19 February 1998
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office
of the Spokesman February 19, 1998
INTERVIEW OF SECRETARY OF STATE
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT ON NBC-TV “THE TODAY SHOW” WITH MATT LAUER
1.
Lauer: On “Close Up” this morning -- the
showdown with Iraq. As UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan heads to Baghdad in a
last-ditch diplomatic effort to end the standoff, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
is traveling around the United States making the administration’s case for a
possible strike against Saddam Hussein. Madame Secretary, good morning to you,
good to see you.
2.
Albright: Good morning, Matt, nice to see you.
3.
Lauer: Thank you. To put it bluntly, you were
heckled yesterday. What was your reaction to the reception you received?
4.
Albright: Well, actually, I thought it was a
very interesting meeting. There were a couple of dozen hecklers. But for the
most part, there were some very serious people in the audience who had serious
questions that we tried to answer. And we’ll continue to do so.
5.
Lauer: That’s true. You did have people who
stood up and expressed their concern over military action against Iraq. Did you
walk away from the meeting, Madame Secretary, with a different point of view, a
different perspective on the situation?
6.
Albright: Absolutely not. I think that we know
what we have to do, and that is help enforce the UN Security Council
resolutions, which demand that Saddam Hussein abide by those resolutions, and
get rid of his weapons of mass destruction, and allow the inspectors to have
unfettered and unconditional access. That’s what we have to do. Matt, we would
like to solve this peacefully. But if we cannot, we will be using force; and
the American people will be behind us, and I think that they understand that.
7.
Lauer: I’m just curious. Do you think yesterday’s
session helped or hurt your case? I mean, back in the early 1990s, Madame
Secretary, you used to appear on this show as an analyst for foreign affairs
with William Hyland. And you’d come on and talk about the Administration’s reaction
to foreign affairs. If you were analyzing yesterday’s performance by you and
your colleagues, how would you rate it?
8.
Albright: I thought our performance was great.
But I think that the issue here is that there were people who disagree. I would
probably say that there were a few dozen hecklers who disagreed. But what I
would have said, actually, is that there were more people that asked questions
and directed their thoughts about the fact that we ought to send in ground
forces. That’s what I found interesting that there are more Americans who really
would like us to go in and finish off Saddam Hussein. That was the message that
I got from that meeting.
9.
Lauer: And you lead me right into my next
question, because one man you heard from yesterday was a retired serviceman
named Mike McCall, whose son died during the Vietnam War. Here’s what he said. (Audio
clip.) Madame Secretary, Secretary of Defense William Cohen attempted to answer
that question yesterday. Why don’t you give it a shot for me today.
10.
Albright: Well, we had a
half-a-million troops there in 1991. And the decision was that they could not
take out Saddam Hussein. And I don’t think, frankly, that if we got into it, that
the American people would want us to send in huge numbers of forces. So we are
doing what must be done. First of all, we would like to have a diplomatic,
peaceful solution and have him give unfettered access to these places, so that we could tell
what is happening with his weapons of mass destruction. But otherwise, the purpose of a very substantial strike will
be to substantially reduce his weapons of mass destruction threat and his threat
to the neighbors. We think that is an appropriate goal, and our goal and we’ve
said this, Matt may not seem really decisive; but what we’re trying to do here
is contain Saddam Hussein. We’ve managed to do that for seven years. This has
been a successful policy. Whenever he puts his head up, we push him
back.
11.
Lauer: Let me bring in the man who asked that
question in Columbus yesterday, Madame Secretary. Mike McCall, good morning to
you.
12.
McCall: Good morning, sir, how are you?
13.
Lauer: Oh, thank you, I’m fine. It was a bit
impersonal and somewhat raucous in that room yesterday, so let me give you a
chance to ask a question one-on-one to the Secretary of State.
14.
McCall: Good morning, Madame, how are you?
15.
Albright: Good morning, good to see you
again.
16.
McCall: Thank
you, kind of early in the morning. My question is, actually, more of a
statement. I’m not a warmonger; I don’t want to see a war; and I don’t think
there was any man in that room that was in uniform yesterday, if I’d have asked
the question, who wants a war, who would have stood up. My thought
was, if we send in troops after a saturated bombing run and get this thing
neutralized to where the troops could almost walk in there in parade formation
as more or less of a police force to support the inspectors that come in; get
those weapons; destroy them and then turn around to Saddam Hussein and say, “Hey,
run your country now, run it like a human being, take care of your people, we’ll
buy your oil, we’ll give you money for your oil, and make this country for your
people.” I don’t want to hurt those people.
17.
Lauer: Let me ask the Secretary of State, is
that feasible?
18.
Albright: Well,
first of all, let me say how much I admire the gentleman who asked the
question; I did yesterday; he is clearly a great patriot. I think the
problem with the idea is that we would have to end up being an occupying force.
The Americans don’t want to do that. I don’t think the
American people would want us to do that. But after the substantial strike, I
think we have a much better chance of having the inspectors go back in or make
sure that these weapons are not reconstituted by being willing to do another
strike. This is a very serious problem. None of us are saying that
there are easy solutions to it, but we have to contain Saddam Hussein. And, as I’ve
said many times, we are prepared to deal, ready to deal with a post-Saddam
regime. But I appreciate what he’s saying, because I think he’s a very brave American
and a patriotic American who understands why we have to do this.
19.
Lauer: Mike, let me ask you to stand by, and let
me ask a couple more questions to Madeleine Albright. Madame Secretary, your
trip to the Middle East several weeks ago was not as successful as I think you
would have liked, in building a coalition against Saddam Hussein at this point
certainly not as successful as the coalition in 1991. Have you spoken to
President Bush or former Secretary of State Baker and asked for any advice on
gaining support from the Arab world?
20.
Albright: First of all, I think my trip actually
went pretty well, because this is a very different situation from ‘91, when
there was a cross-border invasion of one Arab country into another. And frankly,
I got a lot more support than is publicly visible, because these people live in
the region.
21.
Lauer: So they’re saying one thing in public,
and saying something else to you in private?
22.
Albright: Yes, yes. And we feel comfortable that
should we have to use military force, that they will be very cooperative. And
as a matter of fact, I did talk to both former President Bush and former
Secretary of State Baker; and they both agreed that we have a much more
complicated situation than they had on their hands. And they were very
supportive, and I especially enjoyed well, I enjoyed talking to both of them,
because they do have some very good points.
23.
Lauer: Will you speak for me, Madame Secretary,
to the parents of American men and women who may soon be asked to go into harm’s
way, and who get the feeling that many countries in the rest of the world are
standing by silently while their children are once again being asked to clean
up a mess for the rest of the world?
24.
Albright: Well, let me say that there are, a
couple of dozen countries that are with us on this that are providing a variety
of equipment, support and are willing to be with us. So there is a misunderstanding
about saying that there is no coalition; there is. And the truth is that in the
Gulf War, we did most of the work, too. There’s no question that we, with the
British and French, did a large proportion of the work. Let me say that we are doing
everything possible so that American men and women in uniform do not have to go
out there again. It is the threat of the use of force and our line-up there
that is going to put force behind the diplomacy. But if we have to use force, it is because
we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see
further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all
of us. I know that the American men and women in uniform are always prepared to
sacrifice for freedom, democracy and the American way of life.
25.
Lauer: Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Thank you so much again.
26.
Albright: Thank you.
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