Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=11/02/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BUSH/IRAQ (L)

NUMBER=2-309338

BYLINE=PAULA WOLFSON

DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The Bush administration is mourning the loss of 15 U-S soldiers in an attack on a transport helicopter near Baghdad. But at the same time, administration officials are vowing to stay the course in Iraq. We have more from V-O-A's Paula Wolfson at the White House.

TEXT: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke for the administration on this bloody Sunday.

In a series of interviews on American television, he offered condolences to the families of the dead. He called the attack a national tragedy.

/// RUMSFELD ACT ///

It is clearly a tragic day for America and for these young men and young women.

/// END ACT ///

Such tragedies, he told the A-B-C's This Week, are regrettably part of the very nature of war.

/// RUMSFELD ACT ///

In a long hard war, we are going to have tragic days, as this is. But they are necessary. They are part of a war that is difficult and complicated.

/// END ACT ///

It was the deadliest attack on American forces in Iraq since the conclusion of major combat operations in May. During an appearance on N-B-C's Meet the Press, Mr. Rumsfeld was asked if he thinks ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is still in the country directing resistance to the American-led coalition.

/// RUMSFELD ACT ///

/// OPT /// I think he is alive. I think he is probably in Iraq. He probably is in Northern Iraq. And he undoubtedly has ways to communicate, imperfect ways, probably by couriers, with some other people. /// END OPT /// Is he masterminding some major activity? It is difficult to know, but unlikely.

/// END ACT ///

He said three factions are involved in recent attacks: criminals, foreign terrorists and Saddam Hussein loyalists. The defense secretary told Fox News Sunday, remnants of the Baathist regime would fail in their efforts to take over Iraq.

/// RUMSFELD ACT ///

They want to take that country back and they are not going to. They are not going to come close to taking that country back.

/// END ACT ///

President Bush was at his Texas ranch at the time of the attack. Aides said he was told about the helicopter shoot-down by members of his staff and was receiving regular updates.

Meanwhile, a new public opinion poll by the Washington Post and the A-B-C broadcast network shows a split in public opinion on Iraq. It indicates that the war has become a major partisan issue, with the level of support for the president's policies running much higher among members of his Republican party than among opposition Democrats.

/// REST OPT ///

During an appearance on the C-B-S news program Face the Nation, Congressman Richard Gephardt, who is seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, raised questions about the way the Bush administration has handled the Iraq war.

/// GEPHARDT ACT ///

The president has not done this in the way I had hoped that he would, and advised him to do it from the beginning. And that was to get the help that we have needed from the beginning from the U-N, from NATO, from other countries in the world.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Gephardt said the Bush administration needs to make a greater effort to reach out to nations that opposed the war, in particular France, Germany and Russia. (SIGNED)

NEB/PW/TW