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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
U.S. Officials Unhappy with New U.N.-Iraqi Agreement
Aired October 2, 2002 - 05:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Despite a new U.N.-Iraqi agreement that could return U.N. weapons inspectors to Iraq in two weeks, U.S. officials say wait one minute -- no one should go before a tougher resolution is in place.
CNN's Andrea Koppel is at the State Department.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Concerned the news from Vienna would derail U.S. efforts to secure a new U.N. resolution, Secretary Powell reminded the world who is running this show.
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Dr. Blix is an agent of the Security Council and will carry out what the Security Council instructs him to do. And our position is that he should get such new instructions in the form of a new resolution.
KOPPEL: Powell has said the U.S. would, in his words, thwart the return of weapons inspectors to Iraq until a tough new U.N. mandate is in place. A proposed U.S. draft resolution obtained by CNN demands Iraq provide a full and complete list of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons before inspections begin, unrestricted access to presidential sites and authorizes the use of all necessary means if Iraq fails to comply.
POWELL: We are absolutely convinced that we can make the case that a new resolution with tough standards is appropriate, with consequences associated with further violation so that we're not back here a year from now talking about this all over again.
KOPPEL (on camera): But even as the Bush administration pushes the U.N. to adopt its resolution, CNN has learned the State Department is working on a contingency plan just in case enough Security Council members don't sign on. But before this compromise, two separate U.N. resolutions could be introduced at the U.N. Officials predict there would be a big battle within the Bush cabinet first.
Andrea Koppel, CNN, at the State Department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And despite America's concerns, though, the man charged with taking U.N. weapons inspectors back into Iraq says he's reached an agreement with Iraqi officials. Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix came to that conclusion after two days of talks in Vienna, Austria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS BLIX, CHIEF U.N. INSPECTOR: The Iraqi representatives declared that Iraq accepts all the rights of inspection provided for in all the relevant Security Council resolutions. The Iraqi delegation handed over four CD-ROMs containing the backlog of semi- annual monitoring declarations for the sites and items covered by the ongoing monitoring and verification plans for the period of June 1998 to July 2002.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Despite that agreement, though, the White House certainly is not backing down from its position that Saddam Hussein should be removed from office.
Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux picks up the story there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Bush administration's call for regime change reached a new pitch when White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was asked about the cost of a possible war with Iraq.
ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can only say that the cost of a one way ticket is substantially less than that. The cost of one bullet the Iraqi people taking on themselves is substantially less than that.
MALVEAUX: Was this a signal that the Bush administration would support the Iraqi people sending Saddam into exile or possibly assassinating him?
QUESTION: I'm asking you if you intend to advocate from that podium that some Iraqi, you know, person put a bullet in his head?
FLEISCHER: Regime change is welcome in whatever form that it takes.
QUESTION: So the answer is yes?
FLEISCHER: Thank you. Regime change is welcome in whatever form it takes.
MALVEAUX: Fleischer later said he was simply making a rhetorical point that the U.S. policy barring assassinations of foreign leaders by U.S. officials still stands, but that no one would cry over the loss of Saddam Hussein.
President Bush is still trying to win support for a congressional resolution that would give him broad authority to use military force against Saddam. But Republican Senator Richard Lugar, in meetings with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and White House Counsel Al Gonzalez is pushing for a bipartisan resolution that would give the president the green light for military action only if it's used to dismantle Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Mr. Bush is insisting he cannot be limited when it comes to going after Saddam.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want to get a resolution which ties my hands, a resolution which is weaker than that which was passed out of the Congress in 1998. The Congress in 1998 passed a very strong resolution. They wisely recognized that Saddam Hussein is a threat, was a threat in '98 and he's more of a threat four years later.
MALVEAUX (on camera): This afternoon the president met with House law makers who have been much more in step with the kind of resolution that the president would like to see, both sides very optimistic, those law makers saying it's simply a matter of changing a few words. They're confident that they'll have a resolution that both the Bush administration and the House can sign off on as early as President Bush's breakfast meeting with congressional leaders tomorrow morning.
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Iraqi officials are in Turkey this morning drumming up support for their country. As you might expect, there were tough words for the United States.
CNN's Jane Arraf is live in Baghdad with what Tariq Aziz had to say just about an hour ago -- Jane.
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, the top Iraqi official, Tariq Aziz, is making completely clear that that Iraq's bottom line is no new U.N. resolution. Now, he told a press conference that there are procedures already in place, perfectly good procedures, for essentially, the issue is, inspecting the palaces. And he told those reporters that if the United States thinks it can go to the Security Council and draft a new resolution that will work, Iraq just isn't going to go along with it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARIQ AZIZ, IRAQI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER: This proposal of the United States is unacceptable, not only by Iraq, it is unacceptable by the Security Council because there is no need for a new resolution. The standing resolutions of the Security Council concerning the inspections are valid and they are enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ARRAF: Now, what Iraq objects to are new procedures, tightened procedures for inspecting those palaces. It's already done what amounts to a remarkable turnaround with an announcement last night that the inspectors were welcome to come in and give -- that the Iraqis would provide unfettered access to a lot of sites that were previously off limits, sites that have actually led to clashes and U.S. attacks before.
But what's still on the table are the presidential sites and there's an agreement in place for the way that those are to be inspected, which is, in Iraq's terms, with dignity and respecting their sovereignty. Now, that's the key issue here and that's what Tariq Aziz is saying, Iraq is not going to put up with any tightened procedures for those inspections -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jane, I have to ask you about Ari Fleischer's words that the United States wouldn't be sad if Saddam Hussein was assassinated. Is there any reaction to that in Baghdad?
ARRAF: Well, it's not a real surprise here. There has been the feeling all along that what the United States wants isn't really disarmament or this conflict's procedure for getting inspectors here and getting them around the palaces. What they really want to do is kill the Iraqi president, to be blunt.
So, no reaction yet to that, but I'm sure we'll have some. But, again, they've been convinced all along that that really is the American bottom line. There's not even a sense of surprise here that a sovereign government like the United States is talking about just going out and essentially murdering, in their minds, another leader of another country -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jane Arraf reporting live from Baghdad this morning.
Thank you.
Get a full hour of "Showdown Iraq" coverage with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. That happens every day at noon Eastern time. Among Wolf's guests today, Congressman David Bonior, who's just back from his trip to Iraq and taking some heat for the delegation's comments over there. Join Wolf at noon Eastern time, 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
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