22 October 2001
Transcript: Powell Interview October 21 on CBS's "Face the Nation"
(Discusses anti-terrorist campaign against al Qaeda organization)
(1950)
War has been declared on the United States by the al Qaeda
organization "and we have no choice but to fight that war with the
kind of campaign that the President has put together," said Secretary
of State Colin Powell October 21 in an interview on CBS's "Face the
Nation."
Powell spoke from Shanghai where he had been attending the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. He was interviewed by
Bob Schieffer.
"Military, intelligence, financial, law enforcement, securing our
borders, protecting our citizens -- all of these things will be
necessary. I am sure they will try to respond. I am sure they will
come at us in other ways, and there may be other terrorist
organizations that will come at us," the Secretary said.
"So we have to be on guard in this new era where we have rogue groups,
where we have fanatics, where we have evil people, as the President
likes to say, who might come after us in these asymmetric ways where
they can cause a great deal of damage, a great loss of life, as we
have seen, and where they are creative. And so we have to keep an eye
on all of them, and that is why the President said that this is a
campaign not just against al Qaeda, but against all terrorism
throughout the world, all terrorism that could threaten us, threaten
our interests or threaten our friends."
Following is the transcript as released by the State Department:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
October 21, 2001
INTERVIEW
Secretary Of State Colin L. Powell
On CBS's Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer
October 21, 2001
(Aired 10:35 a.m. EDT)
MR. SCHIEFFER: And we begin now with the Secretary of State, who joins
us from Shanghai. Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for coming.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you, Bob.
MR. SCHIEFFER: American ground troops went into Afghanistan yesterday.
The Pentagon says it was a successful mission, but this morning, as
perhaps might be expected, the Taliban says that the Americans were
repelled. They say there were American casualties, and they say they
are ready now to just wait it out in the caves. Can you give us an
assessment of what the United States Government feels about this
yesterday?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, my understanding of the mission, that it was
highly successful, both strikes, both missions that went in, and I'm
very proud of those brave young soldiers who performed the mission.
And my understanding, from everything I've heard and seen from the
Pentagon briefings, is that, except for a few minor injuries among the
paratroopers and the tragic helicopter accident that was not directly
related to the operation, all of our troops recovered safely, and the
Taliban is lying.
MR. SCHIEFFER: Can you tell me exactly what the objective was
yesterday, Mr. Secretary?
SECRETARY POWELL: Bob, I think it's better you get the straight answer
from the Pentagon; but just so I don't duck it entirely, I think they
were looking at a compound where some information might have been
available. And I believe they did come back with some documents and
other items that might be useful, and they were scouting another
facility. But I'll stop there and let the Pentagon deal with that one.
MR. SCHIEFFER: There are reports this morning that the President has
signed an executive order that has "told the CIA to basically destroy
Usama bin Laden and al-Qaida." What does that mean exactly? Some here
say that means that the gloves are off.
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I believe what I read in the paper this
morning was that he has signed what is called a finding, and those
involve very, very sensitive operations. And I hope you'll forgive me,
but I never talk about findings of that nature.
MR. SCHIEFFER: Does intensifying this campaign, Mr. Secretary,
increase the threat of terrorism in this country? Because many people
are worried that perhaps it will.
SECRETARY POWELL: No, I think we are facing terrorism with or without
this campaign, unfortunately. I think that war has been declared upon
us by the al-Qaida organization, and we have no choice but to fight
that war with the kind of campaign that the President has put
together. Military, intelligence, financial, law enforcement, securing
our borders, protecting our citizens -- all of these things will be
necessary. I am sure they will try to respond. I am sure they will
come at us in other ways, and there may be other terrorist
organizations that will come at us.
So this is a time for us to be cautious, to protect ourselves, but to
not be afraid, not become chickens. We know how to fight these kinds
of conflicts. We've got a backbone of steel in our country, and we'll
be just fine if Americans just remember who we are and keep the spirit
up and keep driving on with our lives.
MR. SCHIEFFER: You said, "other terrorist organizations." Elaborate on
that, if you can.
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, there are other terrorist organizations. I
don't want to name any particular one, but there are other terrorist
organizations that don't mean us well. And, frankly, we have homegrown
terrorists, as we have seen so vividly in Oklahoma City, for example.
So we have to be on guard in this new era where we have rogue groups,
where we have fanatics, where we have evil people, as the President
likes to say, who might come after us in these asymmetric ways where
they can cause a great deal of damage, a great loss of life, as we
have seen, and where they are creative. And so we have to keep an eye
on all of them, and that is why the President said that this is a
campaign not just against al-Qaida, but against all terrorism
throughout the world, all terrorism that could threaten us, threaten
our interests or threaten our friends.
MR. SCHIEFFER: Mr. Secretary, do you see, at this point, any
connection between the situations involving this anthrax that keeps
popping up at different places? And yesterday another smudge of it, if
that's what you want to call it, showed up at the US Capitol. Is there
a connection between that and Usama bin Laden?
SECRETARY POWELL: There may be, but I don't know, Bob. I think our
intelligence, law enforcement, law enforcement agencies, are hard at
work trying to get to the bottom of this, the source of the anthrax,
how it's being distributed, the persons responsible, and what linkages
may exist with terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida.
I am quite sure that if al-Qaida did have access to this kind of
material -- and I am sure they are also working on it -- that they
would use it if they could. They are coming after us. They are evil
people. They believe in no faith. They have adherence to no religion.
They are evil and they have to be seen as criminals and murderers and
terrorists.
And I am sure that our agencies are working as hard as they can to
find out the source of the anthrax material we have been receiving and
how it's coming at us, how it's being distributed and by whom.
MR. SCHIEFFER: The nations that are meeting there in Shanghai -- the
reason that you and the President went there -- the nations that are
meeting there put out a very strong statement denouncing terrorism,
but I notice that it does not endorse the US military action into
Afghanistan, nor does it name Usama bin Laden as the person behind all
of this.
Should we read some significance into that?
SECRETARY POWELL: I wouldn't read any significance in it. When I saw a
press reporting earlier today that sort of pointed that out, it kind
of surprised me because we didn't ask for that. At least nobody in my
delegation asked for that kind of reference in the joint statement.
We were looking for a strong joint statement that came down squarely
against terrorism; put APEC, the groups that's here, the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation, put that strongly on record against terrorism,
and, in fact, join the coalition in support of the United States goal
of ridding this part of the world of the al-Qaida organization,
ridding every cell of the al-Qaida organization, no matter where it is
in the world, getting rid of it and going after terrorism in general.
So I think we should applaud this very powerful statement from this
very powerful organization.
MR. SCHIEFFER: Mr. Secretary, I am sure you are aware of a report that
was in the New Yorker this week, written by Seymour Hersh, who says
that on the first night of this military operation into Afghanistan,
one of the American drone reconnaissance planes -- and it was an armed
plane -- got Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, in its sights.
The information went back up the chain of command, and the commanding
general finally said that there would not be -- he ordered the drone
not to fire on Mullah Omar because, as we are told in this report, his
judge advocate general, had a problem with it.
In other words, the general apparently went to his lawyer, and his
lawyer said, well, there may be some problems, so don't fire. Could
that possibly be true?
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't know. I read the story. I have no idea of
whether it's true or not, and I think I'll have to refer you to the
Pentagon for whatever answer they may choose to make of Mr. Hersh's
story.
MR. SCHIEFFER: Well, I mean, are we in a situation -- everybody says
this is going to be a long and difficult fight. But are we in a
position now where generals have to check with their lawyer before
they can order people on the ground to fire on the enemy?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, first of all, without saying a word about this
story, let me just say that we conduct military operations in
accordance with accepted rules of land warfare; and for that reason,
you make sure you have lawyers around. And we had them during Desert
Storm. But I have no idea, none whatsoever, as to whether that is what
happened in this instance, as reported in the New Yorker, and I really
do have to refer you to the Pentagon for that.
MR. SCHIEFFER: Any final word, Mr. Secretary, this morning? Do you
have a message for Usama bin Laden?
SECRETARY POWELL: The message I have for Usama bin Laden is that he
can not hide behind a faith in which he does not believe because, if
he believed in it, he would not be doing what he does; and that the
coalition is coming after him, and we will find his money, we will
find ways to get into his networks through our intelligence and law
enforcement work; and the armed forces of the United States and other
armed forces that will be working with us and are working with us now,
such as the United Kingdom, will not lose faith in their ability to
bring this to a successful conclusion, and to rip up the al-Qaida
network and to bring Usama bin Laden to justice.
MR. SCHIEFFER: Mr. Secretary, thank you so much.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you, Bob.
(end State Department transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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