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Former Defense Secretary: Not all Lost Yet with Spain
Aired March 16, 2004 - 12:20 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.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, ANCHOR: Well, now for a closer look at Iraq and other international stories making news this day, former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen joins us each week with his perspective.
He's currently the chairman and chief executive officer of the Cohen Group.
Thank you, sir, for being with us again.
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: A pleasure, Rosemary.
CHURCH: I wonder if we can start by looking at the Spanish reaction to Thursday's terrorist bombings in Madrid. It resulted in this stunning victory by (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's as if that has been (ph) turning its back, Spain turning its back on the United States. In stark contrast to the Australian reaction to the Bali bombings back in 2002.
Just how concerned should the United States be with this reaction?
COHEN: Well, a year ago, we had a campaign called Shock and Awe. And now we seem to have a situation where it's Shock and Anger. That the Spanish people were reacting to the horror they had to suffer through last week and then with some suspicion that perhaps the government was misleading them and pointing to the Basque separatists as being the cause of that horror.
And so there's a lot of anger involved, No. 1, that the leaders seem to be going against the prevailing mood of the -- of the people. And then secondly, that they had been somewhat misled. We don't know whether the allegations are going to prove to be true or not, but nonetheless, that was the basis of the anger.
But the point to keep in mind is that the new prime minister has said two things. No. 1, that he would not take action -- he would take action in the absence of a U.N. Security Council resolution. Now that may be forthcoming, and so the Spanish troops might conceivably not be coming home, if in fact the U.N. passes a resolution really calling for greater international participation.
No. 2, he also said that he's going to continue to work with the United States and the world community in fighting this war against terrorism.
So there's at least two positive signs out of what otherwise would be a negative message.
CHURCH: Another result of this, though, is this geopolitical shift we're going to see. Spain not only turning its back on the United States but turning toward France and Germany. There are going to be massive ramifications for both Britain and the United States with that shift, aren't there?
COHEN: I think we have to at least take care here. The passions are still quite high. We have a new prime minister, new government, and the passions are high at the moment.
But I think we have to take this into account in terms of does Spain - - is Spain suggesting that it wishes to form a relationship with France and Germany as a, quote, "counterweight" to the United States? If that is the message, then I think it could prove to be quite counterproductive.
Secondly, take into account what happened in South Korea a year or so ago, where you had a new president who was elected on an anti-American theme and which he seemed to indicate he wanted greater distance and separation from the United States. A year later, he was calling for the introduction of South Korean troops into Iraq.
So much can change over a period of time, and we have to see how this will unfold.
Most important point to take into account: if the United States and others were to follow suit and say that it was a mistake that we are in Iraq and therefore, we're all pulling out, what would take place in Iraq would have grave consequences for the entire region, destabilizing it, in which Spain has a major interest, along with every other European country, including France and Germany, to make sure that doesn't take place.
So I think the international community has an interest in seeing to it that the coalition forces are, in fact, successful in trying to produce a Democratic form of government that will produce more stability and to isolate the Islamic extremists from carrying out their plan of horror.
So I think Spain has some interest in that and over a period of time, I am hopeful that the Spanish people will also see the wisdom in trying to put together a program and a participation that will help bring about the stability and security of Iraq, whatever their feelings were about the wisdom of going in.
CHURCH: If it is found that al Qaeda are indeed behind the bombings in Madrid, and certainly the evidence seems to be pointing in that direction, what does this mean for other coalition member countries? What do they need to do to protect their citizens? Are they doing enough at this point?
COHEN: Well, because we all live in a free and open society, those who subscribe to a democratic form of government, then we're all vulnerable. It doesn't matter whether you're in Europe or the United States or Asia. Any country that has an open democracy is going to be vulnerable to a few individuals who have access to terrible weapons.
And so we can take defensive measures. We can strengthen our border security. We can take a number of steps in order to try to defend our peoples. But ultimately, it has to be a very aggressive, active campaign on the international level, as both the leaders of France and Germany were suggesting in a press conference. We need global cooperation to really become very aggressive in trying to track down those individuals who are dedicated to the destruction of the civilized way of life.
CHURCH: William Cohen, thanks for joining us with your perspective this week. Appreciate it.
COHEN: My pleasure.
END
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Aired March 16, 2004 - 12:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, ANCHOR: Well, now for a closer look at Iraq and other international stories making news this day, former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen joins us each week with his perspective.
He's currently the chairman and chief executive officer of the Cohen Group.
Thank you, sir, for being with us again.
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: A pleasure, Rosemary.
CHURCH: I wonder if we can start by looking at the Spanish reaction to Thursday's terrorist bombings in Madrid. It resulted in this stunning victory by (UNINTELLIGIBLE). It's as if that has been (ph) turning its back, Spain turning its back on the United States. In stark contrast to the Australian reaction to the Bali bombings back in 2002.
Just how concerned should the United States be with this reaction?
COHEN: Well, a year ago, we had a campaign called Shock and Awe. And now we seem to have a situation where it's Shock and Anger. That the Spanish people were reacting to the horror they had to suffer through last week and then with some suspicion that perhaps the government was misleading them and pointing to the Basque separatists as being the cause of that horror.
And so there's a lot of anger involved, No. 1, that the leaders seem to be going against the prevailing mood of the -- of the people. And then secondly, that they had been somewhat misled. We don't know whether the allegations are going to prove to be true or not, but nonetheless, that was the basis of the anger.
But the point to keep in mind is that the new prime minister has said two things. No. 1, that he would not take action -- he would take action in the absence of a U.N. Security Council resolution. Now that may be forthcoming, and so the Spanish troops might conceivably not be coming home, if in fact the U.N. passes a resolution really calling for greater international participation.
No. 2, he also said that he's going to continue to work with the United States and the world community in fighting this war against terrorism.
So there's at least two positive signs out of what otherwise would be a negative message.
CHURCH: Another result of this, though, is this geopolitical shift we're going to see. Spain not only turning its back on the United States but turning toward France and Germany. There are going to be massive ramifications for both Britain and the United States with that shift, aren't there?
COHEN: I think we have to at least take care here. The passions are still quite high. We have a new prime minister, new government, and the passions are high at the moment.
But I think we have to take this into account in terms of does Spain - - is Spain suggesting that it wishes to form a relationship with France and Germany as a, quote, "counterweight" to the United States? If that is the message, then I think it could prove to be quite counterproductive.
Secondly, take into account what happened in South Korea a year or so ago, where you had a new president who was elected on an anti-American theme and which he seemed to indicate he wanted greater distance and separation from the United States. A year later, he was calling for the introduction of South Korean troops into Iraq.
So much can change over a period of time, and we have to see how this will unfold.
Most important point to take into account: if the United States and others were to follow suit and say that it was a mistake that we are in Iraq and therefore, we're all pulling out, what would take place in Iraq would have grave consequences for the entire region, destabilizing it, in which Spain has a major interest, along with every other European country, including France and Germany, to make sure that doesn't take place.
So I think the international community has an interest in seeing to it that the coalition forces are, in fact, successful in trying to produce a Democratic form of government that will produce more stability and to isolate the Islamic extremists from carrying out their plan of horror.
So I think Spain has some interest in that and over a period of time, I am hopeful that the Spanish people will also see the wisdom in trying to put together a program and a participation that will help bring about the stability and security of Iraq, whatever their feelings were about the wisdom of going in.
CHURCH: If it is found that al Qaeda are indeed behind the bombings in Madrid, and certainly the evidence seems to be pointing in that direction, what does this mean for other coalition member countries? What do they need to do to protect their citizens? Are they doing enough at this point?
COHEN: Well, because we all live in a free and open society, those who subscribe to a democratic form of government, then we're all vulnerable. It doesn't matter whether you're in Europe or the United States or Asia. Any country that has an open democracy is going to be vulnerable to a few individuals who have access to terrible weapons.
And so we can take defensive measures. We can strengthen our border security. We can take a number of steps in order to try to defend our peoples. But ultimately, it has to be a very aggressive, active campaign on the international level, as both the leaders of France and Germany were suggesting in a press conference. We need global cooperation to really become very aggressive in trying to track down those individuals who are dedicated to the destruction of the civilized way of life.
CHURCH: William Cohen, thanks for joining us with your perspective this week. Appreciate it.
COHEN: My pleasure.
END
TO ORDER VIDEOTAPES AND TRANSCRIPTS OF CNN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMING, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE THE SECURE ONLINE ORDER FROM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
