19 May 2003
Transcript: Powell on U.S.-German Relations, Iraq, U.S. Bases, Terrorism
(May 15 interview with German TV journalist Sabine Christiansen)
(2980)
In an interview in Berlin May 15 with German TV journalist Sabine
Christiansen, Secretary of State Colin Powell responded to questions
regarding his trip to the Middle East and Europe, the "major
disagreement" between the United States and Germany over Iraq, the
role the United States would like to see the United Nations play in
Iraq, U.S. troops in Europe, and the global war against terrorism.
Powell said that his meetings with German officials were "warm and
friendly" as well as "open and frank."
"But we cannot hide the fact that we have had a difficult few months
with the German government," he said. "We had a major disagreement
over Iraq. And we should not pretend that we didn't or that everything
is back to normal."
He expressed optimism that the United States and Germany will be able
to find "common ground" on the new United Nations Security Council
resolution on Iraq. "I am pleased with how close we have come with
respect to the resolution," he said.
Powell insisted that the new resolution provides a "vital role" for
the United Nations in Iraq.
The United Nations "would have a number of roles - dealing with
humanitarian issues, but also working with the coalition authority in
overseeing funds that will be coming into the Iraqi Central Bank to be
administered by the coalition and by the World Bank and IMF," Powell
said. The United Nations coordinator "will be free to watch the
political process unfold and participate in the political process,
meet with the different political leaders in Iraq, watch as they put
together interim authority, work closely with the coalition," he
explained further.
Concerning U.S. military bases in Europe, Powell said the United
States is "taking a strategic look" at how its forces are "distributed
around the world, not only in Europe, but in South Korea, as well to
see if there is a more rational way to distribute our troops in order
to make them ready to respond to the threats of today, not the threats
of the Cold War era."
"It is not a matter of taking out troops to punish anyone," he said.
Powell praised Germany for being "especially helpful in the global war
against terrorism." He said recent terrorist attacks have not been
sparked by the campaign against Saddam Hussein's regime. The
terrorists "march to their own tune," he said, "and not just because
of Iraq or something else."
He urged a renewed global effort against terrorism. As President Bush
has made clear from the beginning, he said, "this will be a war that
will take many years and it will be fought in many ways on many
fronts."
Following is the State Department transcript of the interview:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
May 19, 2003
INTERVIEW
SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL WITH SABINE CHRISTIANSEN
Berlin, Germany
May 16, 2003
SABINE CHRISTIANSEN: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for joining
us.
SECRETARY POWELL: A pleasure.
QUESTION: This was the first meeting now between the U.S. government
and the Chancellor after, I must say, difficult months in the
transatlantic relations. How would you describe them today? You said
in the press conference that it was open and frank, but not warm and
friendly.
SECRETARY POWELL: It was open and frank and it was warm and friendly
also. I've known Chancellor Schroeder for a number of years, and we've
met on a number of occasions. And so we will always approach these
matters in a friendly way. But we cannot hide the fact that we have
had a difficult few months with the German government. We had a major
disagreement over Iraq. And we should not pretend that we didn't or
that everything is back to normal. And it was a candid and direct
conversation, as I tried to convey to the Chancellor the concerns that
we had. But we finished up this part of the conversation and then
moved quickly to how we were before and how we need to come together
in the United Nations now to pass the new resolution for the purpose
of helping the Iraqi people. This is not a resolution about war. This
is not a resolution that tries to fight the battles of the past. It is
a new resolution for a new situation. The people of Iraq are now free,
they are liberated, they want a better life for themselves. How can
the United Nations, all the members of the international community,
come together to help? We had a problem with the past, now let's work
on this together.
QUESTION: Do you think you have the German vote for that resolution?
SECRETARY POWELL: Oh, I wouldn't speak for the German government, but
I will say that I am pleased with how close we have come with respect
to the resolution. I am sure there are a few more issues we have to
discuss, but both the German government and the United States
government want to see this resolution pass. And I think we will be
able to find common ground in the very near future.
QUESTION: It wasn't seen, let me express it like that, as a very
friendly gesture that while you were talking here to the German
government and Mr. Fischer, that nearly at the same time, President
Bush met Roland Koch. What do you think that was -- was it just a
friendly gesture of gratitude to the pro-American opposition?
SECRETARY POWELL: Oh, it's not unusual for American officials at the
highest levels to be seen and meet with members of opposition parties
in our allied nations. I met today with Ms. Merkel and I think nothing
out of the ordinary of it. Nor was it a sign of disrespect. It was a
sign of us talking to all factions within one of our -- within the
governments and within the political population -- of one of our
allied friends.
QUESTION: How would you describe, when you return now to Washington,
and meet with the President, how would you describe, let's say the
ultimate message of your visit here in Germany?
SECRETARY POWELL: I think the message of my visit would be that we had
a candid discussion about the disagreements of the past; now we are
working together to move forward not only with respect to the UN
resolution but to many other things that we are doing together.
QUESTION: What does that mean concretely?
SECRETARY POWELL: Concretely means that the German government is
anxious to join us in passing, hopefully unanimously, this new
resolution to help the Iraqi people and the disagreement of the past
is in the past, not forgotten, but nevertheless in the past. Let's
move onward. And we also spoke about many other areas of common
interest, Middle East peace process, our mutual efforts in
Afghanistan, our concerns about Syria and Iran and North Korea, all of
the areas you would expect Germany and the United States have an
interest in together.
QUESTION: Will the German Chancellor and President Bush have a
tete-a-tete at the G-8 Summit?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, they will all be together, the G-8 leaders.
There isn't much time for bilateral meetings, but I cannot predict
what might happen. But they will certainly all be in the same room,
and President Bush and the Chancellor have been together at similar
meetings where they have exchanged words. I'm not expecting any
fireworks at the G-8. I think it will be a good meeting.
QUESTION: Was that what you just described when I asked for the
concrete measurements, was that the concrete gesture that you expect
from the Germans' administration or would you say there is something
else that can decisively improve the transatlantic relations?
SECRETARY POWELL: I wasn't looking for a concrete gesture on this
trip. I was looking for an opportunity to discuss with the Chancellor
and with my colleague Joschka Fischer how we can work together on the
new strategic situation that exists in the region. The Iraqi regime is
gone, we need to help the Iraqi people, we have a Middle East peace
process that is now reinvigorated with a new Prime Minister of the
Palestinian Authority and President Bush is engaged within the issue.
And so these were things I would expect to discuss with the German
government at a high level. So, I didn't come here looking for some
kind of gesture to fix the problems of the past. I was coming here
strictly to have open, candid discussions with the German government
at a high level, and that's what we had. And so we shouldn't be
looking for just a gesture. I have to just keep reminding everyone
that I speak to of all the things that do bring us together: 50 years
of very successful cooperation as friends and allies. We are totally
supportive of one another. There have been disagreements over those 50
years. There have been ups and downs in the relationship, but we have
so much in common. Sure there are (inaudible) commitment to democracy,
commitment to freedom, our commitment to a Europe, whole, free and in
peace, working together in the Balkans and other places so there is a
lot that pulls us together.
QUESTION: But, sir, why then are you pulling out your troops?
SECRETARY POWELL: We are not pulling out our troops, what we're doing
is taking a look at our strategic situation and determining where best
to have our troops in Europe. Our troops really are stationed in
places in Europe that reflect the Cold War stationing plans, in some
cases the stationing plans that existed at the end of World War II.
When I stepped down as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1993,
we had just finished taking out 200,000 troops from Europe, mostly
from Germany and bringing it down to about 120,000 or 130,000 troops.
And now we're looking at the force structure in light of the fact that
NATO has increased its size, geographic size, so it is not a matter of
taking out troops to punish anyone, if that's the suggestion. We are
taking a strategic look at how our forces are distributed around the
world, not only in Europe, but in South Korea, as well to see if there
is a more rational way to distribute our troops in order to make them
ready to respond to the threats of today, not the threats of the Cold
War era.
QUESTION: So it's just that.
SECRETARY POWELL: It's just that. That doesn't mean that there won't
be some movements out of Germany. I expect that there would be a
redistribution of troops, but don't see it as something that we're
doing to punish Germany. We weren't punishing Germany when we took
200,000 troops out at the beginning of the last decade. We were doing
it because the Russian army had gone away, and there was no Iron
Curtain. Germany had unified and so it was rational to do so. And this
is a further step in rationalizing our presence in Europe and in other
parts of the world.
QUESTION: You just made a great trip, I must say, to the Middle East
and visited a lot of countries. Perhaps, back to the UN, for us
Europeans the UN is the crucial guarantor of international law and
legitimacy in a global world, but according to your draft resolution
the UN in Iraq is reduced to delivering bread and bandages.
SECRETARY POWELL: No, I think it's quite a bit more than that. The
President has said that the UN should play a vital role in
reconstruction.
QUESTION: What is that vital role?
SECRETARY POWELL: It means that the Secretary General will be asked to
appoint a coordinator, a coordinator who would have a number of roles,
dealing with humanitarian issues, but also working with the coalition
authority in overseeing funds that will be coming into the Iraqi
Central Bank to be administered by the coalition and by the World Bank
and IMF. So, the UN will be a part of that process of watching how the
money is spent in a transparent way so that everybody can see it's
being spent for the Iraqi people. The UN representative, special
coordinator whatever we end up calling him -- right now, we believe
coordinator is the appropriate role -- will be free to watch the
political process unfold and participate in the political process,
meet with the different political leaders in Iraq, watch as they put
together interim authority, work closely with the coalition. I think
this is an important role. The UN has not said, the Secretary General
has not said, they want to become the owners of Iraq; they do not want
to be the government of Iraq. We have a situation where the occupying
power, the United States and its coalition partners, have to be the
government for an interim period of time until we can put in place a
government of the Iraqi people. We want to do this as fast as we can.
And we think the UN can help us in this role. And we think that that
is an important role for the UN to play.
QUESTION: Beside the UN what could be the role of NATO?
SECRETARY POWELL: NATO could play a role; it is up to NATO sitting in
council to decide that. In my discussions with the North Atlantic
Council a few weeks ago, I was pleased that in principle the North
Atlantic Council is willing to consider NATO. I think what they're
waiting for now is to see what the UN resolution looks like. And I
think the resolution will invite regional groupings such as NATO to
contribute these resources to include peacekeeping troops to the
effort. And after the UN resolution is passed, I think NATO will give
it more serious consideration as to whether it is to play a role or
not.
QUESTION: Peacekeeping doesn't seem to be very easy. We saw last week
the return of terrorism, we saw the suicide bombing in Riyadh and we,
especially in Europe, are very worried that now terrorism is back in
the world. So you started to fight terrorism, also with the war in
Iraq, and now it's back.
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't think it ever went away. That was the point
of our global war against terror that it is here, that it is going to
remain here, and we have to go after it. I think we struck a blow
against terrorism and we went into Afghanistan, removed the Taliban
and destroyed the Al Qaida presence, even though they are not totally
destroyed. There are still elements of Al Qaida in Afghanistan, but we
had no illusions that we had torn up the entire infrastructure of Al
Qaida terrorism. But we have dealt them some heavy blows. Germany has
been especially helpful in the global war against terrorism, arresting
people, ripping up networks, working with us on chasing down their
finances, exchanging intelligence information and law enforcement
information. So terrorism never went away and reappeared, it was
always there.
QUESTION: But it came up again.
SECRETARY POWELL: And it will come up again in the future. But I can
assure you that Al Qaida will attack: any chance it gets, whether or
not there has been an Iraq war or not. They're determined to continue
to undertake these criminal, terrorist operations and they march to
their own tune, they march to the sound of their own drummer and not
just because of Iraq or something else. Al Qaida is that kind of an
organization, so before the war we knew Al Qaida was planning and now
that the war is over we know that Al Qaida is still planning. And what
we have to do is to continue to work hard and not let our guard down.
Protect ourselves in every way we can from this kind of terror
activity. And that's why more than ever it is important for us to
cooperate fully in all aspects of [the] war on terror, whether it's
law enforcement, intelligence exchange, or military actions.
QUESTION: Do you fear the upcoming of Islamic fundamentalism now as
you can see in the South; I saw it there last week.
SECRETARY POWELL: One has to be concerned about Islamic
fundamentalism, particularly if it takes the form of repression of
people and also support for terrorist actions or it starts to convert
the states and the places where terrorists can find safe harbor or
haven in which to operate. That's one of the reasons in my meetings
with Syria last week, the Syrian President last week, I made the point
that we hope that he, the President of Syria Bashar Assad would see
now the necessity of not allowing Damascus to serve as a home for
terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad who are
connected to terrorist organizations in the occupying territories. So
we have to fight it wherever it appears, and it has to be a global
effort and that's why the President, President Bush has made it clear
from the beginning -- this will be a war that will take many years and
it will be fought in many ways on many fronts.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, where is Saddam Hussein? Do you really want
to get him?
SECRETARY POWELL: Oh, I'd love to get him, but I don't know where he
is. I don't know if he's dead, I don't know if he is alive.
SABINE CHRISTIANSEN: Thank you very much.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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