Deuce
Well-Known Member
?I AM READY to conduct a direct dialogue ? a debate ? with your president,? Saddam told CBS News during a three-hour interview Monday in Baghdad, excerpts of which are now being released. ?I will say what I want and he will say what he wants.
?This will be an opportunity for him, if he?s committed to war, this will be an opportunity to convince the world.?
CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who conducted the interview, said he asked Saddam if his offer was a joke.
?This is something proposed in earnest,? Saddam said in response. ?Out of my respect for the people of the United States and my respect for the people of Iraq and the people of the world, I call for this because war is not a joke.
?As leaders, why don?t we use this opportunity??
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer rejected the debate offer, saying it was ?not a serious statement.?
?There is no debating his need to disarm,? Fleischer added.
MISSILES IMPASSE
Saddam also flatly denied that any of his most advanced al-Samoud missiles are in violation of U.N. mandates.
?Iraq is allowed to prepare proper missiles and we are committed to that,? Saddam was quoted as saying. ?We do not have missiles that go beyond the proscribed range.?
Rather said Saddam strongly indicated Iraq will resist efforts to begin the destruction of the missiles as demanded by chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix.
Saddam faces a test of whether he will destroy dozens of the missiles by March 1 as ordered by Blix. Destruction of the missiles, which have a range that exceeds U.N. limits, would be a blow to Iraq as it prepares for a possible invasion by U.S. forces.
Fleisher noted that Saddam ?won?t even acknowledge that the missiles exceed the limit. This is one further and troubling piece of evidence that he has weapons that he has both failed to acknowledge or destroy. This underscores the very nature of the threat and the problem in the first place.?
INTERVIEW IMPRESSIONS
Rather, who went through two hours of security before sitting down with Saddam, said he found Iraq?s leader to be outwardly calm but expecting that war will come.
?He knows that the time for the invasion is very near. He takes seriously what President Bush has been saying,? Rather said.
Saddam believes that if it comes to war, Iraq will have to ?absorb a tremendous first and maybe second punch from the United States and its allies? but his country will be able to withstand that punch and emerge undefeated, Rather said, adding that Saddam did not accept that he lost the 1991 Gulf war.
Saddam made clear he did not plan to flee into exile before any invasion, Rather said.
CBS said it intended to broadcast portions of the Saddam interview Tuesday but that Iraqi television, which recorded the three-hour interview, insisted on translating it and making copies and still had not delivered the tapes.
The network said portions of the interview would air Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Saddam, who often appears on Iraqi television but rarely makes public appearances, gave his first Western TV interview in more than a decade earlier this month, speaking with a retired British lawmaker and peace activist, Tony Benn.
?This will be an opportunity for him, if he?s committed to war, this will be an opportunity to convince the world.?
CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who conducted the interview, said he asked Saddam if his offer was a joke.
?This is something proposed in earnest,? Saddam said in response. ?Out of my respect for the people of the United States and my respect for the people of Iraq and the people of the world, I call for this because war is not a joke.
?As leaders, why don?t we use this opportunity??
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer rejected the debate offer, saying it was ?not a serious statement.?
?There is no debating his need to disarm,? Fleischer added.
MISSILES IMPASSE
Saddam also flatly denied that any of his most advanced al-Samoud missiles are in violation of U.N. mandates.
?Iraq is allowed to prepare proper missiles and we are committed to that,? Saddam was quoted as saying. ?We do not have missiles that go beyond the proscribed range.?
Rather said Saddam strongly indicated Iraq will resist efforts to begin the destruction of the missiles as demanded by chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix.
Saddam faces a test of whether he will destroy dozens of the missiles by March 1 as ordered by Blix. Destruction of the missiles, which have a range that exceeds U.N. limits, would be a blow to Iraq as it prepares for a possible invasion by U.S. forces.
Fleisher noted that Saddam ?won?t even acknowledge that the missiles exceed the limit. This is one further and troubling piece of evidence that he has weapons that he has both failed to acknowledge or destroy. This underscores the very nature of the threat and the problem in the first place.?
INTERVIEW IMPRESSIONS
Rather, who went through two hours of security before sitting down with Saddam, said he found Iraq?s leader to be outwardly calm but expecting that war will come.
?He knows that the time for the invasion is very near. He takes seriously what President Bush has been saying,? Rather said.
Saddam believes that if it comes to war, Iraq will have to ?absorb a tremendous first and maybe second punch from the United States and its allies? but his country will be able to withstand that punch and emerge undefeated, Rather said, adding that Saddam did not accept that he lost the 1991 Gulf war.
Saddam made clear he did not plan to flee into exile before any invasion, Rather said.
CBS said it intended to broadcast portions of the Saddam interview Tuesday but that Iraqi television, which recorded the three-hour interview, insisted on translating it and making copies and still had not delivered the tapes.
The network said portions of the interview would air Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Saddam, who often appears on Iraqi television but rarely makes public appearances, gave his first Western TV interview in more than a decade earlier this month, speaking with a retired British lawmaker and peace activist, Tony Benn.
