ABC News Special Report - 2003-03-17 - 10:46 a.m. (E)

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Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] a song from their new CD, Down the Old

[0:03] Plank Road. Here are the chieftains.

[0:21] This is an ABC News special report.

[0:26] >> Good morning everybody. I'm Peter

[0:27] Jennings at ABC News headquarters in New

[0:29] York. The president said it yesterday.

[0:30] This was the moment of truth visa v Iraq

[0:32] and in many ways it is. We interrupted

[0:34] this moment because the secretary of

[0:36] state Colon Powell is about to speak

[0:38] from the State Department and we'll get

[0:39] some greater sense than we had even an

[0:42] hour ago about the imminence of a US

[0:44] attack on Iraq. Already this morning,

[0:47] the US and Britain and Spain have said

[0:49] publicly that they will not propose a

[0:52] new resolution to the UN Security

[0:54] Council uh requesting authorization for

[0:56] force. The administration has said this

[0:58] is the fault of France which said it had

[1:00] a permanent veto and would use it but in

[1:02] fact the US probably didn't have the

[1:03] votes here fall in an act of unonyimity

[1:07] the security council came together

[1:09] following President Bush's historic

[1:12] speech to the United Nations on the 12th

[1:13] of September and on the 8th of November

[1:16] after long negotiations uh passed UN

[1:19] resolution 1441

[1:22] by unanimous vote 15 to zero not one

[1:25] member failing willing to raise a hand

[1:28] in support of that resolution.

[1:30] In the months after the passage of UN

[1:33] resolution 1441,

[1:35] we watched as the inspectors began their

[1:37] work and we were immediately concerned

[1:40] that Iraq was not going to understand

[1:43] the intention of 1441 when Iraq

[1:46] submitted 30 days later a declaration

[1:48] that can only be said to be false, not

[1:51] complete, rather incomplete, not

[1:53] truthful, untruthful, and nowhere near

[1:56] meeting the spirit intended

[1:59] in 1341.

[2:01] We call that out to the international

[2:04] community at that time. We said we

[2:06] believe that that false declaration was

[2:08] a material breach. We continued to

[2:11] support the inspectors. We continued to

[2:13] watch and although we have seen some

[2:16] process improvements and some grudging

[2:18] movement on the part of Sodom Hussein's

[2:21] regime to provide some information and

[2:24] provide some equipment to the

[2:26] inspectors. It certainly wasn't the kind

[2:29] of compliance and total cooperation that

[2:32] 1441 required and that we were hoping

[2:35] but had no illusions about Iraq being

[2:38] able to accept and respond to. As a

[2:42] result of this and as a result of a

[2:44] number of briefings that we received

[2:46] from UNMOVIC and IAEA

[2:49] uh a week and a half ago, the United

[2:51] Kingdom, the United States, and uh Spain

[2:55] uh put forward a resolution that would

[2:57] once again give Sodom Hussein one last

[3:00] chance to act or face the serious

[3:03] consequences that were authorized and

[3:05] clearly intended in UN resolution 1441.

[3:09] Unfortunately, over the last um roughly

[3:12] uh two weeks or thereabouts, a little

[3:13] less than two weeks that we have

[3:15] debating this particular draft

[3:16] resolution and despite best efforts to

[3:19] see whether or not language could be

[3:21] adjusted uh to make it more acceptable

[3:23] to council members, it is clear that

[3:26] there are some permanent members of the

[3:28] council that would veto any such

[3:30] resolution or any resolution resembling

[3:32] the one that the British tabled Friday

[3:34] before last at the United Nations. As a

[3:37] result of this, uh, the United Kingdom,

[3:40] the United States, and Spain decided to

[3:43] not call for a vote on this resolution.

[3:46] Um, we spent a great deal of time

[3:49] overnight uh and earlier this morning

[3:52] talking to friends and colleagues around

[3:54] the world about uh the resolution and it

[3:58] was our judgment reached by the United

[4:01] States, the United Kingdom and Spain

[4:03] that no further purpose would be served

[4:05] by pushing this resolution. So, we are

[4:07] not going to ask for a vote on the

[4:09] resolution. the resolution uh will uh

[4:12] die anyway because it had a built-in

[4:14] date of 17 March within the resolution

[4:17] which has not been modified. As you

[4:20] heard the president and the other

[4:23] leaders who assembled in the Azors

[4:25] yesterday for the Atlantic summit say

[4:27] the window on diplomacy is uh closing.

[4:31] Uh the moment of truth is arriving and

[4:34] you will hear a speech from the

[4:36] president thei of the United States this

[4:38] evening. President Bush will address the

[4:39] nation and the world on the situation as

[4:42] we now see it. Um in his speech, he

[4:45] clearly will issue an ultimatum to Sodom

[4:47] Hussein that the only way to avoid the

[4:50] serious consequences that were built

[4:53] into 1441 is for Sodom Hussein and his

[4:56] immediate cohort uh to leave the country

[4:59] and to allow uh this matter to be

[5:02] resolved through the peaceful entry of

[5:04] force and not of conflict. Nevertheless,

[5:07] um the president's determination will be

[5:09] made clear tonight that this matter

[5:11] cannot continue indefinitely. That Sodom

[5:13] Hussein is guilty of the charges that

[5:17] have been brought against him previously

[5:18] through these many resolutions which

[5:20] acknowledged that he had weapons of mass

[5:23] destruction and he has failed to disarm

[5:26] himself as required by the various

[5:28] resolutions. We believe and I think um

[5:31] you've also heard an opinion from uh

[5:34] British legal authorities uh within the

[5:36] last 24 hours that there is sufficient

[5:39] authority in 1441 678 and 687 earlier

[5:44] resolutions for whatever military action

[5:47] might be required. I'm very very pleased

[5:49] that the council did come together last

[5:52] November 8th for 1441. of course

[5:54] disappointed that we were unable to get

[5:56] a subsequent resolution but we believe

[5:59] that our actions now are supported by

[6:04] international law whatever actions we

[6:06] might take in the future and the

[6:07] president will talk to this issue

[6:09] tonight I won't say any more about the

[6:11] president's speech because the president

[6:12] of course will have the opportunity to

[6:14] speak for himself and uh make the points

[6:17] perfectly clear to the American people

[6:19] and to the international community.

[6:21] You'll also notice that in their

[6:24] statements yesterday at the Atlantic

[6:26] summit, all of the leaders spoke to a

[6:29] future for Iraq that will be brighter if

[6:32] it comes to the use of military force,

[6:34] where this dictator will no longer be

[6:36] able to oppress his own people, no

[6:38] longer able to threaten his neighbors,

[6:40] and no longer able to develop these

[6:42] horrible weapons which could be used

[6:45] against his neighbors as they have been

[6:47] used in the past or of greater concern

[6:49] to us. can spread and be acquired by

[6:52] terrorist organizations which might use

[6:55] them against us, our friends or our

[6:57] interest. I think it was also important

[6:59] to note in the president's statement

[7:00] yesterday his commitment to the UN and

[7:02] the role that we believe the UN will

[7:04] play uh in the aftermath of any conflict

[7:08] uh should it come and our continued

[7:10] support uh for the UN. With that, I'll

[7:12] take a couple of questions.

[7:14] >> On on the allies back in November when

[7:17] several of them tried to dilute the

[7:19] resolution and they did accomplish some

[7:21] word changes. Um would it be fair to say

[7:24] that they understood at the end that

[7:27] force was possible because they're

[7:30] impress they seem to give the impression

[7:32] they had succeeded in sidetracking

[7:35] force. And could you say if you think

[7:36] there'll be permanent damage to the

[7:39] alliance with what the French have done

[7:41] with support from Germany and Russia?

[7:43] >> On your first question, Barry, uh there

[7:45] can be no confusion on this point. If

[7:47] you remember the debate that we were

[7:49] having before 1441 was passed. There

[7:52] were some nations who insisted that a

[7:54] second resolution would be required and

[7:57] we insisted that a second resolution

[7:59] would not be required. And as we

[8:02] negotiated our way through that, we made

[8:04] it absolutely clear that we did not

[8:06] believe that the resolution as it

[8:08] finally passed would require a second

[8:10] resolution. And in fact, the resolution

[8:12] that we are not taking to a vote today

[8:15] is not a resolution that we uh believed

[8:17] was necessary. It was a resolution we

[8:20] were supporting along with the United

[8:21] Kingdom who tabled it and Spain. It was

[8:23] a resolution that would help some of our

[8:25] friends to show to their publics and to

[8:28] the world that we had taken uh one last

[8:31] step. We had made one last effort to see

[8:34] if Sodom Hussein would come into

[8:35] compliance. The burden of this problem

[8:39] rests squarely on Sodom Hussein and his

[8:43] continuing efforts to deceive, to deny,

[8:46] to do everything to divide the council,

[8:48] to take advantage of every meeting we

[8:50] have had over the last several months to

[8:52] do something just before that meeting to

[8:54] suggest that he is complying when he

[8:56] really isn't. And the world should know

[8:58] that uh this crisis is before us because

[9:00] of this regime and it flagrant violation

[9:04] of obligations that it entered into over

[9:06] the last 12 years. That's where the

[9:08] burden lies.

[9:09] >> And the is there permanent damage to the

[9:11] excuse me

[9:12] >> uh is there permanent damage to uh to

[9:14] the the alliance? I the UN uh is an

[9:18] important institution

[9:20] um and it will survive and the United

[9:23] States will continue to be uh an

[9:25] important member of the United Nations

[9:28] and its various uh uh organizations. But

[9:31] clearly this is a test in my judgment

[9:33] that the security council did not meet.

[9:35] We all knew what we were doing last

[9:37] fall. The very reason that we went into

[9:40] a went into a prolonged negotiation on

[9:43] 1441 was so that it did not become the

[9:46] same kind of resolution that we had seen

[9:49] so many times in the past that had a lot

[9:51] of words, a lot of rhetoric and Sodom

[9:53] Hussein can simply ignore and thumb his

[9:55] nose at. This was a resolution that

[9:58] every person who voted for it, every

[10:00] permanent representative who was there

[10:03] on the 8th of November and voted for

[10:04] this resolution knew that it was

[10:06] different. that serious consequences

[10:08] would flow and those serious

[10:10] consequences meant the use of force to

[10:12] disarm Sodom Hussein if he did not

[10:15] comply with that resolution and

[10:17] cooperate fully with the inspectors to

[10:19] disarm that regime.

[10:21] >> Mr. Secretary, how how long a period of

[10:23] time do you think is appropriate for

[10:24] Saddam Hussein to be uh allowed to get

[10:26] out and who uh who else besides him

[10:30] would have to leave if uh if if they

[10:33] want to avert war?

[10:34] >> Um I I won't speak to a time limit. The

[10:37] president may may do that in his speech

[10:39] this evening and I'll leave that to him.

[10:41] But clearly we would want to see Saddam

[10:44] Hussein depart as well as immediate

[10:46] members of his family who are in

[10:48] positions of control and authority over

[10:51] the armed forces of Iraq. And there are

[10:53] a number of other individuals who would

[10:54] also like to see depart. Some of them

[10:56] were mentioned in in in the weekend

[10:59] press, but it's not just one individual

[11:01] I think to solve the problem.

[11:02] >> Do you have a number though? Is there

[11:04] >> um I don't have a number at hand. There

[11:05] are variety of of numbers and ideas

[11:08] floating around and if somebody uh in

[11:10] Baghdad wishes to know the names I'm

[11:12] sure we'd be able to provide them.

[11:15] >> Mr. Secretary, can you give us some

[11:17] insight what has happened over the last

[11:18] 24 hours since the meeting in the Azors?

[11:21] Who were the problems? What kind of

[11:23] conversations did you have? Who did you

[11:25] reach out to? What were the responses?

[11:27] Um the United Kingdom obviously uh

[11:30] reached out to a number of their um

[11:34] colleagues um and um I I can't speak for

[11:37] them. I'll let them cover their own

[11:39] calls and consultations. Similarly,

[11:41] Spain and and others uh Richard will

[11:44] give you the list of my calls uh for

[11:46] this morning, but it's about uh oh 12 or

[11:49] 15. I've spoken to the French. Just

[11:51] spoke to foreign minister Dilpan. I

[11:54] spoke to foreign minister Yoshka Fischer

[11:56] of Germany. I've spoken to foreign

[11:58] minister Igor even of the Russian

[12:01] Federation. I've spoken to the new

[12:02] Chinese foreign minister, foreign

[12:04] minister Lee. Um I've spoken to

[12:07] President Masharf. I have spoken to Kofi

[12:10] Anan. Um I have spoken to uh foreign

[12:13] minister George Papandreo of Greece

[12:15] who's also in the Greek presidency for

[12:17] this period. I've spoken to foreign

[12:20] secretary straw. Uh I spoken to foreign

[12:22] minister Palasios of Spain and uh

[12:26] there's a very long list waiting when I

[12:28] get back upstairs. The response was um

[12:32] you know this this is where we are. Does

[12:34] anybody see any prospects for movement

[12:36] on this particular resolution? And uh

[12:38] frankly everybody pretty much accepted

[12:41] that this resolution was uh not going to

[12:44] be a successful one because there was

[12:47] one nation France that had indicated

[12:49] that it would veto it under any set any

[12:52] set of circumstances or any similar

[12:54] resolution is modified uh that would

[12:57] leave a path open to conflict. But we

[13:00] always knew from the very beginning that

[13:03] such a path had to be kept open. And

[13:06] this is what serious consequences meant.

[13:08] And without that path, Saddam Hussein

[13:10] would never comply. And what he was

[13:12] trying to do was just stretch it out.

[13:14] More inspections, more time. Let's

[13:16] delay. Let's let's give a little here,

[13:18] give a little there. Let's see if we can

[13:19] break this consensus. And um with the

[13:24] certainty of a uh French veto and

[13:26] possibly other vetos, uh this was not

[13:29] the time to have further division within

[13:31] the council by taking this to a vote.

[13:35] >> I've got one. Let me Excuse me. Excuse

[13:36] me. Yeah,

[13:37] >> Mr. Secretary, you seem to imply

[13:38] yesterday on one of the shows that you

[13:40] believe French commercial interests

[13:41] would help drive the position. I'm

[13:42] wondering if you can elaborate on that.

[13:44] And how firm a guarantee do we have that

[13:45] Turkey won't send its troops well into

[13:47] northern Iraq and cause problems with

[13:49] the the Kurds there? I I made the point

[13:52] that there in response to the question

[13:54] that of course they're their commercial

[13:55] interest uh that everybody has to uh

[13:58] consider. Um and the French have uh for

[14:03] years had difficulties with the

[14:06] inspection regime. And I pointed out in

[14:07] one of the shows yesterday that when you

[14:10] go back to 19 98 in 19 early 1999 when

[14:15] the current inspection regime was being

[14:18] developed when UNMOIC was being created

[14:20] after the collapse of the previous

[14:22] inspection regime uh France worked

[14:25] actively for a number of months and our

[14:27] judgment to uh try to weaken that

[14:30] inspection regime. uh and at the end of

[14:33] the day when compromises had been made

[14:35] and everybody thought we had a a good

[14:37] outcome before our time previous

[14:40] administration even then France

[14:42] abstained from voting for it and so uh

[14:45] um that is of concern to us but in 1441

[14:50] France was solidly on board and when you

[14:53] look at the statements that were made by

[14:54] French officials right after the passage

[14:57] of 1441 it was absolutely clear that

[15:00] they understood that Saddam Hussein and

[15:03] the Iraqi regime had weapons of mass

[15:05] destruction. It's not something just

[15:07] known to American intelligence. It's

[15:09] known to all of the major intelligence

[15:10] agencies uh in the world. And France

[15:13] acknowledged that. Everybody

[15:14] acknowledged that when they signed on to

[15:15] 1441 because that's what it says. It's

[15:17] in Iraq is in material breach, has been

[15:20] in material breach and now has the

[15:22] opportunity to either get out of the

[15:23] problem or get into further material

[15:25] breach. And what they did was get into

[15:26] further material breach. And that's our

[15:28] judgment. And we believe that the test

[15:31] of the resolution has been met with

[15:32] respect to uh uh the appropriateness of

[15:35] application of serious consequences

[15:37] >> and the Turks and the Kurds.

[15:38] >> Barbara, I'm I'm sorry on on the Turks

[15:42] and the situation in northern Iraq. We

[15:44] are in the closest consultation with the

[15:46] Turks and uh uh let me say that we are

[15:49] very sensitive to Turkish concerns. Uh

[15:52] we appreciate the fact that uh the

[15:55] Turkish government did take our request

[15:57] for uh deployments into their parliament

[16:02] uh at a difficult time for them with a

[16:03] prime minister who was still uh coming

[16:06] in so to speak. Mr. Erdogan was not the

[16:09] prime minister at that time and we are

[16:11] in the closest touch with them now on on

[16:13] a number of issues. one uh the

[16:16] possibility of resubmission and he he is

[16:18] committed to do that at a time that he

[16:20] believes is appropriate and secondly we

[16:22] don't think it would be useful right now

[16:24] to create any additional tension on the

[16:26] border between uh Turkey and northern

[16:29] Iraq and we are in discussions with them

[16:31] as to how to uh make sure that tensions

[16:35] can be kept at the lowest point and not

[16:38] to have difficulty in northern Iraq of

[16:40] the kind that concerns them. And we have

[16:42] also uh assured the Turks that in

[16:45] anything that the future might hold, we

[16:48] are committed to the territorial

[16:50] integrity of Iraq.

[16:53] >> I wanted to ask I wanted to ask uh just

[16:55] some personal reflections. Uh after 1441

[16:58] was passed, you were very very happy man

[17:00] and uh uh certainly it was quite a

[17:03] triumph. Um how have you been feeling

[17:05] the last few weeks? When did you realize

[17:07] that this was not going to happen? Do

[17:09] you wish you'd done anything

[17:10] differently? Do you wish you'd traveled

[17:12] more, changed your tactics in any way?

[17:14] >> This this uh this legend that is out

[17:17] there now that Colon Pal one he the

[17:20] first v variation of it was he doesn't

[17:22] travel and the next variation was he he

[17:25] hates to travel and the third variation

[17:26] was uh he will never travel and doesn't

[17:29] want to travel. um you you do your job

[17:33] by personal contact, by contact, by

[17:37] travel and by the use of modern

[17:39] technology so that uh you can get more

[17:42] bang for the time. And so, um, in the

[17:46] last 6 weeks, I have had, uh, four

[17:50] personal one-on-one meetings, direct

[17:52] meetings with the French foreign

[17:54] minister, with the British foreign

[17:57] minister,

[17:59] uh, with the Russian foreign minister,

[18:01] five such meetings with the Chinese

[18:04] foreign minister. I have gone to Davos

[18:07] in Switzerland where I addressed an

[18:08] international

[18:10] uh setting and at that meeting I met

[18:12] with the Turkish prime minister for

[18:15] almost two hours and the incoming

[18:17] Turkish prime minister Mr. Erdogan. I've

[18:20] had the Turkish a Turkish delegation

[18:22] here in the department, a full

[18:24] delegation, the foreign minister, the uh

[18:27] finance minister and they came to my

[18:28] home till midnight as we worked on the

[18:30] economic package and so I uh believe

[18:34] that I have used my time properly. Uh at

[18:36] the same time I went to Asia a few weeks

[18:38] ago. So I travel when I believe travel

[18:41] is appropriate. I'd like to travel more

[18:44] but you know the secretary of state has

[18:45] many responsibilities that he or she has

[18:48] to has to deal with and one has to

[18:50] balance it all but I assure you that I

[18:53] do not uh shrink back from traveling and

[18:56] I will be traveling again soon.

[18:57] >> But any regrets anything you would have

[18:59] done differently? Oh, I mean what you

[19:03] can always look and say should have done

[19:05] this, should have done that, but the

[19:06] fact of the matter is we came up with a

[19:08] good resolution and we got a solid vote

[19:11] for it 15 to zero and then for a period

[19:15] of 4 months after that we worked hard

[19:18] with the inspectors. We provided them

[19:19] intelligence. The focus really was at

[19:22] the UN in New York, not you know a lot

[19:24] of other places. That's where we had to

[19:26] concentrate our effort. And we did

[19:28] everything we could to try to persuade

[19:32] the council that what they were seeing

[19:33] was not compliance. What they were

[19:36] seeing was passive cooperation that

[19:38] didn't get to the heart of the matter,

[19:39] which was a strategic decision by Sodom

[19:42] Hussein to comply.

[19:44] And that's what we weren't able to get.

[19:46] And that's what uh we weren't able to

[19:48] convince some members of the council uh

[19:51] is what was needed uh in order for us to

[19:54] believe uh that Sodom Hussein was a

[19:58] changed regime was leading a changed

[20:01] regime uh that was willing now to

[20:04] cooperate with the international

[20:05] community and comply with its

[20:06] obligations. One last one.

[20:09] >> Mr. Secretary, you said that the

[20:10] ultimatum would be for Saddam Hussein to

[20:12] leave Iraq. Is there any form of

[20:14] disarmament or cooperation at this stage

[20:17] which could uh save his skin?

[20:19] >> I think the the time for diplomacy uh

[20:22] has passed. Um I think that's pretty

[20:25] clear. Uh that's what the leaders were

[20:28] saying in the Azors yesterday. Um and um

[20:33] we uh used last evening and uh this

[20:37] morning to consult broadly around the

[20:39] world. We did, the British did, the

[20:42] Spanish did. Um, a lot of people have

[20:44] been talking to each other this morning

[20:46] and over the overnight and it became

[20:48] clear that uh uh it would be best at

[20:51] this time to withdraw the resolution and

[20:53] I can think of nothing uh that Saddam

[20:55] Hussein could do diplomatically. I think

[20:57] that that time is now over. He had his

[21:00] chance. He's had many chances over the

[21:02] last 12 years and he has blown every one

[21:05] of those chances. Thank you.

[21:06] >> Thank you. Secretary of State Coen

[21:08] Powell speaking at the State Department

[21:10] this morning and the headline there is

[21:12] clearly the time for diplomacy has

[21:13] passed and that tonight when the

[21:14] president speaks to the nation at 8:00

[21:16] Eastern time which we will of course

[21:18] carry live he will give Saddam Hussein

[21:21] an ultimatum leave the country with your

[21:24] immediate entourage or the war begins

[21:27] takes us straight to the White House.

[21:28] ABC's John Cochran is there. John, I

[21:30] gather there's been something of a

[21:32] debate this morning about whether there

[21:33] should be a deadline for Saddam Hussein.

[21:35] There is a division of opinion. You

[21:36] know, for weeks, Peter, we've been told

[21:38] that from the final stages of this

[21:39] crisis was reached, President Bush would

[21:41] tell Saddam Hussein, "Okay, you've got

[21:43] from 1 to 5 days to get out of town, to

[21:45] get out of Iraq." I'm now being told by

[21:47] an official here that some people within

[21:49] the White House say that would be a

[21:50] mistake. The official said, "Look, if we

[21:53] tell him you've got to be out of Iraq in

[21:55] 72 hours, that tips him off. We're going

[21:57] to attack in the 73rd hour. That would

[22:00] better enable him to prepare his

[22:01] defenses." It may be better to be vague

[22:03] to simply say Saddam Hussein must leave

[22:05] immediately. Others in the White House

[22:07] think you must give Saddam Hussein a

[22:09] time certain. The president will have to

[22:10] make that call before 8:00 p.m. Eastern

[22:12] time tonight.

[22:13] >> Many thanks, John. John Cochran at the

[22:15] White House on the president's speech

[22:16] tonight. Let's go back to the State

[22:17] Department. ABC's Martha Radits is

[22:19] there. Um Martha, the secretary was very

[22:22] careful to say that they felt they had

[22:23] an authorization force for force that

[22:26] would stand up under international law

[22:28] and they're blaming the French. But did

[22:30] they have the votes on the Security

[22:31] Council from all the other people?

[22:33] >> Very good point. I caught that as well.

[22:34] He kept talking about the permanent

[22:36] members, but the 10 non-permanent

[22:39] members were not there for the United

[22:41] States. I spoke to a senior State

[22:42] Department official just before

[22:44] Secretary Pal went on the air. He said,

[22:46] "We were really close, but we weren't

[22:48] quite there with the vote." But

[22:50] naturally, what Secretary Powell wants

[22:52] to do is blame the French in this. Say

[22:54] they would have vetoed it. He doesn't

[22:55] want to put any more pressure on these

[22:57] countries they were trying to bring

[22:58] along in hopes of eventually bringing

[23:00] them on.

[23:01] >> Okay, Martha, thanks very much. You

[23:02] remind the audience just in I'm sure it

[23:04] already knows that France, Germany,

[23:05] Russia and all the other many many other

[23:07] countries overseas have huge huge

[23:09] majorities of public opinion which are

[23:11] opposed to this war and therefore

[23:12] support their uh government taking a

[23:15] position against using force.

[23:17] Interesting the number of phone calls

[23:18] that Secretary of State has made just in

[23:20] the last while. France, Germany, Russia,

[23:22] China, Pakistan. uh the secretary

[23:25] general of the United Nations, Greece,

[23:26] Britain, Spain and a long list waiting

[23:28] for him now to explain the US position

[23:29] and what is going to happen next. One of

[23:32] the things that is happening at the

[23:33] moment is that there is extraordinary

[23:34] tension in Baghdad and members of the

[23:37] non-governmental organizations, the

[23:39] press and the UN weapons inspectors are

[23:41] beginning to move out of that country

[23:43] because ABC's Dan Harris is on the

[23:45] border with Jordan and Iraq on the

[23:48] telephone because the president

[23:49] spokesman said today, Dan, it's a very

[23:52] unsafe place to be. Can you fill us in

[23:54] on the mood?

[23:55] >> A lot of people have reached that

[23:57] conclusion, Peter. You just crossed over

[23:58] the border into Jordan after making the

[24:00] the drive from Baghdad. We saw some

[24:02] military preparations on the road

[24:04] outside of town. I have to tell you

[24:05] though was not overwhelming amount of

[24:07] activity. Where you're really seeing the

[24:09] change is the increase in tension as you

[24:10] mentioned in Baghdad itself. Longer

[24:12] lines, very long lines at gas stations

[24:14] as people get ready to stock up. And one

[24:17] very telling sign is the change at the

[24:19] Ministry of Information where we as

[24:21] journalists do much of our work. The

[24:22] people who are now minding the

[24:24] journalists have gone from bureaucrats

[24:27] to, we're told, members of the secret

[24:29] police who report directly to Saddam

[24:31] Hussein's son, Kusay.

[24:34] Thank you, Dan. Dan Harris on the Iraqi

[24:36] Jordan border. There are other signs

[24:37] that people are beginning to leave what

[24:39] one of the wire services described as

[24:40] fairly well healed, better off uh Iraqis

[24:43] now making their way to Syria, just to

[24:45] the northwest of Baghdad. um getting out

[24:48] of the way while the possibility of war

[24:50] is so imminent. Which takes us, of

[24:52] course, finally to the Pentagon and

[24:54] ABC's John Mcwithy. John, what do you

[24:56] think happens next?

[24:57] >> I think there are going to be some

[24:59] things that we will not necessarily see.

[25:02] Peter, uh undoubtedly the US is very

[25:05] carefully watching any preemptive

[25:07] potential that Saddam Hussein may have.

[25:10] This could include artillery on the

[25:13] Kuwaiti border where so many American

[25:15] troops are. artillery that might have

[25:17] weapons of mass destruction uh as part

[25:20] of the uh the load. Uh so they are

[25:22] watching that carefully. It would not

[25:24] surprise me if some of those units were

[25:26] taken out in the next 12 hours anyway.

[25:29] They're also watching the western desert

[25:31] extremely closely uh for any potential

[25:34] of Scud missiles that might be fired at

[25:37] Israel for example to try to bring that

[25:39] country into a conflict. If you can in a

[25:41] phrase or so, John, you say watching. Do

[25:43] you mean actually that the US is now

[25:45] attacking Iraqi assets in these various

[25:47] parts that you refer to?

[25:48] >> They are not attacking them uh at this

[25:51] moment as best I can tell, Peter. But I

[25:53] think uh the probability that some of

[25:55] these things are going to be struck in

[25:57] the next uh half a day are is quite

[26:00] high.

[26:00] >> Okay, thanks very much John McQuey at

[26:02] the Pentagon. That's about the way it is

[26:03] for the moment. will be on the air

[26:05] anytime anything uh virtually anything

[26:08] happens as we run up to what is now very

[26:10] likely to be war in the next couple of

[26:12] days, maybe the next several days. We'll

[26:14] only know that tonight when we hear the

[26:15] president say what he intends to say to

[26:17] Saddam Hussein himself. 8:00 p.m.

[26:19] Eastern time. We shall cover that live.

[26:21] We're now going to return you to regular

[26:23] programming which in on the West Coast

[26:25] is of course Good Morning America. I'm

[26:26] Peter Jennings.

[26:30] For continuing coverage of this story,

[26:32] stay with ABC News and abcnews.com.

[26:36] This has been a special report from ABC

[26:38] News.

[26:44] We'll join the view after these

[26:45] messages.