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CNN Live Sunday
Bush: Tomorrow Is 'Moment of Truth for World'
Aired March 16, 2003 - 17:44 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: President Bush says tomorrow will be a moment of truth for the world. That is when the U.S. and its allies will tell the other U.N. Security Council members to either get on board or we will go it alone. If as most expect their efforts tomorrow fail, observers say war seems a virtual certainty. CNN's John King joins us now from the White House and Michael Okwu is standing by at U.N. headquarters in New York. John, I want to begin with you. You have followed President Bush for quite awhile now. What did you really take away from that press conference? I mean, I saw a very forceful, a very stern George Bush.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And a very frustrated George Bush at the opposition from France and others to a new resolution that as the president put it, holds Iraq to account. Mr. Bush voicing his frustration at the end of this four-way emergency summit, that 4 1/2 months after the Security Council passed a resolution that says Iraq must comply fully and immediately, that some members of the council are reluctant 4 1/2 months later to impose any sanctions on Iraq for not complying fully and immediately, at least in the view of the White House. What happens next? Mr. Bush is on his way back here to the White House. We are told he will make some phone calls from Air Force One on his way back across the Atlanta. More calls tomorrow morning.
At some point tomorrow, he will reconsult with Prime Minister Blair, Prime Minister Aznar. They will decide whether to go forward with the vote at the United Nations Security Council. And for all the difficult diplomacy and all the confusion here, that comes down to simple math. If they have a majority, they will seek a vote. If they do not have a majority, they will abandon hopes for any new resolution as early as tomorrow night.
And certainly by the middle of the week, the American people and Saddam Hussein will hear President Bush from the White House saying that war could happen within days, and that Saddam Hussein has just a few days, perhaps a week at most to get out of the country if he hopes to avoid war. So Anderson, the next 24 hours are critical. The next 12-18 hours most critical as the president decides whether this last ditch diplomatic effort can get a successful resolution out of the Security Council, or whether he abandons the Security Council debate and begins to form a coalition for war without the blessing, at least without a new blessing from the Security Council.
COOPER: All right. John King at the White House. And, John, something you said just a few moments ago, before we replayed the press conference, which just fascinated me that President Bush has not spoken to President Chirac of France, nor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany in some five weeks. I think in Schroeder's case even longer, remarkable.
KING: Much longer in Schroeder's case, because remember the German chancellor Schroeder's re-election campaign, he ran against George Bush. He ran saying that George Bush was on a great, quote, "adventure to start a war in Iraq." Mr. Bush spoke to him months ago briefly at a NATO summit. It was a very -- conversation in passing. Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary, has talked about poison in the relationship between the United States and Germany. There is now open friction and tension in relations between the United States and France. We are dealing, Anderson, with a confrontation and the possibility within days of war in Iraq, but there are widespread ramifications for U.S.-French relations, U.S.-German relations and now even U.S.-Russian relations, one of the top priorities of this president.
COOPER: All right, John King at the White House, thanks. We're going to go to Michael Okwu standing by at the United Nations. Going to be a very difficult day tomorrow at the United Nations all around I imagine, Michael.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very difficult day at the United Nations, a particularly perhaps difficult day for the United states. Following up on something John King said, U.S. officials are saying that they are all working the phones. Secretary Powell working the phones, the U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte working the phones. We understand from the British that Sir Jeremy Greenstock the British ambassador also working in the phones today after weeks, perhaps Anderson, of arm-twisting, verbal jousting, counter proposals. Perhaps there's an eerie simplicity about all of this at this point.
The facts are simple. The United States, U.K., Spain have a resolution on the table. It does not appear, at this point, that they have the nine votes necessary to adopt it. The Russian ambassador saying, simply, I think it is finished. And yet, of course, by Tuesday morning, according to the president, the diplomatic window will be closed. But that is not stopping diplomats here, particularly U.N. diplomats, from finishing the job that they started. The chief weapons inspector Hans Blix is putting the finishing touches on a work program that would include key remaining disarmament tasks for the Iraqis, all of this ahead of a Security Council closed door session tomorrow afternoon.
We understand that Russia, France and Germany have called on this meeting. They would like to discuss the possibility of a ministerial meeting sometime early in the week, possibly as early as Tuesday. Perhaps, of course, that will become a moot case, because on Tuesday morning, that is when the game is possibly over. We understand that if the United States does have its nine votes, they will probably ask for this to be voted on. If they do not, forget it, it's off the table -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Michael Okwu, we will be watching tomorrow very closely.
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 16, 2003 - 17:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush says tomorrow will be a moment of truth for the world. That is when the U.S. and its allies will tell the other U.N. Security Council members to either get on board or we will go it alone. If as most expect their efforts tomorrow fail, observers say war seems a virtual certainty. CNN's John King joins us now from the White House and Michael Okwu is standing by at U.N. headquarters in New York. John, I want to begin with you. You have followed President Bush for quite awhile now. What did you really take away from that press conference? I mean, I saw a very forceful, a very stern George Bush.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And a very frustrated George Bush at the opposition from France and others to a new resolution that as the president put it, holds Iraq to account. Mr. Bush voicing his frustration at the end of this four-way emergency summit, that 4 1/2 months after the Security Council passed a resolution that says Iraq must comply fully and immediately, that some members of the council are reluctant 4 1/2 months later to impose any sanctions on Iraq for not complying fully and immediately, at least in the view of the White House. What happens next? Mr. Bush is on his way back here to the White House. We are told he will make some phone calls from Air Force One on his way back across the Atlanta. More calls tomorrow morning.
At some point tomorrow, he will reconsult with Prime Minister Blair, Prime Minister Aznar. They will decide whether to go forward with the vote at the United Nations Security Council. And for all the difficult diplomacy and all the confusion here, that comes down to simple math. If they have a majority, they will seek a vote. If they do not have a majority, they will abandon hopes for any new resolution as early as tomorrow night.
And certainly by the middle of the week, the American people and Saddam Hussein will hear President Bush from the White House saying that war could happen within days, and that Saddam Hussein has just a few days, perhaps a week at most to get out of the country if he hopes to avoid war. So Anderson, the next 24 hours are critical. The next 12-18 hours most critical as the president decides whether this last ditch diplomatic effort can get a successful resolution out of the Security Council, or whether he abandons the Security Council debate and begins to form a coalition for war without the blessing, at least without a new blessing from the Security Council.
COOPER: All right. John King at the White House. And, John, something you said just a few moments ago, before we replayed the press conference, which just fascinated me that President Bush has not spoken to President Chirac of France, nor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany in some five weeks. I think in Schroeder's case even longer, remarkable.
KING: Much longer in Schroeder's case, because remember the German chancellor Schroeder's re-election campaign, he ran against George Bush. He ran saying that George Bush was on a great, quote, "adventure to start a war in Iraq." Mr. Bush spoke to him months ago briefly at a NATO summit. It was a very -- conversation in passing. Donald Rumsfeld, the defense secretary, has talked about poison in the relationship between the United States and Germany. There is now open friction and tension in relations between the United States and France. We are dealing, Anderson, with a confrontation and the possibility within days of war in Iraq, but there are widespread ramifications for U.S.-French relations, U.S.-German relations and now even U.S.-Russian relations, one of the top priorities of this president.
COOPER: All right, John King at the White House, thanks. We're going to go to Michael Okwu standing by at the United Nations. Going to be a very difficult day tomorrow at the United Nations all around I imagine, Michael.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A very difficult day at the United Nations, a particularly perhaps difficult day for the United states. Following up on something John King said, U.S. officials are saying that they are all working the phones. Secretary Powell working the phones, the U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte working the phones. We understand from the British that Sir Jeremy Greenstock the British ambassador also working in the phones today after weeks, perhaps Anderson, of arm-twisting, verbal jousting, counter proposals. Perhaps there's an eerie simplicity about all of this at this point.
The facts are simple. The United States, U.K., Spain have a resolution on the table. It does not appear, at this point, that they have the nine votes necessary to adopt it. The Russian ambassador saying, simply, I think it is finished. And yet, of course, by Tuesday morning, according to the president, the diplomatic window will be closed. But that is not stopping diplomats here, particularly U.N. diplomats, from finishing the job that they started. The chief weapons inspector Hans Blix is putting the finishing touches on a work program that would include key remaining disarmament tasks for the Iraqis, all of this ahead of a Security Council closed door session tomorrow afternoon.
We understand that Russia, France and Germany have called on this meeting. They would like to discuss the possibility of a ministerial meeting sometime early in the week, possibly as early as Tuesday. Perhaps, of course, that will become a moot case, because on Tuesday morning, that is when the game is possibly over. We understand that if the United States does have its nine votes, they will probably ask for this to be voted on. If they do not, forget it, it's off the table -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Michael Okwu, we will be watching tomorrow very closely.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
