Bush states his case against Iraq tonight (Major Television Stations Undecided Whether To Carry)

WASHINGTON -- With Democratic leaders predicting passage of a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq, President Bush will address the nation tonight to try to widen his margin of victory and bolster his leverage abroad, White House officials said yesterday.

Bush, who will speak at 8 p.m. in Cincinnati as Congress prepares for its debate later this week, is aiming at Democrats who say he has not made a clear case for deposing Saddam Hussein. He also is trying to persuade other world powers to support a proposed United Nations Security Council resolution ordering Iraq to submit to weapons inspections any place, any time.

"The president will make the point that in great democracies like ours, wars are not the first option and are not rushed into," a senior administration official said. "But if it comes to war, it will be a just cause because Saddam Hussein's defiance has given the world no choice."

Bush will include a message to Iraqi officials that they be charged as war criminals if they follow Saddam's orders, the official said.

Senator Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who has yet to sign on to compromise resolution language agreed to last week by the White House and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said he doubts the imminence of the Iraqi threat. But Daschle said he expects both chambers to pass a resolution supporting the president in the next week to 10 days.

"I'm not sure that we've found exactly the right language yet," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We're going to make the best effort we can to improve upon it and then pass it overwhelmingly."

Daschle suggested that he sees war against Saddam as likely. "I would hope that we could use force if necessary in ways that could contain the breadth and the scope of war," he said. "But certainly if force is necessary and if we anticipate his reluctance to comply, I don't know that we have any other choice."

Bush snubbed Daschle in Saturday's radio address, thanking Gephardt and Republicans for "tremendous work in building bipartisan support on this vital issue."

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that he will not support the resolution because Bush "hasn't made the case that this is a clear and present and imminent danger."

An administration official said Bush will acknowledge questions about his plans, then will try to provide answers. "War is not inevitable, but action is," the official said. "If we knew about the threat from the Taliban and al-Qaida what we know about Saddam Hussein, there would have been no question about the nature of the threat."

One official said Bush "will describe in the most detail yet Iraq's capabilities, citing several specific ways that Iraq already has the capability to menace the world," and will warn about Saddam's efforts to acquire nuclear technology.

White House officials said that despite encouraging signs from the United Nations, the administration is still in the middle of a long process. "It's never easy to put calcium in the U.N.'s spine," one official said. Bush will argue tonight for more specific inspection requirements than in previous resolutions, officials said.

Seeking to stoke heartland pressure on Capitol Hill, Bush is speaking in the home state of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, leader of House opposition to the resolution.

Administration officials, stung by Daschle's charges that they are using war for political advantage, said they deliberately scheduled the speech in a state that does not have a major race Nov. 5. But Ohio, which Bush carried by 4 points, will be a major prize in 2004.

Bush will speak at the Cincinnati Museum Center, housed in an art-deco rail station that was a major troop transfer point during World War II. The museum has an exhibit called "Rallying the Home Front" documenting the war effort by citizens and businesses.

The speech will last about 20 minutes. White House officials did not ask broadcast networks to interrupt programming, but the administration expects wide coverage and scheduled the speech for 8:01to allow anchors to introduce Bush.

Not every major television station plans to broadcast President Bush's speech in Cincinnati at 8:01 tonight: ABC, Ch. 7 -- Undecided NBC, Ch. 4 -- Undecided MSNBC, Ch. 43 -- Live coverage CBS, Ch. 2 -- No live coverage FOX News, Ch. 46 -- Undecided FOX, Ch. 5 -- Undecided CNN, Ch. 10 -- Live coverage.

1 posted on 10/07/2002 8:52:57 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection

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2 posted on 10/07/2002 8:53:23 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection

If this is an address to the Nation how can the major stations not cover it live?

Wouldn't be the first time. But if they get the idea that W will envoke Taft-Hartley to break the West Coast dock strike, they'll probably cover it.

4 posted on 10/07/2002 9:02:51 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks

It isn't a major address to the nation. In that case, the President would have asked the networks for air time. This is a speech in which he outlines his policy on Iraq, and there is a subtle difference. I don't expect a major address to the nation with network air time until we start to bomb Iraq.

Very few people mention one of the main reasons behind the attack on Iraq. IMHO it is to annex land from Iraq (through a swap for Jordanian or Saudi Arabian land)to provide a Palestian homeland.

People will watch Fox news and their numbers will increase. Actually if I were the President I would not give any further interviews to any of those stations.

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