Target: Terrorism - Bush Administration in Favor of a Palestinian State
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now it appears that for the first time, a Republican administration is in favor of a Palestinian state. CNN's Major Garrett joins us now from the White House with what is shaping up to be a major development in U.S. policy. Good morning, Major.</s>MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. A major development in Bush administration policy in the Middle East that has been derailed, at least temporarily, by the tragic events of September 11th. CNN has confirmed that before those attacks Secretary of State Colin Powell, with the agreement of President Bush, was going to deliver a major speech on the Middle East peace process at the U.N. general assembly. That speech was to outline Bush administration support for an eventual Palestinian state and set out some broad parameters of the final contours of an agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians that would deal with such difficult issues as the status of the final borders of that Palestinian state and the status of thousands upon thousands of Palestinian refugees. That speech was put on hold because of the September 11th attacks. The U.N. general assembly itself was canceled. The administration is now trying to decide how to move forward on a major Middle East peace initiative that had already been okayed but has been changed by the context of events after September 11th. The State Department is pushing the White Hose to move forward on this plan, to carry it out, nevertheless, because they believe it would build support among key moderate Arab nations, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, chief among them. All three were consulted before this speech was approved and before the process was set in motion, a process that was stopped by the September 11th attacks. No word yet today on exactly when or how the administration will proceed with this initiative, but clearly the administration is looking for ways to tell the Arab world that it is going to reengage in ways it had not, up until now, in the Middle East process itself with some new concrete ideas and one, particularly, that would at least eventually recognize a Palestinian state -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: Major, I'm very curious about one thing here, I know you have sketchy information about any timing here, but is there any guidance there or any I guess indication of what the thinking is about whether or not this kind of a speech or this kind of a -- of a policy will be established before there are any strikes either in Afghanistan or wherever else against Osama bin Laden?</s>GARRETT: Well that would be the fundamental and key question, Leon. State Department diplomats and those who have been working in the region strongly believe giving this speech, putting this policy pronouncement out before the military strikes would be most advantageous to the Bush administration, most advantageous to the cause of peace. The White House is still considering that. They're wondering exactly what the timing should be. How far along is the military planning? How far along are they -- those troops and those forces that are being prepositioned? Are they ready to go? The White House doesn't want to short-circuit military goals for diplomatic goals. They're weighing all of them very carefully. Clearly the State Department and the diplomats who are on the front lines believe for the Arab world, particularly the moderate Arab world, a speech before strikes would be very, very advantageous -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: All right, thank you very much. Major Garrett at the White House, we'll talk with you later. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com