and I'll try to answer the question as directly as I can, along that line, and I did.
His main thing was he wanted to understand two things, he said. One was, why so much public opinion remains behind President Bush. He noted with some satisfaction, I thought, that the president's polls have been dropping some, but he understands that American public opinion is still behind President Bush and probably will be even more so once a full frontal attack happens, if that happens. He understands that and he said, you know, why is that so.
And I gave him the answer that I think anybody else would give him. You know, you need to understand how deeply we feel about what happened on 9-11, how deeply we feel about people such as Osama bin Laden. And as long as you're connected to those two things, and particularly to Osama bin Laden, then that's the reason President Bush has so much support. KURTZ: Right. Let's take a break there.
RATHER: Much of the conversation was along that line.
KURTZ: OK, let's take a break. And when we come back, Dan, we'll ask whether the networks are finally waking up to the anti-war movement.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KURTZ: Welcome back to RELIABLE SOURCES, continuing our conversation with Dan Rather.
One more question on the Saddam interview. You can't have been happy that the Iraqis controlled the cameras, made the videotape, dubbed in their own translation, which I know you had CBS double check. I mean, that's a very unusual set of circumstances.
RATHER: It is, but those are the circumstances that anybody who has interviewed Saddam Hussein, myself included and other people, it's always that way with him. We insisted and they agreed that there were no prior conditions about the questions.
And for whatever you may or may not think about the interview, Saddam Hussein was not given an opportunity to rave on and speak uninterrupted on topics of his choosing. We told them, listen, no conditions about the questions.
We made a request for our own cameras. They rejected that. We made a request that we have one camera there. They rejected that on security grounds, saying don't forget what happened to the leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.
So I would have preferred that we shot it with our own cameras, but it was very important that they agreed and they delivered on the two most important things: no preconditions to the questions and that we would get the full interview, that the integrity of the interview would be delivered, as was to us. And while there was some delay in their doing that -- for what reason I don't know -- they did in the end come through with that.
Am I happy about the circumstances? Certainly not. But anybody who's going to do an interview with Saddam Hussein is going to do the interview under those circumstances.
And, Howie, let me say gently that I don't know of a reporter worthy of the name who wouldn't have taken this opportunity and done the interview under those circumstances, if they had to.
(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
