[Source: PBS transcript of Bill Moyers interview

with Joseph C. Wilson, IV, Monday, March 3, 2003.]

THE LAST U.S. DCM IN BAGHDAD WARNS OF CONSEQUENCES OF IRAQ

WAR AND ASSAILS PERLE AS LIKUDNIK. Joseph Wilson, who was the

last U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in Baghdad on the eve of the

1991 Gulf War, told Bill Moyers in a PBS-TV interview Monday

night, that the U.S. should stick with intrusive inspections and

abandon plans for a war to unseat Saddam Hussein. He debunked

the idea that the ``shock and awe'' massive aerial bombardment of

Baghdad, planned as the opening shot of any war, will have few

civilian casualties.

He warned that, under conditions of a U.S. attack,

Saddam would fight to the death, with tens of thousands

of Republican Guard crack troops joining him in a final,

disastrous battle. But the most important feature of the Wilson

interview was his denunciation of Richard Perle and the whole

``Clean Break'' strategy.

Asked about Perle's arguments for a war, Wilson said,

``Well, he's certainly the architect of a study that was produced

in the mid-'90s for the Likud Israeli government

called `A Clean Break, A New Strategy for the Realm.'

And it makes the argument

that the best way to secure Israeli security is through the

changing of some of these regimes beginning with Iraq and also

including Syria. And that's been since expanded to include Iran.''

While defending America's committment, since 1948, to

protect Israel's existence, he also noted, ``There are those who

believe that perhaps we've confused our responsibilities with the

slavish adherence to the Likud strategy.''

He also scored

President Bush for his close ties to Sharon, telling Moyers,

``...there are those who wonder about the depth of our ties and

the extent to which our national security responsibilities may

somehow be confused with our support for the current government in Israel.''

He also went into an in-depth warning about the consequences

of foisting ``democracy'' on Iraq by fiat, predicting that future

elections would pit ``demagogues'' against ``populists'' and that

they'd compete for who would be more anti-American and anti-Israeli.

He concluded by emphasizing that, in his judgment,

the road to peace in the Middle East had to run through

Jerusalem, not through Baghdad.

LEESBURG, March 4 -- ``THERE IS STILL TIME'' TO STOP THE IRAQ

WAR, SAID SENIOR DEMOCRATIC SEN. TED KENNEDY (D-MA) in a March 4

interview on NBC TV's``Today Show.'' He called for a full Senate

debate against the war to take place NOW, and later the same day,

addressed a major Methodist conference in Washington.

In the interview, when hit point-blank by inteviewer Katie

Couric's assertion that ``a lot of people are speculating that at

the end of next week, a war will begin, after the U.N. votes on

that second resolution,'' Kennedy made clear that {war is not

inevitable.}

He said:

``Well, there's still time. {Certainly a lot has happened.

A lot has changed at the United Nations, hasn't it, over the

period of the last 10 days? And I would hope that the

administration would get the word.} (clearly referencing the

international opposition, demos, etc). The fact is, we are

stronger when we work together.''

``We need the United Nations in North Korea, don't we? We

have to work with our allies in Asia on North Korea because of

its danger, don't we? Yes. And we have to work with our allies

in other pressure points around the world. That's a fact. And

we shouldn't have a go-it-alone, rush-to-war policy, which this

administration has.''

Later in the day, Kennedy was the featured speaker at the

United Methodist Church Conference in Washington, where he said

(among other things), ``With inspectors on the ground and stiff

international pressure still possible, this is an unnecessary war.''

It is extremely significant that Kennedy, an opponent of

the Iraq war, was invited by the Methodist conference, since this

is the Protestant denomination to which George W. Bush belongs,

and which is beginning to mobilize heavily against the war.

The head of the United Methodist Church

has been trying for months to meet with Bush,

and the White House has rebuffed the Methodist leader,

and his colleagues from the National Council of Churches.

Kennedy not only opposed the war, but gave a very effective

point-by-point criticism of Bush's actions. He said that after

so much international support for America, after 9/11,

``President Bush squandered too much of the good will of the

world community because of his single-minded rush to war with

Iraq, even if he has a few, or even no allies to go to war with him...."

To much applause, Kennedy also blasted Bush's Feb. 26

speech about so-called "democracy" at the American Enterprise

Institute on Feb. 26.

Ridiculing the claims that war would lead to peace,

stability and prosperity, not just for the Iraqi people,

but for the Palestinians as well, Kennedy said,

"We all heard of rosy scenarios, but that was ridiculous!"