26 September 2003
Powell Says U.S. Hopes Iraq Has Constitution in Six Months
Secretary of state appears on David Letterman TV show September 25
Secretary of State Colin Powell says the United States hopes that a constitution will be ratified in Iraq within the next six months, but he adds that it will be at least a year and a half before a new Iraqi government will be in place.
Appearing in New York on the David Letterman television show September 25, Powell was asked if there is lingering resentment against the United States for having taken military action against Iraq without an additional U.N. Security Council resolution. He said there is still discussion about the U.S. action, "but I think the president has been able to reassure people, and I've spent a great deal of time this week reassuring people that the United States believes in the United Nations" and in "multilateral approaches to problems."
However, Powell said, "there comes a time when, if you are standing on principle, and you believe you have to do something, you have to stand tall and do it," even if you don't have universal support.
Furthermore, Powell said, "the president has succeeded in getting all of those who disagreed with our decision to realize that now we all have to come together again for the Iraqi people. ... Every leader that the president spoke to this week said, ‘Let's move forward. ... Let's show what the international community can do to help this country, help these [Iraqi] people.'"
When asked about the frequent acts of violence and terrorism occurring in Iraq, Powell said the United States had not ended combat operations too soon, but that "the nature of our military challenge changed" because the Iraqi army essentially collapsed. "Many of them stayed behind, and are now giving us some difficulty," he said.
Powell added that many good things are happening in Iraq now that do not appear in the news often enough. "All the hospitals are open, everyone is eating, [and] the economy is starting to rebound," he said. He also cited the existence of functioning cabinet ministers, town councils, and schools that have parent-teacher associations.
Having visited Iraq recently, Powell said, he saw that the Iraqi people are upbeat and "overjoyed that Saddam Hussein is gone." Nobody wants him back, he added, "except these remnants that are continuing to conduct these attacks against us."
Nevertheless, Powell said, the Iraqis would like to see positive developments take shape faster. They want a growing economy, jobs and educational opportunities. "They also want us to finish the job and go home," which we will do as soon as we have helped them put in place a democratic form of government, he added.
The immediate tasks, Powell said, are to "build up the Iraqi army again as fast as we can, build up Iraqi police forces, and encourage other nations to join us" in those endeavors.
Conditions in Afghanistan were also discussed. Powell cited the need to "squash" poppy production there and deal with remnants of the former Taliban regime in the southern and southeastern parts of the country. But overall conditions are much improved since the fall of the Taliban, he said.
Following is the transcript of Powell's remarks:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(New York, New York)
September 26, 2003
INTERVIEW
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
On The Late Show with David Letterman
September 25, 2003
Ed Sullivan Theater
New York, New York
(Aired 11:30 p.m. EDT)
MR. LETTERMAN: Our first guest is a decorated war hero and a retired four-star general, currently serving our country as secretary of state. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Secretary of State Colin Powell.
(Applause.)
MR. LETTERMAN: Very nice, good to have you back.
SECRETARY POWELL: Good to be back, Dave. Thank you.
MR. LETTERMAN: Earlier in the summer, there was a report you would not be secretary of state if George Bush won re-election, but I understand there was some confusion there. You're going to be secretary of state again for another term?
SECRETARY POWELL: No, no, no. All I said is that I serve at the pleasure of the president, which is the only thing a political appointee can say.
(Laughter.)
SECRETARY POWELL: That's called a diplomatic non-answer.
MR. LETTERMAN: But, give me the real -- since I'm not a diplomat, I don't care about that. (Laughter.) Let's assume that he wins a second term. Would you be his secretary of state? Would you like to continue, or have you, in fact, told him that you would not continue?
SECRETARY POWELL: I have enjoyed my job enormously, and I will serve it at the pleasure of the president.
(Laughter.)
SECRETARY POWELL: How long do you want to do this?
(Applause.)
MR. LETTERMAN: Then I would infer, then, that you will be his secretary of state if he wins another term.
SECRETARY POWELL: Oh, I'll be secretary of state for as long as I serve at his pleasure.
(Laughter.)
MR. LETTERMAN: I see. And you're still in his pleasure. You haven't incurred his displeasure, have you?
SECRETARY POWELL: Not so far today, but it's early.
(Laughter.)
MR. LETTERMAN: Well, I'm glad we got things cleared up right away. (Laughter.) How did things go for the president at the U.N. earlier in the week?
SECRETARY POWELL: They went very well. We had a good series of meetings with leaders from around the world. Some 100 heads of state and government were here, and the president met with Chancellor [Gerhard] Schroeder of Germany, with President [Jacques] Chirac of France, with the president of Pakistan and the prime minister of India, and so many other leaders. And, of course, the subject most on everyone's mind was Iraq. The president had a chance to lay out our vision for the Iraqi people, and take pride in the fact that Saddam Hussein is gone, that evil regime is gone and they're not coming back.
(Applause.)
SECRETARY POWELL: And now the test before us is to bring the international community together to help the Iraqi people build a better nation for themselves, better lives for their children, and to create a country that they will be proud of and we will all be proud of, that will live in harmony and peace with its neighbors.
MR. LETTERMAN: Is it a more difficult task now to go to the U.N. to ask for this kind of cooperation than it was before the war? It seemed like it was virtually impossible before the war --
SECRETARY POWELL: We had major disagreements before the war, and the president felt strongly, along with Prime Minister Blair and a number of other leaders, that we had to do what we did. And we did it, and we're very proud of the young men and women who went into harm's way on behalf of freedom and serving their nation. And we regret every life lost, but none of these lives were lost in vain.
MR. LETTERMAN: Right.
SECRETARY POWELL: But once the war was over and decided upon, that we were going to do it, and we did it, even though there is some continuing conflict taking place, we have succeeded in our primary mission. Now we have to keep going and rebuild the country. And I think the president has succeeded in getting all of those who disagreed with our decision to realize that now we have to come together again for the Iraqi people.
MR. LETTERMAN: So you're saying that the response, country to country, in fact, was more positive this side of the war than it was in front of the war?
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes. Every leader that the president spoke to this week said, "Let's move forward, let's not worry about the debate we had earlier. That's over. Let's come together. Let's show what the international community can do to help this country, help these people."
MR. LETTERMAN: Is there resentment, lingering resentment from some of these countries that feel that maybe the United States just bullied its way right into this conflict?
SECRETARY POWELL: There's still a lot of discussion about that, but I think the president has been able to reassure people, and I've spent a great deal of time this week reassuring people that the United States believes in the United Nations, we believe in multilateral approaches to problems. But there comes a time when, if you are standing on principle, and you believe you have to do something, even if you don't have the support of everyone else, but you're sure it's the right thing to do, then you have to stand tall and do it. And that's what America did.
(Applause.)
MR. LETTERMAN: What is going on in Iraq right now? Everyone's terribly alarmed and concerned by the daily reporting of American loss of life. I just heard today that there were more attacks on the U.N. mission and a hotel where some American reporters were staying, and a U.S.-supported Iraqi was assassinated. What exactly is going on there -- and I know we're making progress in our regard, but did we end the military part of this mission prematurely?
SECRETARY POWELL: No, the nature of our military challenge changed. We defeated the Iraqi army handily. They essentially collapsed. But many of them stayed behind, and are now giving us some difficulty. But so many good things are going on that you don't read about in the papers often enough or see on television. All the hospitals are open, everyone is eating, the economy is now starting to rebound. We have started the creation of a new government; there's a Governing Council, there are cabinet ministers who are functioning. PTAs [parent-teacher associations], of all things, are being formed in places, in schools throughout Iraq. Every town now has a council. So there's a lot going on.
But there are those who resent this success. There are those who want to go back to the days of Saddam Hussein. And those are the ones, the remnants of the old regime, that are attacking our soldiers, and frankly attacking the U.N. also, and one of the network offices was NBC, and also going after the Jordanian Embassy and places like that. So they're not just coming after the United States, they're coming after all those who are there to make sure that that kind of regime that does not come back; all those who are there helping the Iraqi people to a better life, these remnants are attacking. And we will deal with them.
MR. LETTERMAN: Let me ask you a couple of questions on that point. Would it be happening to this extent, to this magnitude, if Saddam Hussein was dead? Would that have been a better way to extinguish and make sure it did not reoccur?
SECRETARY POWELL: I think there would still be some of it, but certainly we'd all feel a lot better if he was no longer anywhere around, or he was in a jail or in a grave.
MR. LETTERMAN: Right. And why don't we have him? It seems like we've got pretty much 90- to 95 percent of everybody else we wanted. Why don't we have him?
SECRETARY POWELL: He's a survivor. He's been at this business for 30 years: surviving. And he clearly made plans to go underground where we couldn't readily catch him. It's very difficult to find a single individual who wishes not to be found, and has thought about it and planned for it. But in due course, he'll turn up.
MR. LETTERMAN: And the other part of this is, when George Bush was on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and said, for all practical purposes, the military phase of this has ended, what now can we do in the interim to ensure that there will not be any greater loss of American life in Iraq?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, as the president said on the aircraft carrier, major combat is over. But he also made it clear to the American people that the war was not yet over; we had to deal with these remnants. What we have to do now is build up the Iraqi army again as fast as we can, build up Iraqi police forces, and encourage other nations to join us. Thirty nations are there with us now. And they've contributed some 22,000 troops. We hope more nations will join. But that's what we have to do: get others to help us, and especially build up the Iraqi forces again so that they can take care of their own security, protect their own communities, and pull our troops out of that kind of work.
MR. LETTERMAN: And is there, the morale of the Iraqis high, is the mood good? Is it positive? Is there a core of people who are enjoying their newly given freedom? I mean, is there something to build on here? Will it flourish?
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes. I was there last week. I spent two days traveling around the country. People are overjoyed that Saddam Hussein is gone. There's nobody who wants him to come back except these remnants that are continuing to conduct these attacks against us. Now, they would like to see things move faster, obviously. They would like to see the economy rebound quicker; everybody wants a job, everybody wants their kids in a good school. So they want all the things that we want for them.
That's why the president is committed to going to our Congress and getting a large supplemental appropriation, to help them rebuild their infrastructure. And we want to do that as quickly as possible. But nobody wants to go back to the old days. They also want us to finish the job and go home, just as we want to go home. And we'll do that as soon as we have helped them put in place a democratic form of government.
MR. LETTERMAN: Are these random acts of terror all perpetrated by Iraqis, or are they terrorists from other countries in the region?
SECRETARY POWELL: Iraqis, and there are some terrorists from other countries in the region, or even further away, who have decided to come to Iraq and join the remnants. We don't know how many there are, but clearly, people have come in. But it is within the capacity of our military forces to handle, and I've got confidence in our military commanders.
MR. LETTERMAN: Well, so do I, but nonetheless, it's still crushing and discouraging when we get these reports nearly on a daily basis about Americans --
SECRETARY POWELL: It's discouraging; it's a dangerous situation, but it's a situation we'll deal with. And we're not going to step back or ignore the goal that we set for ourselves, and that's to make sure that when this is all over -- the day will come when this is all over, and a new Iraqi Government, elected by its own people, will be standing there, and the United States will come back home. We have never gone anywhere as occupiers. We go as liberators, and our history and our record demonstrates that.
MR. LETTERMAN: Can you give us a chronological guess?
SECRETARY POWELL: We're anxious to see a constitution written and ratified within the next six months or so, if that's possible. They're working hard on that. And then [there will be] some period after that, before you can have elections; it's difficult to give a precise date, but we're going to be there for the next --
MR. LETTERMAN: So maybe another year, another year and a half.
SECRETARY POWELL: At least.
MR. LETTERMAN: We'll be right back here with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
MR. LETTERMAN: Secretary of State Colin Powell is here, and also Jennifer Garner. I heard a report from The New York Times the other day that it looks like now, officially, semi-officially perhaps, that there are no indications, no smoking guns, regarding the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Is that more or less the evaluation? Is that accurate now?
SECRETARY POWELL: No, not yet. We're waiting to see what Dr. [David] Kay, who heads up this effort for us, is going to say in his report next week. He has accumulated miles of documents, a great deal of evidence. He's interviewing hundreds of Iraqi scientists and military personnel. So we'll wait and see what Dr. Kay says, and that's the best answer to the question.
MR. LETTERMAN: If it turns out now that there is no tangible evidence of weapons of mass destruction, is this a breach of faith to take this country into war, on the part of the administration?
SECRETARY POWELL: No, I think there will be tangible evidence, and we have to remember that it's not the United States claiming he had weapons of mass destruction. The whole world acknowledged this over a period of 12 years when the U.N. passed resolution after resolution, and when the U.N. inspectors came back and told us that there were these unaccounted-for stockpiles of anthrax and all sorts of other terrible things.
And, Dave, let me give you another example. Last week, on a beautiful day, I went up to a city in Northern Iraq called Halabja. And in 1988, just 15 years ago, Saddam Hussein, on a bright morning, gassed that town, and killed 5,000 people in a matter of a couple of hours. I went to see the mass grave where they were. I went to the museum they've created to memorialize that terrible event.
Now he did that 15 years ago. It wasn't the first time he'd done it, it wasn't the last time he'd done it. Now anybody that wanted to drift through the future assuming that he had totally given up that capability and had no intention of ever using it again, fine, but that's not a chance or a risk the president was willing to take. So that is evidence of what he did in the past, there is no question about it, and he never satisfied the demands of the United Nations to account for that kind of material or what he did with it, and that's what causes conflict to come about.
MR. LETTERMAN: What about, with that in mind, what about people running governments who we know have weapons of mass destruction? North Korea, for example: What do we there? Why is that circumstance a bit different? Is it because we don't have evidence of mass murder there?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, that's one reason. Another reason is that we believe there are still diplomatic ways to resolve the problem in North Korea, and the problem in Iran. In the case of Saddam Hussein, we tried a diplomatic approach for 12 years; it didn't work. In the case of North Korea, we've got them in negotiations with us and four other nations, their neighbors, to try to find a peaceful way forward.
And in Iran, we have got the international community involved, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.. People often accuse us of being unilateral: "Why doesn't the United States just go out and do whatever it wants to?" But in the case of North Korea and in the case of Iran, we are working with the international community. But the president never gives up any of the options he has to protect the American people in any way that may be appropriate. But we prefer to work [with] the international community.
That's why the president came here last year and challenged the U.N. to do something about Saddam Hussein violating the instructions of the U.N.. And when the U.N. saw fit not to, the president, with a coalition of other nations joining in -- he enforced the U.N. demands.
MR. LETTERMAN: What about the request for the $87 billion, close to $100 billion probably, before it's all over? It will go through, right? It will be, over a period of years, disbursed to help rebuild Afghanistan as well as Iraq? Is that being -- people understand that and feel all right about that?
SECRETARY POWELL: I think we've had good hearings before the Congress this week with Secretary [of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld and Ambassador [Paul] Bremer and General [John] Abazaid. Twenty billion dollars of the 87 [billion dollars] is for reconstruction efforts in Iraq. Most of the money is to support our troops and our deployments, and there's also money in there for Afghanistan as well. And these two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, have been given a new lease on life. We've put hope before them. And what we have to do now, is stay the course, and make sure that we don't allow them to slide back into the chaos from which they have emerged.
MR. LETTERMAN: And how are things in Afghanistan? I read the other day that there is some concern in the southern part of the country because of the drug lords controlling the poppy fields and the opium industry, that that still somehow needs to be monitored or squashed or eliminated somehow.
SECRETARY POWELL: We've got to squash the poppy production, and there is a problem in the south and southeast portion of the country, with Taliban remnants, those who don't want to see this kind of progress. And we're working on that. NATO has taken over the security mission in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, and they're looking at ways to expand their presence to the southern part of that country.
But if you look at how far that country has come -- I remember when we first went in and took out the Taliban, and brought in now-President Karzai, there was one cell phone for the whole government. [There were] trillions of bills around: the currency they used. They now have a new currency, it's stable, it's got a low inflation rate. The government is up and running and functioning. We're building a new Afghan army. Women are going to school. Women are in the workplace, and in civil society and in the government, and we promised the Afghan people we'd stick with them, and we're going to stick with them.
MR. LETTERMAN: And you believe that the drug lords need to absolutely be eliminated for this to continue to thrive and flourish?
SECRETARY POWELL: Drug lords, and the warlords, those who try to hold on to their little fiefdoms -- they have to change. And President Karzai is, slowly but surely, extending the control of the central government out to the provinces.
MR. LETTERMAN: And the same question I asked earlier about Saddam Hussein: I think we all remember George W. Bush saying, "Dead or alive, Usama bin Laden." Rudolph Giuliani volunteered to execute him. Is that a priority anymore, or not?
SECRETARY POWELL: It is a priority, but it's -- as with Saddam Hussein, if you don't have targetable information as to where he is, it's hard to find a single individual who is doing everything in his power to hide. So whether Usama bin Laden is alive or dead, or where he might be hanging out if he's alive, I really don't know. We don't know.
MR. LETTERMAN: As a former general, as a military man who's been in combat, is your hunch that we will get him, or your hunch that we will not get him?
SECRETARY POWELL: I've chased a lot of these characters around over the years, and sooner or later, they make a mistake, and you get them.
MR. LETTERMAN: We'll be right back with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
(Applause.)
MR. LETTERMAN: Thanks very much. What do you know about the situation down in Guantanamo? At the, at Camp X-Ray, we hear suddenly of espionage, of spying, of secrets being passed back and forth.
SECRETARY POWELL: It's troubling, but I don't know any of the details. It's under investigation and entirely within the Pentagon, so I can't talk to that one.
MR. LETTERMAN: What do you know about Wesley Clark? He's probably a colleague of yours, right?
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes.
MR. LETTERMAN: And what do you think of him --
(Laughter.)
MR. LETTERMAN: What do you think of him as a Democratic candidate for president?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I've known Wes for 20 years -- more than 20 years. He's served under my command a couple of times over the years, and he is a very gifted individual. But because I know him so well as a fellow soldier for all those years, I've elected that, for the next year, I'm going to recuse myself on all questions dealing with Wesley Clark.
MR. LETTERMAN: All right. Let me ask you a question about George W. Does he look good right now for re-election?
SECRETARY POWELL: Oh yes.
MR. LETTERMAN: You think so?
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes.
MR. LETTERMAN: Are you surprised that some popularity figures are starting to dwindle a bit?
SECRETARY POWELL: That's to be expected when you consider the highs that the president enjoyed for a long period of time. So there's a drift downward now, and I think as people see progress in Iraq, that will start turning and going back in the other direction. And I think the president is in good shape, and in a strong position to win re-election.
MR. LETTERMAN: And what about yourself? There's always been talk about you running for president. And I think you made it clear four years ago, maybe even earlier, that perhaps you were not interested in that; perhaps your family was not interested in that. Have you had any second thoughts about that?
SECRETARY POWELL: No, it was eight years ago, to be precise, but --
(Laughter.)
No, I've never had any second thoughts. I have loved serving the country for almost 40 years in one capacity or another, and will continue to serve the country for a while longer. But I believe I can serve the country best in the positions I've occupied, but not in an elected [capacity].
MR. LETTERMAN: And how much longer do you think California will be a state?
(Laughter. Applause.)
SECRETARY POWELL: It's hard to tell. I asked my Russian colleague, Foreign Minister [Igor] Ivanov, if he wanted it back. They owned it at one point; but they said it's too much trouble.
MR. LETTERMAN: It's too much trouble.
(Laughter.)
Well, thank you again for your time here, and by all means, as always, thank you for everything you've done for the country. Good to have you here.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you, Dave.
MR. LETTERMAN: Secretary of State Colin Powell.
(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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