11 February 2001 Powell Discusses Foreign Policy Issues on Late Edition (Link to discussions on missile defense, Iraq) The United States has apologized "every way we know how" to the people and government of Japan for the tragic incident in which a U.S. submarine crashed into a Japanese fishing vessel, sinking the vessel, Secretary of State Colin Powell said February 11 in a wide-ranging interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN's Late Edition Sunday talk show. "We'll do everything we can to find out what happened and present that information to the public. And we are very regretful that this incident took place," Powell said. Discussing Iraq, Powell was asked whether the coalition formed in the early 1990's to contain Saddam Hussein has now fallen apart. "I don't know that it's fallen apart," said Powell. "I think there certainly have been some fractures in it. But I think we all have a common objective, and I think we can rally everybody around that common objective. And it's an arms control objective to not let this regime get access to weapons of mass destruction." Powell said "it is possible to rally not only the members of the Security Council around that objective again, but all of our friends in the region, because we have a mutual interest in him not getting those weapons and we have a mutual interest in helping the people of Iraq. "We are not after the people of Iraq; we are after those weapons. And until he satisfies the international community that he does not have such weapons, that he's not developing such weapons, we have a goal to make sure that we keep the pressure on." Powell said this will be among the topics he will discuss with Middle East leaders on his trip to the region at the end of February. Asked about moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a policy Bush advocated during the presidential campaign, Powell pointed out that that policy "is not only President Bush's position, it's the position of the United States Government that we should eventually move our Embassy to Jerusalem. And the process is something that one looks at, how you actually start it. And we have not started turning dirt obviously, but we are continuing to examine what it would take to put the Embassy into Jerusalem. "But in light of the tense situation that exists there right now," the Secretary of State said, "we will continue to examine that process to see when it should begin. As you know, later this spring, we have to make a certification to the Congress as to whether we are or are not starting that process and going to move the Embassy. So I think I will leave it at that point." Powell also discussed the Missile Defense program. He said such a program "will not destroy the entire scheme of arms control that we've built up over the last 40 years. I think it will add to that system by adding a new element of deterrence. Don't see the National Missile Defense standing alone and separate from what we're doing with offensive weapons, what we are doing with arms control activities, what we are doing with nonproliferation activities. "And I think when we have presented this in a comprehensive framework for the world to see, we'll be able to persuade our friends and persuade the Russians and Chinese that, rather than taking away from deterrence, this will enhance deterrence." On the Bush administration's policy towards removing some U.S. forces from Bosnia and Kosovo, Powell said: "We are in consultation with our allies. As we have said repeatedly in recent weeks, we are not going to do anything of a precipitous nature. We went in there as an alliance; we will come out as an alliance. "But we see nothing wrong with reviewing the kinds of forces we have there. Can we start to shift? Can we bring out some of the heavier equipment? Can we change some of the combat forces and the police forces? In other words, let's constantly review our presence there to make sure that presence is appropriate, and in fact that is a continuing process in NATO headquarters." Following is the State Department transcript: U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman Interview of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell By Wolf Blitzer of CNN's Late Edition February 11, 2001 Rosslyn, Virginia Mr. Blitzer: It's noon in Washington, 9:00 a.m. in Los Angeles, 7:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, and 8:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us for this special Late Edition. We're coming to you today from the Newseum just outside of Washington. It's an interactive museum where you can see and experience how news is produced. We are also here because, during the second hour of Late Edition, I will be hosting a special NBA town meeting. The topic: All-stars too soon? The NBA's age dilemma. And we'll have that for you in the second hour at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. We'll get to our interview with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Michael Jordan shortly but first, the hour's top stories. (Newsbreak.) Mr. Blitzer: Later this month, Secretary of State Colin Powell will travel to the Middle East in the Bush Administration's first foray into Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Earlier today, I spoke with Secretary Powell about what he hopes to accomplish on the trip and more. Secretary Powell, thanks for joining us. I used to call you "General Powell," but now we call you "Mr. Secretary." Is that right? Secretary Powell: I guess that's right, Wolf. You can call me anything you like. (Laughter.) Mr. Blitzer: All right. Let's get to a very serious subject, the submarine incident with the Japanese ship. What exactly is the latest? Secretary Powell: Well, the latest is that we are continuing our rescue efforts. We've expressed our deep regret to the Japanese Government, to the Japanese people. Yesterday morning, I expressed President Bush's regret after talking to President Bush and bringing him up to date. We're doing everything we can for the families. And Ambassador Foley is in touch with the Prime Minister, and I believe he is on his way down to Osaka to meet with members of the families as they depart for Honolulu. We extend our condolences to the Japanese people, and of course to the family members, and we'll do everything we can to find out what happened and present that information to the public. And we are very regretful that this incident took place. Mr. Blitzer: Is that the same as a formal apology to the Government of Japan? Secretary Powell: We have apologized. We have apologized every way we know how. The President has expressed his regrets and apologies, and I conveyed that yesterday. Ambassador Foley is in touch, as I mentioned, and we are also doing it military to military. Secretary Rumsfeld has spoken to his defense counterpart. And so we're doing everything we can to express our regret and also to make sure this doesn't affect the very strong relationship that we have with Japan. Mr. Blitzer: I know there is a full-scale investigation. You're a former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and pending that investigation, you don't know precisely what happened. But are there some initial indications on how such a tragic situation could have occurred? Secretary Powell: I don't have any, and I think it's best that I not speculate. This will be investigated thoroughly and I'm sure Secretary Rumsfeld will be on top of it, so I think it best I not speculate as to what might have happened. Mr. Blitzer: Okay, let's move on and talk a little bit about the new Prime Minister-elect of Israel, Ariel Sharon. There is a statement that he made immediately after the election. Let me read to you what he said: "I am visiting Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people for the last 3,000 years, the undivided capital of Israel, with the Temple Mount in its center forever and ever." The concessions that Prime Minister Barak was willing to make on Jerusalem -- clearly Sharon doesn't accept those concessions. Does the US Government consider those positions of the former Israeli Government to be the standing positions of the Government of Israel? Secretary Powell: No, clearly they are not. Prime Minister Barak, who is still the acting Prime Minister, the acting Prime Minister, the caretaker Prime Minister until Mr. Sharon forms a government, has pulled those concessions off the table. They were negotiating positions that were suggested by former President Clinton. When President Clinton left office, he withdrew those. Those came off with him. They were his personal ideas, and he made that clear. And so the only positions that exist are those the two sides put forward. And we will have to wait to see what the new Israeli Government wishes to put forward as its new negotiating positions, and then see how that is responded to by Palestinians. As you know, I will be traveling in the region at the end of this month to get a sense of where we are, to talk to the leaders, not only on the Israeli and Palestinian side, but also to speak to the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait. And I have also found that I will be able to get to Damascus, Syria, to speak to leaders in Syria. Mr. Blitzer: You have added Syria as a stop? Secretary Powell: I have added Syria to my stops, yes. Mr. Blitzer: The fact of the matter is that President Bush, when he was running for office a year ago on this program, I asked him about the Republican Party platform calling for moving the Embassy of the United States from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. I want to play to you what he said to me on this program a year ago -- I played it for Condoleezza Rice last week -- and get your reaction. (Begin video clip.) "President George W. Bush: I would start the process, is what I said. Upon swearing in, I would start the process." "Mr. Blitzer: What if the parties came back as they do, the Arabs, and say, well, that would totally disrupt the peace process by the US taking this unilateral gesture?" "President George W. Bush: No, I understand. But I think that part of the President's job is to make it clear that that's my intention. That's exactly what campaigns are meant to be. I've sent the clear signal, and this is what I intend do." (End video clip.) Mr. Blitzer: Have you started the actual process of moving the Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem? Secretary Powell: Well, what you heard is not only President Bush's position; it's the position of the United States Government that we should eventually move our Embassy to Jerusalem. And the process is something that one looks at, how you actually start it. And we have not started turning dirt obviously, but we are continuing to examine what it would take to put the Embassy into Jerusalem. But in light of the tense situation that exists there right now, we will continue to examine that process to see when it should begin. As you know, later this spring, we have to make a certification to the Congress as to whether we are or are not starting that process and going to move the Embassy. So I think I will leave it at that point. Mr. Blitzer: All right. Last night, former President Clinton delivered a speech, much of it on the Middle East, outlining his own personal views. I want you to listen to this excerpt of what he said last night and get your response. (Begin video clip.) "Former President William J. Clinton: It is clear that, in the end, some provision will have to be made for a Palestinian homeland; some resolution of the refugee problem will have to be made. The United States and Europe, among others, will have to be willing to take some Palestinian refugees." (End video clip.) Mr. Blitzer: He's outlining his own personal views now. He is a former president, but is this helpful for you and for President Bush to have the former president outlining strong positions on various sensitive issues in the peace process? Secretary Powell: Well, President Clinton is, of course, free to say whatever he wishes to now that he is in private life. It has been the practice of previous presidents to sort of take some time out before offering positions, but I don't think that it is unhelpful. It is his personal view. It is the view of the Administration that we should work with the leaders in the region, and rather than tell them what they ought to do, help them come to a position that they can negotiate with each other on. And at the end of the day, the kinds of positions that President Clinton just mentioned will have to be decided by the people in the region: Jerusalem, the right of return, where refugees might go elsewhere in the world. At the end of the day, these are not American positions to be imposed upon the people, but positions they have to arrive at through a process of negotiation. And that's what I hope to get started during my trip at the end of next week. Mr. Blitzer: And as much as you'll be talking about the peace process during this trip, you'll also focus on the situation involving Iraq and Saddam Hussein, reports that over these past two years since there have been no inspectors there, he's pursuing weapons of mass destruction. What, if anything, can you do to reverse that situation if, in fact, that's unfolding inside Iraq? Secretary Powell: I think what we have to do is make sure we continue to tell the world that we are not after the Iraqi people. We are after these weapons of mass destruction that Saddam Hussein said he would not be producing and entered into an agreement at the end of the Gulf War that he would not be producing. And we have to make sure that we keep the pressure on him to meet that commitment. Because those weapons are not threatening American youngsters. They're not threatening the American people. They're threatening the people of Jordan and Syria and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and Israel, and of the region. And so he has to comply with what he said he would do, and what the UN insists that he does, as part of the end of the Gulf War. And so what I will be doing when I visit is to make sure everybody has this message clearly and to make have sure we do what is necessary to keep him contained so that he cannot get access to weapons, he cannot get access to the materials that allow you to produce weapons of mass destruction, and that we control the money that is available to him. The tragic situation here, the tragicness of this whole situation, is that he could be taking care of every youngster in Iraq. He could be of providing medical care and food and everything everybody in his society needs if he would turn away from this ridiculous pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and use the money that is made available to him to build his society and make it ready for the 21st century. And to become a responsible nation in that part of the world and not threaten his neighbors. His neighbors are the ones who are being threatened, not the United States, and we are helping his neighbors deal with the threat that he presents to them. Mr. Blitzer: But the coalition that you, among others, helped put together ten years ago seems to be crumbling right now, at least big chunks of it. The Russians don't like these sanctions, even the French don't like these sanctions. Several of the Arab allies are now dealing with Iraq rather openly. Is this going to be your major challenge, trying to put that coalition back together? Secretary Powell: I don't know that it's fallen apart. I think there certainly have been some fractures in it. But I think we all have a common objective, and I think we can rally everybody around that common objective. And it's an arms control objective to not let this regime get access to weapons of mass destruction. And I think it is possible to rally not only the members of the Security Council around that objective again, but all of our friends in the region, because we have a mutual interest in him not getting those weapons and we have a mutual interest in helping the people of Iraq. We are not after the people of Iraq; we are after those weapons. And until he satisfies the international community that he does not have such weapons, that he's not developing such weapons, we have a goal to make sure that we keep the pressure on. Mr. Blitzer: Let's talk a little bit about another controversial position of the Bush Administration, the National Missile Defense shield. The Russians clearly are not happy with it. The Chinese aren't happy. The Russian security adviser, Sergei Ivanov, said this only the other day: "It will result in the annihilation of the whole structure of strategic stability and create prerequisites for a new arms race." You have a tough sell in convincing them that this is not a direct threat to them. Secretary Powell: Well, I look forward to an early opportunity to speak to my Russian colleagues on this subject, but it will not destroy the entire scheme of arms control that we've built up over the last 40 years. I think it will add to that system by adding a new element of deterrence. Don't see the National Missile Defense standing alone and separate from what we're doing with offensive weapons, what we are doing with arms control activities, what we are doing with nonproliferation activities. And I think when we have presented this in a comprehensive framework for the world to see, we'll be able to persuade our friends and persuade the Russians and Chinese that, rather than taking away from deterrence, this will enhance deterrence. Mr. Blitzer: Specifically, who is the National Missile Defense shield designed to protect against? Secretary Powell: The National Missile Defense shield that we are looking at now, and the concepts that we are pursuing, are directed principally against those irresponsible states that continue to pursue this kind of technology. Mr. Blitzer: Like, specifically? Secretary Powell: Let's be specific and say North Korea and Iran, for openers. Iraq is pretty much contained right now, and we're going to keep it that way. But any nation, such as Russia or China that has a fairly good number of missiles, has the ability to overwhelm the systems that we are talking about. And so I do not think it threatens their concept of deterrence, but I think it enhances deterrence overall. And as we get further down the road, as Secretary Rumsfeld has a chance to examine the concept in more detail and come up with the programs to support that concept, I think we can also show our European friends and our friends in other parts of the world that it enhances their deterrence as well. Because the kinds of missiles we're talking about and the irresponsible states we're talking about have targets much closer to them, in the neighborhoods of our friends, than they do in the United States. So I think there are ways to present this case to the Europeans, to our friends in Asia, to the Russians and the Chinese, which will enhance deterrence, not take away from deterrence. Mr. Blitzer: We only have a limited amount of time, but I want to ask you about withdrawing US troops from the Balkans, from the peacekeeping forces there. During the campaign, this was an issue that came up. Any movement at this point to start that process of bringing US troops home from Kosovo, from Bosnia? Secretary Powell: We are in consultation with our allies. As we have said repeatedly in recent weeks, we are not going to do anything of a precipitous nature. We went in there as an alliance; we will come out as an alliance. But we see nothing wrong with reviewing the kinds of forces we have there. Can we start to shift? Can we bring out some of the heavier equipment? Can we change some of the combat forces and the police forces? In other words, let's constantly review our presence there to make sure that presence is appropriate, and in fact that is a continuing process in NATO headquarters. So we are in consultation. I have spoken to so many of our friends and allies in the three weeks that I have been Secretary of State on this subject, and I think I have persuaded all I have spoken to that we understand our obligations. We do all want to come out at some point, but we will not come out precipitously or in a way that destabilizes the region. Mr. Blitzer: As far as the personal challenges that you are going to be dealing with right now as Secretary of State, are you going to be a Secretary of State along the lines of a Henry Kissinger Secretary of State role model, a Warren Christopher Secretary of State, a Madeleine Albright? Who are you looking back as? A lot of people think George Marshall was sort of a role model for you. Who do you see as the kind of Secretary of State you want to be? Secretary Powell: Well, you have mentioned some very credible people who have served our nation so very, very well. I'm going to be Colin Powell. I'm going to be who I am. I'm going to bring my personality and my experience and background. I was a soldier for 35 years, I have been a National Security Adviser, I have been a Deputy National Security Adviser. So I'm going to bring Colin Powell to the State Department. But at the end of the day, it isn't what I am or who I am. What I'm going to try to do to the best of my ability is to reflect what President Bush wants and to make sure that I respond to his initiatives, his imperatives, and that I help him serve the American people in the execution of our foreign policy. Mr. Blitzer: And finally, everybody sees your little red wagon over there: America's Promise. Secretary Powell: Still there. Mr. Blitzer: I guess now that you're back in the government, you can't be directly involved? Secretary Powell: I can't be the active chairman any more, but I'm the founding chairman and I continue to do everything I can to support children's issues. And I continue to wear my little red wagon as a symbol of the commitment that all of us should have for children. And even though I may be going around the Middle East and Africa and other places, there are children there too who can be motivated by the symbol of the little red wagon, a better life for all children of the world. Mr. Blitzer: General Powell, always good to speak to you. Secretary Powell, General Powell, I guess you'll go by your -- Secretary Powell: Make up your mind, Wolf. Mr. Blitzer: We started off like this. Secretary Powell: You're indecisive. Don't be wishy-washy. (Laughter.) Mr. Blitzer: Appreciate it very much. Thanks for joining us. Hope you'll be back many times. Secretary Powell: I look forward to it, Wolf. Thank you. Mr. Blitzer: Thank you. (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) Return to the Washington File