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Bush in Europe: Karen Hughes Discusses President Bush's Global Agenda

Aired July 19, 2001 - 07:06   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is in London, the first stop on his six-day European diplomatic trip. And already there have been protests over his missile defense plans and his stance on the Kyoto environmental treaty.

CNN's John King is among our correspondents covering this overseas trip -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, those protests a reminder of the very difficult diplomatic issues facing Mr. Bush here in Great Britain and across Europe as he travels this week -- first, though, a taste of what the diplomats call the special relationship between Washington and London: President Bush and the First Lady this morning already visiting the British Museum, visiting the Reading Room there -- mr. Bush also set to have a luncheon with the queen today and to visit the secret bunkers where Winston Churchill directed much of the British response in World War II.

But the protests in the streets here are about the U.S. views on global warming and about the U.S. views on missile defense a reminder that when Mr. Bush sits down for his one-on-one discussions later today with the British prime minister, Tony Blair, he will face renewed questions from a key European ally -- and this just a warm-up for the week ahead -- about why won't the U.S. sign onto the Kyoto compact.

Mr. Bush says he will not, that it is unfair to the United States and would hurt the U.S. economy right now. And the president is also expecting tough questions about how fast the United States will move ahead with that missile defense plan, a key test for the Pentagon last weekend -- the administration now saying in just a matter of months the United States would probably be in violation of the 1972 Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty -- Mr. Blair expected to question the president about that.

And again, as Mr. Bush moves on from London to the G8 -- that's the Group of Eight nation summit in Genoa, Italy -- more questions as well, because Mr. Blair has been among those urging the Europeans to give the president more time to spell out his views.

The leaders of Germany, France and Russia will be waiting in Genoa. They are among the sharpest critics of the president when it comes to missile defense -- Carol. LIN: John, yesterday State Department producer Elise Labatt was telling us that there might be some behind-the-scenes negotiations between the Bush administration and the Russians to come to some sort of an agreement on missile defense, perhaps some trade agreements for Russia in order to get their cooperation on this matter.

What are you hearing?

KING: That's exactly right: the United States working behind the scenes. And President Bush will meet again directly with President Putin in Genoa -- the United States trying to convince the Russians to come out and say publicly that the Russians are willing to renegotiate the 1972 ABM Treaty, or to set it aside entirely and renegotiate a new strategic partnership with the United States.

Now, as part of that diplomatic effort, the United States talking about perhaps new trade or other military cooperation with the Russians -- the president trying to create a diplomatic opening, believing that, if President Putin were to say, "This is something worth talking about; this is something we will negotiate with the United States," that it would buy his administration months, if not a little bit more time, to then try to continue with the testing of that program back in the United States and continue with the difficult diplomacy of convincing key European allies, especially the French and the Germans, to go along as well -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, John King, reporting in from London -- Colleen.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Carol.

And we did pick up on those themes. Just a few minutes ago, I spoke with Karen Hughes, who's counselor to President Bush, about those efforts to try to create a diplomatic opening in some of these trouble spots, like the global warming issue and like the missile defense plan, in his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Let's take a look at that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN HUGHES, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: I think what President Bush has said is that he wants to explore with President Putin the idea of maybe an amendment or some changes to the ABM Treaty to allow America to deploy effective missile defenses to help defend our own country plus our allies and friends from the new threats of the world.

The ABM Treaty, as you well know, was negotiated almost 30 years ago. It was a very different time. Back then, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in an armed conflict. The hostilities of the Cold War were going on. And it's a very different time now.

And both the United States, our allies and friends, and Russia, have to worry about new threats -- different threats from rogue nations and terrorists and those who want to send missiles to destroy us. I think a lot of Americans may not realize that we do not have an effective way to defend our nation, our homeland, and our citizens from the threat of a terrorist launching a ballistic missile against the United States.

And that's what President Bush wants to explore and further discuss what President Putin at his meeting later this week.

MCEDWARDS: Right.

But critics say that President Bush isn't giving Mr. Putin enough, that there has to be some sort of compromise here to give Russia a sense that a new American missile defense system wouldn't mushroom into another arms race. And are you saying now that he is willing to look at just amending that treaty and not throwing it out completely?

HUGHES: Well, Colleen, I think that's what the president has said all along: that he is committed to protecting America's interests, to moving forward with plans to develop an effective missile defense.

(CROSSTALK)

MCEDWARDS: But does it have to be a whole new treaty?

HUGHES: ... with.

MCEDWARDS: Sorry, does it have to be a whole new treaty?

HUGHES: No, it does not. As Secretary of State Powell has previously indicated, there are a lot of different options that would allow us to proceed with testing of missile defenses. And he thinks it's important for the safety and security of the American people that we do so.

MCEDWARDS: All right. Now, the administration has been criticized for arriving again in Europe a second time without a strategy on global warming. Can you respond to that?

HUGHES: Well, Colleen, that's clearly an issue that President Bush takes very seriously. The whole issue of global climate change is something our administration is serious about. And our Cabinet- level review is ongoing into that issue.

I think that some in Europe had hoped that the president would support a treaty that, frankly, just didn't have any support in the United States of America. It was -- when the United States Senate was asked to express its opinion, 95 to nothing it said that the Kyoto Treaty was not -- was a flawed treaty. That was not the way for the United States of America to go.

Now, here in Europe, there are some nations who get a lot of their energy from alternative sources of power such as nuclear power, such as wind. And President Bush wants to explore those alternatives in the United States of America. But it is not realistic to expect that the United States of America can get, at this moment, 80 percent of its energy from nuclear power -- as France does, for example -- or 30 percent of its energy from wind sources, as other countries her in Europe do.

So President Bush is -- takes this issue seriously and wants to continue to discuss it with our friends and allies here in Europe.

MCEDWARDS: And you know how controversial the issue has been in Europe. I mean, is there anything going on behind the scenes now to reach a compromise on this issue?

HUGHES: Well, we have representatives attending the climate change on -- in Bonn as we speak. As the president is here in Europe, we also have representatives of our government attending the Bonn summit on climate change.

And so, again, President Bush will once again assure our allies and friends here in Europe that this is an issue we take very seriously. However, he is committed to protecting America's interests and will not take any action that exempts -- the Kyoto treaty, as you recall, exempts many -- much of the developing world from its requirements. And, therefore, we feel it puts an unfair burden on the United States of America, yet does not address the problem in a truly global way.

MCEDWARDS: Ms. Hughes, the Senate's top Democrat, Tom Daschle, has said that he thinks the administration is eroding the United States leadership in the world.

Let me quote from him. He says that the U.S. isolating itself and minimizing itself. I mean, do you think that U.S. positions on issues like global warming and missile defense in any way contribute to that perception?

HUGHES: Well, I think a couple of things about that, Colleen.

First of all, I think it's a very unseemly departure from tradition for the Senate majority leader to engage in that kind of partisanship when the United States President is carrying our country's message abroad.

There's a longstanding bipartisan tradition for support for American foreign policy, particularly when the president is representing our country and our citizens in a foreign nation, as he is on this trip, and at a major international summit. So I hope that that's just the sign that the Senate majority leader is still learning the ropes of his new job. Still, there's really no excuse. And I don't think the American people will look very kindly on that type of unseemly departure from this longstanding bipartisan tradition.

The second thing, however, is that it is oddly disconnected from reality. Just this morning, President Putin is in the newspapers talking about wanting to work with the West in new ways. Just this week, a leader from Africa talked about how the Bush administration more early and more often has been effectively engaged with Africa, launching a new global fund, for example, to fight AIDS. President Bush visited Europe on his last trip and talked about a new vision for Europe and America working in partnership with the world to extend the blessings of freedom to the less developed nations. So I think that his criticisms are way off base. He talked about the Middle East, for example. Secretary of State Powell is engaged in almost hour-for-hour, minute-for-minute basis with the Middle East. And the president frequently talks with leaders in the Middle East. So I think the criticisms are both way off the mark and, frankly, quite unseemly for the majority leader of the United States Senate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: Karen Hughes, counselor to President Bush. And that G8 summit that she referred to begins tomorrow in Genoa, Italy.

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