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DIPLOMATIC LICENSE

Current Events at the United Nations

Aired October 29, 2004 - 21:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: She'd say, "Oprah, girl, I works for some good white folks, and if you mind yourself and act like you should, the Lord will bless you with some good white folks."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN ANCHOR: A couple of months ago a famous host of a television program rewarded her audience with cars, each of them. Thought the title of our program is called DIPLOMATIC LICENSE, I don't have a license and I have no cars to give you. At this time, you are welcome to leave, but if you require gifts to watch our program than we don't really need you.

I can offer you today the host who gave away the cars, Ms. Oprah Winfrey. She was the star attraction at the recent annual United Nations Association of the U.N. Business Council of the United Nations dinner in New York City. Winfrey has given more than cars out when it comes to helping children in Africa. For that, and other reasons, she was honored with the Global Humanitarian Action Award.

She wasn't the only big U.N. name attending.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to thank all of you for supporting the United Nations Association of the United States of America in its ongoing work to increase public understanding of the support for and the work of the United Nations.

MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR: I'm a tremendous supporter of the United Nations and that's why I'm here, and I'd just like to see us as a country live up to our obligations in arrears that have been going on for so long.

This is a lovely evening, supporting some good people. Oprah, Peter Peterson (ph) and John Clooney (ph). So it's wonderful to be here.

It is a pleasure to join so many dedicated and engaged individuals who recognize the positive and vital role the United Nations has in our world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the great anomalies in our world is we say we've got to fight a global war on terrorism and we need partners, and that means cooperating with a lot of other countries, and the United Nations is a major force in that direction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to ask all of the permanent representatives or workers at the United Nations who are involved in this wonderful work to stand so we can applaud. Don't be shy.

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we've succeeded so far in irritating a lot of countries and losing their trust and losing their respect, so I hope whoever is elected president changes our course materially.

ROTH: In the state of the United Nations the way it's been -- the ping pong ball during this debate season with the Republicans in New York saying, you know, getting boos just by mentioning the United Nations -- do you believe it's come to that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so sad that the United Nations is not being supported. If we didn't have it, we'd have to invent something like it. It's the only forum where countries can talk with each other, and we desperately need it now, and I hope we can come back into some kind of unity with it.

ROTH: Thank you, John. I will stop under this unbelievable yelling. This sounds like a Security Council debate sometimes on new membership.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're not yelling at us for a change.

ROTH: How often do you watch the "Oprah Winfrey Show"?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen it once, but I'm seeing it a second time tonight.

WINFREY: I think that there needs to be a better campaign of understanding for what the United Nations does and how it does it in order for people to appreciate it.

ROTH: You could be a Goodwill Ambassador. There are many of them. Is there any one particular agency or issue that you think should get more attention?

WINFREY: Well, one of the things I'm being honored for tonight is for my efforts to educate children in Africa, and for me there is only one issue and that is education.

Can governments and foundations and communities really make a difference to the problem that is so magnificent? With my whole heart I believe that the answer is yes.

I am pressed to the mark of a high calling to educate children who have not had a chance in this world.

Our children live in every country and come from every culture. The black children, the Asian children, the Albanian children, the Indian children, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist. As they thrive, so does the world. It's a win-win for all of us.

$2,000 to build a school?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Build a school. Build a school.

WINFREY: I'd like to commit to building 100 schools around the world. 100 schools.

I am pressed to the mark for the prize of a high calling of helping others dwell in the place of possibility. I stand before you tonight a living product of possibilities.

One of my favorite quotes is Emily Dickinson, who says, "I dwell in possibility." I'm a living example of the benefit of opportunities, of education in the greatest country on earth, the United States of America.

I thank you for this award tonight and the opportunity. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROTH: More step by step diplomacy performed outside the United Nations Security Council. We don't know if U.S. diplomats and ambassadors are warned don't walk under that overseas ladder when they're given their marching orders, but we do know that a recent report says the diplomats could use a lot of other advice.

A panel commissioned by the Bush administration says U.S. envoys could keep in better touch with the citizens of the country they cable back from.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ambassadors no longer are just reporters. Those days are gone. Most of the decisions in the world now depend on public opinion, so you've got to communicate and you've got to communicate with the people, not just government officials.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Joining us now is the executive director of the group that wrote this report. His name is Matt Lauer. He's in Washington. And also with us here in New York, Nicholas Platt, a 34-year diplomat. He was ambassador to the Philippines, Pakistan and Zambia. Ambassador Platt more recently served as president of the Asia Society and Organization, dedicated to mutual understanding between the United States and Asia.

All right, Matt Lauer, what is the main conclusion of this report regarding the work of ambassadors overseas? What's being done incorrectly?

MATT LAUER, ANALYST: Well, really what we're saying is it's not just ambassadors but it's the entire foreign service. It's all of the Americans abroad. We need to do a much better job of communicating American foreign policy to the people that are actually in country at the local level.

So we're saying that 25 percent of the time that ambassadors and foreign service officers -- that the time that they spend out there needs to be with people, communicating American ideals and American concepts, explaining ourselves, essentially.

ROTH: Do they even speak the language?

LAUER: Well, we hope that many of them do, and we're getting better - - the State Department is getting better at training ambassadors and foreign service officers to speak the language, but that's one of the key recommendations of our report, that everyone needs to have the skills, the language training necessary in those countries to actually communicate with people.

ROTH: Let's get the insight of somebody who's been overseas representing the United States and this was a U.S. driven report, so that's why we're dealing with U.S. diplomacy -- Ambassador Platt.

AMB. NICHOLAS PLATT, FMR. DIPLOMAT: Well, I read the report with great interest and I thought I was Rip Van Winkle and I had just woken up, you know. 24 years ago, 25 years ago, we all got training. We got training in public diplomacy. We got training in how to deal with media issues. We were not told that we should depart from State Department policy in our medica appearances, but we were given training as to how to deal with those kids of situations.

I read the report. I found that going through it in a very systematic way what was most -- the point that came out clearest was you've got to put a lot more money into public diplomacy, and that is a very sound, very sound proposal. Because we used to, during the Cold War, put a lot of money into public diplomacy.

ROTH: But it -- go ahead -- Matt.

BAUER: That's right, resources are a part of the issue, and during the old days, during the Cold War, we did train our ambassadors and foreign service officers a great deal in public diplomacy.

We need to go back to the era of actively engaging citizens abroad. It was a little bit different during the cold War, but we need to engage people in the global communications cycle, and that's what we're saying.

PLATT: You're absolutely right. And things have changed.

You know, after the Cold War ended, ambassadors were given a lot of training in representing business interest aborad. That was what the emphasis was then. Now we have some new emphasis and we have to deal with that.

ROTH: But the money you're talking about -- all the money now goes to securing the ambassadors in a bunker because of 9/11 and everything. How are you going to get out -- let's address this to the man behind the report -- how are you going to get these people out when they're protected in many countries. The countries residents hate it because it's a giant fortress where the U.S. is.

LAUER: It's a valid question. What we have to do is -- joining the foreign service, being an ambassador, there's a certain risk to undertaking that duty, just like the president takes a risk when he goes out to a rally, to a town hall meeting. A senator takes a risk and a congressman. And so there's a necessary risk that it is going to take, but people need to get out more -- to get out of the embassy more and more.

ROTH: Ambassador?

PLATT: You have to realize, the first thing that is done officially after you get your papers appointing you as an ambassador is you're measured for a bulletproof vest, and you realize that this is a dangerous job.

Now, I was ambassador in the Philippines, which was a very public job, and I was considered a sort of political figure, so I had to make a lot of speeches. I had to get out and around. I had a lot of protection. I had a car that went ahead, a car that went behind, 9 guys with Uzis in their briefcases and so on and so forth. But we made our speeches, we made our points, we got on the TV and so on and so forth.

Other ambassadorial jobs are not so public, nor are they so dangerous.

ROTH: Now you said, Matt, earlier, about 25 percent, you're saying, of the time for ambassadors should be spent with the public. Go ahead.

LAUER: That's right. We are saying that not just ambassadors, as well we're saying all Americans abroad that are employed by the government, 25 percent of their time should be spent out engaged with the community. Whether that's all the way down from the Marine Guard at the embassy, all the way up to the ambassador.

ROTH: But what happens when the United States, as it currently stands, due to various policies that many like, many object to, but overseas they're detested. How -- it's easy in a report to write that, but it's such a volatile climate now.

LAUER: We do -- we have a policy now that we maintain for our national security purposes. But part of our job, part of our job going out abroad is to communicate with people, so we undertake those risks. We have to explain it to people. We have to engage them.

A lot of what we hear coming from abroad is that we just don't listen enough.

ROTH: But aren't these people so scared? I mean, how are you -- Nicholas, aren't these ambassadors and representatives -- they're not going to -- how are they going to go out on a limb at a town hall meeting and suddenly answer questions when they're petrified, right, that back at the State Department or Washington they're going to get slapped around.

PLATT: Well, it can be done, but it takes a lot of doing and it takes a lot of courage.

I mean, I had one of my friends, our ambassador to Indonesia, who really made an important point when he went out and debated Islamic leaders. He had had a background in the Middle East and he understood what he was saying and they all admired him for it. They did not -- they didn't agree, but at least he got out into the (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

LAUER: What we're talking about is more of an American dialogue out there. Policy position is up to the embassy, but more American communication with people in the Arab and Muslim world, in the European audiences. It's all very relevant and we're just not doing a great job of communicating right now.

ROTH: And your report says -- watch your wording. It says U.S. officials often describe terrorists by words the terrorists themselves prefer, like jihad and Mujahideen. These imply martyrdom, things like that.

LAUER: Well, that's right. I mean, we see that often these words are reflected in the Arab media or in other media abroad. You know, when Ronald Reagan was president he referred to the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire, so it was properly reflected in the media of the era.

We need to properly refer to our enemies as what they are: evildoers.

PLATT: The Soviets didn't like it, but we didn't care that the Soviets didn't like it.

ROTH: So it's a fine line. Ambassador, Platt, you've got President Bush had said you're either with us or against us. You know, these audiences -- I've been in them -- you know the No. 1 question in many countries is going to be when will the United States stop helping Israel, whatever your opinion is on that. I mean, how do you cut through that?

PLATT: Well, you have to be able to defend your policies. And if the policies are flawed, you're going to have trouble with that.

The job of the ambassadors abroad and diplomats abroad is to defend the policy. If the policy is flawed, it's harder to do.

LAUER: The ambassador is absolutely right. What we need to do is have people out there defending our policy. The policy in this country comes about through democratic means. We need to explain that. This is not a made up policy that came forth from a nonelected group of representatives. This is a democratically based policy and we need to communicate on how it came about, explaining a little bit about our system.

Of course, our society isn't monolithic, but we do have ways of explaining how that.

PLATT: You can get out, though. I mean, when I was in Islamabad recently -- I mean, it wasn't when I was actually ambassador. It was a different kind of time. But there are a lot of new TV systems and channels and so forth. One of them was Al Arabiya, which has carried a lot of material that is critical of the United States -- (UNINTELLIGIBLE) listen to us.

ROTH: Can TV help or does it -- is it overwhelming, the Al Jazeera, the Al Arabiya. Do all of the broadcasters kind of overwhelm the media message -- Nicholas?

PLATT: You can use them. You can get on them. You can make your views known.

ROTH: Final comment, Matt, very briefly.

LAUER: What all these television stations and all the Internet is doing is leaving the -- people can make up their own minds now, so we have to engage people face to face, not just foreign minister to foreign minister, ambassador to ambassador, and that's what we're going to do, Tom, if we're going to have an effective communication policy.

PLATT: We can't just ask anybody to go on the media without some training.

LAUER: That's right.

PLATT: It's complicated. It's difficult. And you have to deal with people like Richard here, you have to be on your toes, you've got to speak fast and.

ROTH: Invite this man back.

All right, listen, I'm not a resident of the moment living overseas, but Nicholas Platt, thank you very much. The former president of the Asia Society and ambassador to several countries, including Pakistan, where Matt Lauer's report may have some interesting impact. He is the executive director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, Pakistan certainly a country that would figure prominently in some of these proposals.

Thank you both, gentlemen.

Ambassador Platt, as we mentioned, was in Islamabad. The man in charge there now tends to wear a lot of hats, which may account for his freewheeling comfortable style when communicating, at least with the press.

President and General Pervez Musharraf employed his own brand of public diplomacy at a recent encounter with the U.N. Press Corps in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: What would you say to the people of Kashmir when you are going ahead with this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) dialogue and you're not sticking to Pakistan's traditional point of view on Kashmir.

PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN: I want to tell the people of Kashmir, either trust me or stop trusting me. If you trust me, leave things to me now, whatever I am doing. If we are going for peace, I don't follow (UNINTELLIGIBLE) lines because they will never lead to peace. If you follow rigid lines, they never lead to peace.

REPORTER: How much time would the parties need to (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and then make any kind of substantive progress on that when the people of that region can hear the ringing of the peace bells in that part of the world.

MUSHARRAF: The indications are positive and optimistic. I think, so therefore, I would like to say that I am satisfied. So far, so good.

Now as far as my meeting with the Indian prime minister, we start on this positive note. I look forward to constructive dialogue. But more than that, I look forward to developing an understanding between ourselves and an understanding between us -- after all, he has been born in Pakistan and I have been born in India. I think there is good grounds for understanding.

REPORTER: I must congratulate you for fighting against terrorism and also for the best ever Indian-U.S. relations and I.

MUSHARRAF: India? Pakistan.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

REPORTER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

MUSHARRAF: I think he is talking of terrorist camps in Pakistan which are involved in terrorism, according to him, in Kashmir. If we keep following this hackney line, I will give you a hackney answer. There are human rights violations going on in Kashmir. Please stop that. There are no terrorist camps. We are calling it a freedom struggle. There is no terrorism in Kashmir. You want more answers?

Let's forget it. Let's solve Kashmir dispute. Address it head on, let's catch the bull by the horn, let's resolve the Kashmir dispute.

REPORTER: I wonder if you might take this opportunity to give us a definitive answer as to if and when you intend to resign your role as chief of the army.

MUSHARRAF: I really don't know why the world is so much concerned about this issue. There are certain very serious considerations which are causing concern in my mind. We haven't -- I haven't taken the decision, but they are certainly causing concern in my mind, and these are international, they are the issues of continuity of policies, continuity of anti-terrorist campaign, continuity of rapprochement with India and continuity of a societal change that we are trying to bring about in Pakistan itself. And on the domestic side, whatever the democratic institutions that we've created, the sustainability of those, those taking root in the psyche of Pakistan.

So these are issues in which I personally think that maybe unity of authority may be required. So therefore, I would close by saying that I am rather confused on the matter.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROTH: At this time, welcome back to DIPLOMATIC LICENSE. We offer you our e-mail address. The first respondent will get a car. All right, a model car from some 5-and-dime store in Manhattan, but it shows you we care.

And if you care, please vent your organs by e-mailing us at Diplomatic.License@CNN.com.

He published internationally acclaimed works documenting the spread of the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. She is a pioneer in the treatment of childbirth injuries with a groundbreaking hospital in Ethiopia. They are the winners of this year's United Nations Population Awards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The contributions of this year's two awardees underscore the importance of dealing with population issues as an integral part of the world's overall approach to social and economic development.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Professor Caldwell was selected for his significant contributions to demographic (ph) research.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the last 16 years we've lead a program, probably the biggest in existence, on a cultural, social and behavioral context of the African AIDS epidemic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our laureate in the institutional category, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Fistula Hospital was selected in the institutional category for its important achievements in providing services for women suffering from obstetric, fistula and related injuries and also offering a holistic package of rehabilitation service with the objective of reintegrating the patients into society in a dignified manner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very excited to get this award for the hospital, not for myself, but really my main excitement is because the world has woken up to the need for these boys and girls and young women to be looked after, to be cured.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: U.N. officials say these types of awards and the entire issue of population should be linked with more important issues involving social, economic and development concerns facing the world.

This year, also the 10th anniversary of that large population conference in Cairo. I was there. It doesn't seem like 10 years.

That's DIPLOMATIC LICENSE. I'm Richard Roth, in New York. Thanks for watching.

END

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