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CNN Live Sunday

President Bush Meets With Italian Prime Minister Today

Aired July 20, 2003 - 16:04   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.


SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is keeping up with the latest developments in Iraq at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Today he is playing host to Italy's prime minister, trying to get a sense of how helpful the Europeans may be in Iraq. Our White House correspondent, Chris Burns, now joins us from Crawford with the latest details.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Sean. Silvio Berlusconi is supposed to arrive in about an hour. President Bush will brief him and take him over to the Crawford Ranch that is really a signal of thank you, probably the most generous sign of thank you President Bush can give to Silvio Berlusconi for being part of that coalition of the willing against Saddam Hussein. They obviously will be talking about the situation in Iraq.

President Bush is sounding out countries about possible increases in contributions of troops and police. The Italians have given Carabinieri national police, to the effort, but perhaps there may be requests for more. This comes at the same time as there are a lot of calls for the U.S. to go back to the U.N. to seek a new U.N. mandate so that other countries might be more willing to provide perhaps even tens of thousands of troops to the effort to offset the burden for U.S. troops inside Iraq.

So far there has not been any mandate that has been written out yet, but that is being talked about. On the other hand, there has been an effort by the Bush administration today to try to put some positive spin on the situation in Iraq. To talk about how there has been progress made. And so the man to do it was the head of the administration in Iraq, Paul Bremer, who talked about the progress made and also talked about how they have to target Saddam Hussein and his supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: We recognize the importance of getting hold of Saddam Hussein or killing him, which is why we have placed a $25 million reward on his head and $15 million on each of his sons' head. These attacks that we're seeing basically are attacking our successes. We had an attack yesterday, for example, against a guard guarding a bank.

Well, we introduced a new currency without a problem. The currency has been stable. We have made the Central Bank Independent. We have approved a new budget. All of this in the last two weeks and of course, they go after us there. We had an attack on a police academy in al-Fallujah ten days ago. Well, we're standing up police, and they're going after our success there. We had an American soldier killed on the campus of Baghdad University two weeks ago. Why?

Because all 22 universities are now working in Iraq. All of -- 90 percent of the primary and secondary schools are up and running. They're holding final exams. We are succeeding in education. We are succeeding in bringing up the police. We are succeeding in the economy. And these bitter enders don't like it. So they go after us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: And Mr. Bremer predicts a government in Iraq within the next year. Back to you.

CALLEBS: Okay, Chris. Let's also shift the focus to Asia. And what are you hearing out there from the administration about the possibility of yet another nuclear facility, a second nuclear site in North Korea?

BURNS: Well, Sean, the Bush administration is neither confirming nor denying this report. However, it does appear that we're getting more information on this from other sources inside the government that do point to the possibility that the North Koreans have indeed built a second facility that would reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods into weapons-grade plutonium. That is seriously worrying a lot of officials inside the government.

They did detect this through krypton gas that was emitted not from the one in Yonbyong, but another facility somewhere inside North Korea, perhaps a cave deep in the mountains, very difficult to detect and get to. That is something that is - that the Bush administration is looking at. President Bush has said he would not tolerate a nuclear-tipped South Korea -- North Korea, although the CIA has said that they do believe that North Korea has at least two nuclear weapons.

Could they build more? That is the possibility. There is criticism from among Democrats calling on the Bush administration to talk and talk now to the North Koreans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR JAY ROCKEFELLER, (D-WV), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I don't think the United States needs to adjust their policy toward North Korea. We have to have a policy toward North Korea.

Negotiate the way they want to do it. We don't have to give up anything if we don't want to. But talk directly with them. If you don't talk directly with Asians, they feel like you're not talking to them at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: Now, the Bush administration insists on multilateral talks including Japan, South Korea, and China. North Korea wants to talk directly with the United States. That is what's holding it up. The United States also said they don't want North Koreans to blackmail them into providing financial support to that failing Stalinist regime. Sean?

CALLEBS: OK. Chris Burns with the president in Crawford, Texas. Chris, thanks very much.

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 July 20, 2003 - 16:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is keeping up with the latest developments in Iraq at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Today he is playing host to Italy's prime minister, trying to get a sense of how helpful the Europeans may be in Iraq. Our White House correspondent, Chris Burns, now joins us from Crawford with the latest details.
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Sean. Silvio Berlusconi is supposed to arrive in about an hour. President Bush will brief him and take him over to the Crawford Ranch that is really a signal of thank you, probably the most generous sign of thank you President Bush can give to Silvio Berlusconi for being part of that coalition of the willing against Saddam Hussein. They obviously will be talking about the situation in Iraq.

President Bush is sounding out countries about possible increases in contributions of troops and police. The Italians have given Carabinieri national police, to the effort, but perhaps there may be requests for more. This comes at the same time as there are a lot of calls for the U.S. to go back to the U.N. to seek a new U.N. mandate so that other countries might be more willing to provide perhaps even tens of thousands of troops to the effort to offset the burden for U.S. troops inside Iraq.

So far there has not been any mandate that has been written out yet, but that is being talked about. On the other hand, there has been an effort by the Bush administration today to try to put some positive spin on the situation in Iraq. To talk about how there has been progress made. And so the man to do it was the head of the administration in Iraq, Paul Bremer, who talked about the progress made and also talked about how they have to target Saddam Hussein and his supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: We recognize the importance of getting hold of Saddam Hussein or killing him, which is why we have placed a $25 million reward on his head and $15 million on each of his sons' head. These attacks that we're seeing basically are attacking our successes. We had an attack yesterday, for example, against a guard guarding a bank.

Well, we introduced a new currency without a problem. The currency has been stable. We have made the Central Bank Independent. We have approved a new budget. All of this in the last two weeks and of course, they go after us there. We had an attack on a police academy in al-Fallujah ten days ago. Well, we're standing up police, and they're going after our success there. We had an American soldier killed on the campus of Baghdad University two weeks ago. Why?

Because all 22 universities are now working in Iraq. All of -- 90 percent of the primary and secondary schools are up and running. They're holding final exams. We are succeeding in education. We are succeeding in bringing up the police. We are succeeding in the economy. And these bitter enders don't like it. So they go after us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: And Mr. Bremer predicts a government in Iraq within the next year. Back to you.

CALLEBS: Okay, Chris. Let's also shift the focus to Asia. And what are you hearing out there from the administration about the possibility of yet another nuclear facility, a second nuclear site in North Korea?

BURNS: Well, Sean, the Bush administration is neither confirming nor denying this report. However, it does appear that we're getting more information on this from other sources inside the government that do point to the possibility that the North Koreans have indeed built a second facility that would reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods into weapons-grade plutonium. That is seriously worrying a lot of officials inside the government.

They did detect this through krypton gas that was emitted not from the one in Yonbyong, but another facility somewhere inside North Korea, perhaps a cave deep in the mountains, very difficult to detect and get to. That is something that is - that the Bush administration is looking at. President Bush has said he would not tolerate a nuclear-tipped South Korea -- North Korea, although the CIA has said that they do believe that North Korea has at least two nuclear weapons.

Could they build more? That is the possibility. There is criticism from among Democrats calling on the Bush administration to talk and talk now to the North Koreans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR JAY ROCKEFELLER, (D-WV), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I don't think the United States needs to adjust their policy toward North Korea. We have to have a policy toward North Korea.

Negotiate the way they want to do it. We don't have to give up anything if we don't want to. But talk directly with them. If you don't talk directly with Asians, they feel like you're not talking to them at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNS: Now, the Bush administration insists on multilateral talks including Japan, South Korea, and China. North Korea wants to talk directly with the United States. That is what's holding it up. The United States also said they don't want North Koreans to blackmail them into providing financial support to that failing Stalinist regime. Sean?

CALLEBS: OK. Chris Burns with the president in Crawford, Texas. Chris, thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com