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America's New War: Bush Prepares National Speech

Aired September 20, 2001 - 05:03   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Mr. Bush plans to make a nationally televised address tonight before both houses of Congress to talk about the war on terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I look forward to the opportunity to explaining to the American people who it is and who would - who would do this to our great country and why. Why would people choose America?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: For more details on what the president hopes to accomplish tonight let's go to Kelly Wallace who's standing by at the White House this morning. Hi, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE: Good morning, Leon. Well, a couple of goals here. The top priority though for President Bush - urging the American people to be patient - the administration knowing very well that the country is angry and very anxious for some sort of military retaliation soon.

The president will try to explain to the American people that this is a different kind of war - that it is very much unlike the last war this nation witnessed - the Persian Gulf War. Then you knew who the enemy was, you had military targets. Here the president will say that there are terrorist cells that may be behind this, that there are also countries or organizations, which could harbor these terrorists.

He will try to explain this. This is really a whole different ball game. He will also try to say that there will be costs to this campaign - that there could be civilian and military casualties. And then he will say that this will not just be a military campaign - that it will be a political, economic, diplomatic initiative and his main message is that this will take time - that it won't just take days, weeks or months - that it will take years. So he will urge the American people to be patient and to be vigilant.

Now the other thing the president will be doing on Thursday before going over to the capital to address Congress, he will be meeting with British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The British leader meeting with French President Jacques Chirac earlier Thursday pledging total solidarity with the United States. The British leader has said that he will do whatever it takes to help the United States including providing troops to any international fight against terrorism.

Mr. Blair will first head to New York where he will visit we understand a firehouse and also attend services to remember the at least 300 British citizens who were killed in the World Trade Center attack.

Mr. Bush also meeting with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia on Thursday. This is all part of the ongoing effort to try to build a worldwide coalition against terrorism.

Leon, as you know, Saudi Arabia very important - probably the most important country in the Arab world for the United States in this case. Many of the hijackers had some ties to Saudi Arabia. The United States hoping to press Saudi Arabia to get access to intelligence related to Osama bin Laden and his network and also to choke off any money that could be going from wealthy Saudi Arabian citizens to bin Laden and his organization. So an important meeting today. Leon?

HARRIS: Well, Kelly, Saudi Arabia is just one of many countries and many voices that we have heard in the media over the past week or so who have been asking for the White House to show some of the proof or some the evidence that they say proves that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks that happened last Tuesday.

Are we going to be hearing any of that proof tonight when President Bush speaks?

WALLACE: We should not expect to hear exact details, exact evidence. You should expect to hear the president say who he believes is responsible for this. He's already said publicly that he believes the prime suspect is Osama bin Laden. Likely to hear that again from the president - maybe a little bit more detail but don't expect the president or his top aides, Leon, to be going out in public with that detailed evidence. You would expect behind closed doors during these meetings for the administration to be conveying exactly why it believes bin laden and his organization could be the prime suspects to obviously rally international support behind this effort. So expect that more behind closed doors and not before Congress tonight. Leon?

HARRIS: OK, very good. Kelly Wallace at the White House. Thank you very much. We'll talk with you a little bit later on this morning.

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