Bush to Hold Meeting on Defense
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Last week, it was the economy, but this week, President Bush seeks opinions about the military. The meeting is set for Wednesday at his ranch in Texas, and our senior White House correspondent, John King, is getting set in nearby Crawford -- John, the president's been out of sight, but we understand there is a big meeting ahead.</s>JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Big meeting on Wednesday, Carol. The vice president, Dick Cheney, is coming, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, as well as General Richard Myers. He is the chairman, of course, of the joint chiefs of staff. The formal discussions will be, we are told, about missile defense. The administration trying to move ahead for these plans for a new missile defense program, and also military reforms. Remember, since day one of this administration, Don Rumsfeld has been saying he wants to reform the military to make it so that troops can be deployed more quickly, so that the military takes advantage, more and more so, of the new high-tech weapons available to it, but make no mistake about it, as the president meets with his full national security team, almost a a full meeting, anyway, for the first time on his working vacation, officials do tell us also to expect at least some cursory discussion of the ongoing Pentagon contingency planning when it comes to the possibility -- and White House officials still stress "possibility," of a confrontation with Iraq and its president, Saddam Hussein -- Carol.</s>LIN: John, regarding Iraq, last Friday, we heard the president say that he understands, he has heard the criticisms by other Republicans about any planning on the administration's part for any attack on Iraq. He called it a healthy debate, but surely the president can't like what he is hearing.</s>KING: Well, he can't like everything he is hearing, Carol, because some of what he is hearing is Republicans complaining that the administration is not consulting them properly, that it is not building a case to the American people and the key allies around the world for this confrontation, that most view as inevitable. The only question really to many is when and how will the president confront Saddam Hussein. The White House sent communications director Dan Bartlett out yesterday to rebut some of that criticism, Mr. Bartlett saying that the president hasn't made up his mind yet about what to do, and that is why he is not consulting anyone, that the president is listening to everybody's ideas, and when the president decides what course the administration will take at that point, Dan Bartlett promising, of course, the president would consult key members of Congress, would consult key allies and would lay his case out to the American people, but there is a bit of tension in the president's own Republican party, some conservatives saying the United States waited too long to deal with Osama bin Laden, don't make that mistake when it comes to Saddam Hussein, others saying there is so much going on in the Middle East right now, a confrontation with Saddam Hussein not only could prove militarily risky in Iraq, it could destabilize the entire region -- Carol.</s>LIN: Well, John, is there a timetable for an attack on Iraq?</s>KING: Officials insist there is no timetable, and one of the ways -- you can go back and look yourself and check these things, are our preparations being made overseas. If there is to be a confrontation, and certainly Pentagon officials say they are making some preliminary logistics moves, but we have not seen -- and the Pentagon has not discussed any significant troop movements. There is much equipment left in place since the Persian Gulf War. That has been resupplied. New airplane engines, for example. Food, fuel, and things like that, but you have not seen the significant troop movements you would need to see to think that any military confrontation was imminent. Most people in the administration say that unless Saddam does something provocative, this is a debate that will intensify much this year, very early next year, not in the middle of August, while the president is on vacation here in Crawford.</s>LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Our senior White House correspondent working hard there in Crawford, Texas, covering the president.