CBS News Special Report - 2003-03-17 - 10:46 a.m. (E)
Channel: malgent
Transcript
Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] report. Good morning, Anthony Mason
[0:01] reporting from CBS News headquarters in
[0:03] New York. Good morning. US Secretary of
[0:05] State Coen Powell is about to brief
[0:07] reporters on the latest in the showdown
[0:09] with Iraq Saddam Hussein. Diplomatic
[0:11] efforts to solve the crisis between the
[0:13] US and Iraq are beginning to shut down.
[0:16] Earlier this morning at the UN, the US,
[0:18] Great Britain, and Spain withdrew a
[0:20] proposed resolution giving Iraq one more
[0:22] chance to disarm. President Bush will
[0:25] address the nation at 8:00 p.m. Eastern
[0:27] time tonight. He's expected to give
[0:29] Saddam Hussein and his regime an
[0:31] ultimatum to disarm or face a US-led
[0:33] military attack within days. Here is
[0:35] Secretary of State.
[0:36] >> Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
[0:38] >> As you know, last fall in an act of
[0:41] unonymity, the Security Council came
[0:43] together following President Bush's
[0:46] historic speech to the United Nations on
[0:48] the 12th of September. And on the 8th of
[0:50] November, after long negotiations uh
[0:53] passed UN resolution 1441
[0:57] by unanimous vote 15 to zero, not one
[1:00] member failing to raise a hand in
[1:03] support of that resolution. In the
[1:05] months after the passage of UN
[1:07] resolution 1441,
[1:10] we watched as the inspectors began their
[1:12] work and we were immediately concerned
[1:15] that Iraq was not going to understand
[1:17] the intention of 1441 when Iraq
[1:20] submitted 30 days later a declaration
[1:23] that can only be said to be false, not
[1:25] complete, rather incomplete, not
[1:28] truthful, untruthful, and nowhere near
[1:31] meeting the spirit intended
[1:34] in 1441.
[1:36] We call that out to the international
[1:38] community at that time. We said we
[1:41] believe that that false declaration was
[1:43] a material breach. We continued to
[1:45] support the inspectors. We continued to
[1:47] watch and although we have seen some
[1:50] process improvements and some grudging
[1:53] movement on the part of Sodom Hussein's
[1:55] regime to provide some information and
[1:58] provide some equipment to the
[2:00] inspectors. It certainly wasn't the kind
[2:03] of compliance and total cooperation that
[2:06] 1441 required and that we were hoping
[2:10] but had no illusions about Iraq being
[2:13] able to accept and respond to. As a
[2:17] result of this and as a result of a
[2:19] number of briefings that we received
[2:21] from UNMOVIC and IAEA
[2:23] uh a week and a half ago, the United
[2:25] Kingdom, the United States, and uh Spain
[2:29] uh put forward a resolution that would
[2:32] once again give Sodom Hussein one last
[2:35] chance to act or face the serious
[2:37] consequences that were authorized and
[2:39] clearly intended in UN resolution 1441.
[2:44] Unfortunately, over the last um roughly
[2:47] uh two weeks or thereabouts, a little
[2:48] less than two weeks, that we have
[2:49] debating this particular draft
[2:51] resolution. And despite best efforts to
[2:54] see whether or not language could be
[2:56] adjusted uh to make it more acceptable
[2:58] to council members, it is clear that
[3:01] there are some permanent members of the
[3:02] council that would veto any such
[3:04] resolution or any resolution resembling
[3:07] the one that the British tabled Friday
[3:09] before last at the United Nations. As a
[3:12] result of this, uh, the United Kingdom,
[3:14] the United States, and Spain decided to
[3:18] not call for a vote on this resolution.
[3:21] Um, we spent a great deal of time
[3:24] overnight uh and early this morning
[3:26] talking to friends and colleagues around
[3:29] the world about uh the resolution and it
[3:32] was our judgment reached by the United
[3:35] States, the United Kingdom and Spain
[3:37] that no further purpose would be served
[3:39] by pushing this resolution. So, we are
[3:42] not going to ask for a vote on the
[3:43] resolution. the resolution uh will uh
[3:47] die anyway because it had a built-in
[3:49] date of 17 March within the resolution
[3:52] which has not been modified. As you
[3:55] heard the president and the other
[3:57] leaders who assembled in the Azors
[4:00] yesterday for the Atlantic summit say
[4:02] the window on diplomacy is uh closing.
[4:06] Uh the moment of truth is arriving and
[4:09] you will hear a speech from the
[4:11] president thei of the United States this
[4:12] evening. President Bush will address the
[4:14] nation and the world on the situation as
[4:17] we now see it. Um in his speech, he
[4:20] clearly will issue an ultimatum to Sodom
[4:22] Hussein that the only way to avoid the
[4:24] serious consequences that were built
[4:28] into 1441 is for Sodom Hussein and his
[4:31] immediate cohort uh to leave the country
[4:34] and to allow uh this matter to be
[4:37] resolved through the peaceful entry of
[4:39] force and not a conflict. Nevertheless,
[4:42] um the president's determination will be
[4:43] made clear tonight that this matter
[4:45] cannot continue indefinitely that Sodom
[4:48] Hussein is guilty of the charges that
[4:51] have been brought against him previously
[4:53] through these many resolutions which
[4:55] acknowledged that he had weapons of mass
[4:57] destruction and he has failed to disarm
[5:01] himself as required by the various
[5:03] resolutions. We believe and I think um
[5:06] you've also heard an opinion from uh
[5:08] British legal authorities uh within the
[5:10] last 24 hours that there is sufficient
[5:13] authority in 1441 678 and 687 earlier
[5:19] resolutions for whatever military action
[5:22] might be required. I'm very very pleased
[5:24] that the council did come together last
[5:26] November 8th for 1441. of course
[5:29] disappointed that we were unable to get
[5:31] a subsequent resolution but we believe
[5:34] that our actions now are u supported by
[5:38] international law whatever actions we
[5:40] might take in the future and the
[5:42] president will talk to this issue
[5:44] tonight I won't say any more about the
[5:45] president's speech because the president
[5:47] of course will have the opportunity to
[5:49] speak for himself and uh make the points
[5:52] perfectly clear to the American people
[5:54] and to the international community.
[5:56] You'll also notice that in their
[5:58] statements yesterday at the Atlantic
[6:01] summit, all of the leaders spoke to a
[6:04] future for Iraq that will be brighter if
[6:06] it comes to the use of military force,
[6:09] where this dictator will no longer be
[6:11] able to oppress his own people, no
[6:13] longer able to threaten his neighbors,
[6:15] and no longer able to develop these
[6:17] horrible weapons which could be used
[6:20] against his neighbors as they have been
[6:22] used in the past or of greater concern
[6:24] to us. can spread and be acquired by
[6:27] terrorist organizations which might use
[6:30] them against us, our friends or our
[6:32] interest. I think it was also important
[6:34] to note in the president's statement
[6:35] yesterday his commitment to the UN and
[6:37] the role that we believe the UN will
[6:39] play uh in the aftermath of any conflict
[6:42] uh should it come and our continued
[6:44] support for the UN. With that, I'll take
[6:47] a couple of questions.
[6:48] >> Secretary, on on the allies, back in
[6:50] November, when several of them tried to
[6:53] dilute the resolution and they did
[6:55] accomplish some word changes, um would
[6:58] it be fair to say that they understood
[7:00] at the end that force was possible
[7:04] because they're impress they seem to
[7:06] give the impression they had succeeded
[7:08] in sidetracking force. And could you say
[7:11] if you think there'll be permanent
[7:12] damage to the alliance with what the
[7:15] French have done with support from
[7:17] Germany and Russia?
[7:18] >> On your first question, Barry, uh there
[7:20] can be no confusion on this point. If
[7:22] you remember the debate that we were
[7:24] having before 1441 was passed. There
[7:27] were some nations who insisted that a
[7:29] second resolution would be required and
[7:32] we insisted that a second resolution
[7:34] would not be required. And as we
[7:37] negotiated our way through that, we made
[7:38] it absolutely clear that we did not
[7:41] believe that the resolution as it
[7:43] finally passed would require a second
[7:45] resolution. And in fact, the resolution
[7:47] that we are not taking to a vote today
[7:50] is not a resolution that we uh believed
[7:52] was necessary. It was a resolution we
[7:54] were supporting along with the United
[7:56] Kingdom who tabled it and Spain. It was
[7:58] a resolution that would help some of our
[8:00] friends to show to their publics and to
[8:03] the world that we had taken uh one last
[8:06] step. We had made one last effort to see
[8:08] if Sodom Hussein would come into
[8:10] compliance. The burden of this problem
[8:14] rests squarely on Sodom Hussein and his
[8:17] continuing efforts to deceive, to deny,
[8:21] to do everything to divide the council,
[8:23] to take advantage of every meeting we
[8:25] have had over the last several months to
[8:27] do something just before that meeting to
[8:29] suggest that he is complying when he
[8:31] really isn't. And the world should know
[8:33] that uh this crisis is before us because
[8:35] of this regime and it flagrant violation
[8:39] of obligations that it entered into over
[8:41] the last 12 years. That's where the
[8:43] burden lies.
[8:44] >> And the is there permanent damage to the
[8:46] excuse
[8:47] >> uh is there permanent damage to uh to
[8:49] the the alliance? I the UN uh is an
[8:53] important institution
[8:55] um and it will survive and the United
[8:57] States will continue to be uh an
[9:00] important member of the United Nations
[9:02] and its various uh uh organizations. But
[9:06] clearly this is a test in my judgment
[9:08] that the security council did not meet.
[9:10] We all knew what we were doing last
[9:12] fall. The very reason that we went into
[9:15] a went into a prolonged negotiation on
[9:18] 1441 was so that it did not become the
[9:21] same kind of resolution that we had seen
[9:24] so many times in the past that had a lot
[9:26] of words, a lot of rhetoric and Sodom
[9:28] Hussein can simply ignore and thumb his
[9:30] nose at. This was a resolution that
[9:32] every person who voted for it, every
[9:35] permanent representative who was there
[9:37] on the 8th of November and voted for
[9:39] this resolution knew that it was
[9:41] different. that serious consequences
[9:43] would flow and those serious
[9:44] consequences meant the use of force to
[9:47] disarm Sodom Hussein if he did not
[9:49] comply with that resolution and
[9:52] cooperate fully with the inspectors to
[9:54] disarm that regime.
[9:56] >> Mr. Secretary, how how long a period of
[9:57] time do you think is appropriate for
[9:59] Saddam Hussein to be allowed to get out
[10:02] and who uh who else besides him would
[10:05] have to leave if uh if if they want to
[10:08] avert war?
[10:09] >> Um I I won't speak to a time limit. The
[10:11] president may may do that in his speech
[10:13] this evening and I'll leave that to him.
[10:16] But clearly we would want to see Saddam
[10:19] Hussein depart as well as immediate
[10:21] members of his family who are in
[10:22] positions of control and authority over
[10:25] the armed forces of Iraq. And there are
[10:27] a number of other individuals who would
[10:29] also like to see depart. Some of them
[10:31] were mentioned in in the weekend press,
[10:34] but it's not just one individual I think
[10:36] to solve the problem.
[10:37] >> Do you have a number though? Is there
[10:38] >> um I don't have a number at hand. There
[10:40] are variety of of numbers and ideas
[10:43] floating around and if somebody uh in
[10:45] Baghdad wishes to know the names, I'm
[10:46] sure we'd be able to provide them.
[10:49] >> Mr. Secretary, can you give us some
[10:51] insight what has happened over the last
[10:53] 24 hours since the meeting in the Azors?
[10:56] Who were the problems? What kind of
[10:58] conversations did you have? Who did you
[10:59] reach out to? What were the responses?
[11:02] Um the United Kingdom obviously reached
[11:06] out to a number of their um colleagues
[11:09] um and um I I can't speak for them. I'll
[11:12] let them cover their own calls and
[11:14] consultations. Similarly, Spain and and
[11:17] others. Uh Richard will give you the
[11:20] list of my calls uh for this morning,
[11:22] but it's about uh oh 12 or 15. I've
[11:25] spoken to the French. Just spoke to
[11:27] foreign minister Dilpan. I spoke to
[11:30] foreign minister Yoshka Fischer of
[11:31] Germany. I've spoken to foreign minister
[11:34] Igor Ianov of the Russian Federation.
[11:36] I've spoken to the new Chinese foreign
[11:38] minister, Foreign Minister Lee. Um I've
[11:41] spoken to President Misharf. I have
[11:44] spoken to Kofi Anan. Um I have spoken to
[11:47] uh foreign minister George Papandreo of
[11:49] Greece who's also in the Greek
[11:51] presidency for this period. I've spoken
[11:54] to Foreign Secretary Straw. Uh I've
[11:56] spoken to foreign minister Palacios of
[11:58] Spain and uh there's a very long list
[12:02] waiting when I get back upstairs. The
[12:04] response was um you know this this is
[12:08] where we are. Does anybody see any
[12:09] prospects for movement on this
[12:11] particular resolution? And uh frankly
[12:14] everybody pretty much accepted that this
[12:16] resolution was uh not going to be a
[12:20] successful one because there was one
[12:22] nation France that had indicated that it
[12:24] would veto it under any set any set of
[12:27] circumstances or any similar resolution
[12:29] is modified
[12:31] uh that would leave a path open to
[12:34] conflict. But we always knew from the
[12:36] very beginning that such a path had to
[12:39] be kept open. And this is what serious
[12:42] consequences meant. And without that
[12:43] path, Saddam Hussein would never comply.
[12:46] And what he was trying to do is just
[12:48] stretch it out. More inspections, more
[12:50] time. Let's delay. Let's let's give a
[12:52] little here, give a little there. Let's
[12:54] see if we can break this consensus. And
[12:57] um with the certainty of a French veto
[13:01] and possibly other vetos, uh this was
[13:04] not the time to have further division
[13:06] within the council by taking this to a
[13:08] vote.
[13:09] >> I've got one more. Let me excuse me.
[13:11] Excuse me. Yeah,
[13:12] >> Mr. Secretary, you seem to imply
[13:13] yesterday in one of the shows that you
[13:14] believe French commercial interests
[13:16] would help drive the position. I'm
[13:17] wondering if you can elaborate on that.
[13:18] And how firm a guarantee do we have that
[13:20] Turkey won't send its troops well into
[13:22] northern Iraq and cause problems with
[13:24] the the Kurds there? I I made the point
[13:27] that they're in response to the question
[13:28] that of course they're their commercial
[13:30] interest that everybody has to uh
[13:33] consider. Um and the French have uh for
[13:38] years had difficulties with the
[13:40] inspection regime. And I pointed out in
[13:42] one of the shows yesterday that when you
[13:44] go back to 19 98 and 19 early 1999 when
[13:50] the current inspection regime was being
[13:52] developed when UNMOIC was being created
[13:54] after the collapse of the previous
[13:57] inspection regime, uh France worked
[13:59] actively for a number of months and our
[14:01] judgment to uh try to weaken that
[14:05] inspection regime. uh and at the end of
[14:08] the day when compromises had been made
[14:10] and everybody thought we had a a good
[14:12] outcome before our time, the previous
[14:14] administration, even then France
[14:17] abstained from voting for it. And so uh
[14:20] um that is of concern to us. But in
[14:24] 1441, France was solidly in board. And
[14:27] when you look at the statements that
[14:28] were made by French officials right
[14:30] after the passage of 1441, it was
[14:33] absolutely clear that they understood
[14:35] that
[14:37] Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi regime had
[14:39] weapons of mass destruction. It's not
[14:41] something just known to American
[14:42] intelligence. It's known to all of the
[14:44] major intelligence agencies uh in the
[14:46] world. And France acknowledged that.
[14:48] Everybody acknowledged that when they
[14:50] signed on to 1441 because that's what it
[14:52] says. It's in Iraq is in material
[14:54] breach. Has been in material breach. and
[14:56] now has the opportunity to either get
[14:57] out of the problem or get into further
[14:59] material breach. What they did was get
[15:01] into further material breach and that's
[15:03] our judgment and we believe that the
[15:05] test of the resolution has been met with
[15:07] respect to uh uh the appropriateness of
[15:10] application of serious consequences
[15:12] >> and the Turks and the Kurds.
[15:13] >> Barbara, I'm I'm sorry on on the Turks
[15:16] and the situation in northern Iraq. We
[15:19] are in the closest consultation with the
[15:21] Turks and uh uh let me say that we are
[15:24] very sensitive to Turkish concerns. Uh
[15:27] we appreciate the fact that uh the
[15:29] Turkish government did take our request
[15:32] for uh deployments into their parliament
[15:36] uh at a difficult time for them with a
[15:38] prime minister who was still uh coming
[15:41] in so to speak. Mr. Erdogan was not the
[15:44] prime minister at that time and we are
[15:46] in the closest touch with them now on on
[15:48] a number of issues. one uh the
[15:50] possibility of resubmission and he he is
[15:53] committed to do that at a time that he
[15:54] believes is appropriate and secondly we
[15:56] don't think it would be useful right now
[15:58] to create any additional tension on the
[16:01] border between uh Turkey and northern
[16:04] Iraq and we are in discussions with them
[16:06] as to how to uh make sure that tensions
[16:09] can be kept at the lowest point and not
[16:12] to have difficulty in northern Iraq of
[16:15] the kind that concerns them. And we have
[16:17] also uh assured the Turks that in
[16:20] anything that the future might hold, we
[16:22] are committed to the territorial
[16:25] integrity of Iraq.
[16:28] >> I wanted to ask I wanted to ask uh just
[16:30] some personal reflections. Uh after 1441
[16:32] was passed, you were very very happy man
[16:35] and uh uh certainly it was quite a
[16:38] triumph. Um how have you been feeling
[16:40] the last few weeks? When did you realize
[16:42] that this was not going to happen? Do
[16:44] you wish you'd done anything
[16:45] differently? Do you wish you'd traveled
[16:46] more, changed your tactics in any way?
[16:49] >> This this uh this legend that is out
[16:52] there now that Colon Pal one he the
[16:54] first v variation of it was he doesn't
[16:57] travel and the next variation was he he
[16:59] hates to travel and the third variation
[17:01] was uh he will never travel and doesn't
[17:04] want to travel. um you you do your job
[17:08] by personal contact, by contact, by
[17:11] travel, and by the use of modern
[17:14] technology so that uh you can get more
[17:17] bang for the time. And so, um, in the
[17:20] last 6 weeks, I have had, uh, four
[17:25] personal one-on-one meetings, direct
[17:27] meetings with the French foreign
[17:29] minister, with the British foreign
[17:32] minister,
[17:34] uh, with the Russian foreign minister,
[17:36] five such meetings with the Chinese
[17:38] foreign minister. I have gone to Davos
[17:42] in Switzerland where I addressed an
[17:43] international
[17:45] uh setting and at that meeting I met
[17:47] with the Turkish prime minister for
[17:50] almost two hours and the incoming
[17:52] Turkish prime minister Mr. Erdogan, I
[17:55] have had the Turkish a Turkish
[17:56] delegation here in the department, a
[17:58] full delegation, the foreign minister,
[18:00] the uh finance minister and they came to
[18:03] my home till midnight as we worked on
[18:05] the economic package. And so I uh
[18:08] believe that I have used my time
[18:10] properly. Uh at the same time, I went to
[18:12] Asia a few weeks ago. So I travel when I
[18:15] believe travel is appropriate. I'd like
[18:17] to travel more but you know the
[18:19] secretary of state has many
[18:20] responsibilities that he or she has to
[18:23] has to deal with and one has to balance
[18:25] it all but I assure you that I do not uh
[18:29] shrink back from traveling and I will be
[18:31] traveling again soon.
[18:32] >> But any regrets anything you would have
[18:33] done differently?
[18:35] I mean what you can always look and say
[18:39] you should have done this should have
[18:40] done that but the fact of the matter is
[18:42] we came up with a good resolution and we
[18:45] got a solid vote for it 15 to zero and
[18:49] then for a period of 4 months after that
[18:52] we worked hard with the inspectors we
[18:54] provided them intelligence the focus
[18:56] really was at the UN in New York not you
[18:59] know a lot of other places that's where
[19:00] we had to concentrate our effort and we
[19:02] did everything we could to try to
[19:06] persuade the council that what they were
[19:08] seeing was not compliance. What they
[19:10] were seeing was passive cooperation that
[19:12] didn't get to the heart of the matter
[19:14] which was a strategic decision by Sodom
[19:16] Hussein to comply.
[19:19] And that's what we weren't able to get
[19:21] and that's what uh we weren't able to
[19:23] convince some members of the council uh
[19:26] is what was needed uh in order for us to
[19:29] believe uh that Saddam Hussein was a
[19:33] changed regime who was leading a changed
[19:36] regime uh that was willing now to
[19:38] cooperate with the international
[19:40] community and comply with its
[19:41] obligations. One last one. Sorry.
[19:43] >> Mr. Secretary, you said that the
[19:45] ultimatum would be for Saddam Hussein to
[19:47] leave Iraq. Is there any form of
[19:49] disarmament or cooperation at this stage
[19:51] which could uh save his skin?
[19:54] >> I think the the time for diplomacy uh
[19:57] has passed. Um I think that's pretty
[20:00] clear uh that's what the leaders were
[20:03] saying in the Azors yesterday. Um and um
[20:07] we
[20:09] used last evening and uh this morning to
[20:12] consult broadly around the world. We
[20:15] did, the British did, the Spanish did.
[20:18] Um, a lot of people have been talking to
[20:20] each other this morning and over the
[20:21] overnight and it became clear that uh uh
[20:25] it would be best at this time to
[20:26] withdraw the resolution and I can think
[20:28] of nothing uh that Saddam Hussein could
[20:31] do diplomatically. I think that that
[20:33] time is now over. He had his chance.
[20:35] He's had many chances over the last 12
[20:37] years and he has blown every one of
[20:39] those chances. Thank you.
[20:41] >> Thank you. Secretary of State Coen
[20:43] Powell telling Saddam Hussein that the
[20:46] time is for diplomacy is over. As he put
[20:48] it, the window on diplomacy has closed.
[20:50] The moment of truth is arriving.
[20:52] Secretary of State Pal commenting on the
[20:54] two key developments this morning. The
[20:56] first that the United States, Spain, and
[20:57] Britain have abandoned their calls for a
[20:59] vote in the UN Security Council to try
[21:01] to force Iraq to disarm immediately. Uh
[21:05] Secretary Powell acknowledged they
[21:06] didn't have the votes. He blamed France
[21:08] for its contention that it would veto
[21:10] any action. He said this is a test that
[21:12] the security council did not meet. The
[21:14] second key development this morning is
[21:16] that President Bush will address the
[21:17] nation this evening at 8:00 p.m. Powell
[21:20] says you can expect to hear the
[21:21] president say tonight that the only way
[21:23] for Saddam Hussein to avoid war is by
[21:25] leaving Iraq with his family and his co
[21:28] cohorts. He said the president may put a
[21:30] deadline on this. A reminder, President
[21:32] Bush addressing the nation at 8:00 p.m.
[21:33] Eastern time tonight. Events in this
[21:35] crisis are moving fast. Please stay with
[21:37] CBS News and more on the CBS Evening
[21:39] News with Dan Rather tonight. For now,
[21:41] I'm Anthony Mason at CBS News in New
[21:43] York. Good day.
[21:46] For news 24 hours a day, go to CBS