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William Cohen: 9/11 Hearings

Aired March 23, 2004 - 12:40   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.


MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIOANL ANCHOR: More now on those important hearings into the September 11 attacks. Among those set to testify, former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, joining us now from Washington.
We're getting you just before you do have to testify. First of all, just for viewers internationally, give us a sense of how important these hearings are.

WILLIAM COHEN, FMR. DEFENSE SECRETARY: The hearings are important in order to go back and review all of the actions that were taken not only during the Clinton administration's eight years, but even prior to that time, and certainly into the new Bush administration. And I think it's important that we try and understand not only what actions were taken, some of which were quite successful, what actions were not taken and why.

There were a number of reasons some inhibitions, primarily due to a democratic process where there are competing interests that would oppose certain types of activities at any given instance. So I think it's important to paint the entire backdrop and then to try to develop a consensus on what needs to be done, as we are very much in this age of terror.

HOLMES: You know, I'm sure you've been listening to the hearings as they've gone with Madeleine Albright, and also Colin Powell. And one thing that strikes me, it's pretty much a case of, "Well it wasn't us. We did everything we could and we tried very hard." Are we likely to hear any mea culpas in these hearings?

COHEN: Well, I think it's important to establish accountability. All of us who were in positions of trust need to be accountable for all that we did or failed to do. But in addition to finding fault, I think it's more important to find the fault lines in our system.

What is it that we need to do, not only the United States, but the free world, to develop our system so that we can integrate information, that we can share information, that we can take actions which are sufficient to deter or defeat acts of terror directed against us without sacrificing our democratic ideals? Can we remain an open society and still a free society? What compromises are we all willing to accept in order to deal with the fact that you now have the intersection of terror and the intersection of technology so that individuals, not states, but individuals or groups of individuals now have access to weapons of mass destruction, chemical, biological, radiological, maybe even nuclear, and then can now cause catastrophic harm?

How do we live in a society such as that? What do we need to do to prevent that from taking place? All of that I think is very much involved in this analysis that's under way, rather than simply saying, should you have taken military action, launched a cruise missile, launched an invasion, what prevented you. Those are important issues, but ultimately the most important thing, can we as a free society work together to deter, detect and defeat acts of terror before they occur?

HOLMES: Well, this is part of our weekly chat, so I want to move on to some other issues as well, while we've got you seated there.

The Israeli targeted killing or targeted assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual founder of Hamas, good idea?

COHEN: Well, the Israelis have made a decision that they think that Israel is going to be safer with the leader eliminated than not. Time will prove whether that's true or not. In the meantime, I think there's likely to be a spike in violence. We've seen it already taking place in places outside of Israel itself and Iraq. And I suspect there'll be other examples of Muslim rage directed against the United States and others.

So it's a serious issue. I know the administration, the White House has issued its statement that it finds it troubling, deeply disturbing, and other types of characterizations. But ultimately, we'll have to see how this really plays out, whether Israel will be more secure or, indeed, less secure in the days to come.

HOLMES: Just one more before we have to let you go. And that is, Pakistan, the events that have been going on there, this so-called high- value target that might or might not be surrounded by Pakistani troops, the importance -- in fact, the significance of having Pakistani troops even in that area, this is an area where no Pakistan soldier has feared to tread before.

COHEN: This is an important event by virtue of President Musharraf establishing that he is going to work to root out al Qaeda and to work with the United States and other countries in order to defeat terrorism. It also shows what I believe the futility of the notion that you could put a few troops into that mountainous region and hope to capture or kill bin Laden or his associates.

We now have 13,500 American troops in that region. We have thousands of Pakistanis. We still have been unable to locate the leadership of al Qaeda.

I'm hopeful that it will prove successful in the coming days. But it's a very difficult thing to do. But the importance is that Pakistan is clearly on the side of this determination to combat al Qaeda and to root out terrorism.

HOLMES: But would Pakistan be on that side if it were not for the quid pro quos that invariably come its way related to its finances or related to its nuclear program?

COHEN: Well, I think it made a determination after September 11 that it was going to side with the United States, that this was an intolerable act, this was a heinous crime. And that it no longer was going to either recognize the Taliban, give sanctuary to the al Qaeda, and throw its weight behind the effort to eliminate them.

So I don't think it was done in any quid pro quo. We obviously want to have better relationships with Pakistan. We've seen the benefit of that, frankly, the world has, in terms of improved relations between India and Pakistan.

We want to encourage as much reconciliation as possible. And to the extent that Pakistan is now prepared to join the international effort to combat terrorism, so much for the better.

HOLMES: All right. Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen joining us from Washington.

Secretary Cohen, thanks so much.

COHEN: Thank you.

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


Aired March 23, 2004 - 12:40:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIOANL ANCHOR: More now on those important hearings into the September 11 attacks. Among those set to testify, former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, joining us now from Washington.
We're getting you just before you do have to testify. First of all, just for viewers internationally, give us a sense of how important these hearings are.

WILLIAM COHEN, FMR. DEFENSE SECRETARY: The hearings are important in order to go back and review all of the actions that were taken not only during the Clinton administration's eight years, but even prior to that time, and certainly into the new Bush administration. And I think it's important that we try and understand not only what actions were taken, some of which were quite successful, what actions were not taken and why.

There were a number of reasons some inhibitions, primarily due to a democratic process where there are competing interests that would oppose certain types of activities at any given instance. So I think it's important to paint the entire backdrop and then to try to develop a consensus on what needs to be done, as we are very much in this age of terror.

HOLMES: You know, I'm sure you've been listening to the hearings as they've gone with Madeleine Albright, and also Colin Powell. And one thing that strikes me, it's pretty much a case of, "Well it wasn't us. We did everything we could and we tried very hard." Are we likely to hear any mea culpas in these hearings?

COHEN: Well, I think it's important to establish accountability. All of us who were in positions of trust need to be accountable for all that we did or failed to do. But in addition to finding fault, I think it's more important to find the fault lines in our system.

What is it that we need to do, not only the United States, but the free world, to develop our system so that we can integrate information, that we can share information, that we can take actions which are sufficient to deter or defeat acts of terror directed against us without sacrificing our democratic ideals? Can we remain an open society and still a free society? What compromises are we all willing to accept in order to deal with the fact that you now have the intersection of terror and the intersection of technology so that individuals, not states, but individuals or groups of individuals now have access to weapons of mass destruction, chemical, biological, radiological, maybe even nuclear, and then can now cause catastrophic harm?

How do we live in a society such as that? What do we need to do to prevent that from taking place? All of that I think is very much involved in this analysis that's under way, rather than simply saying, should you have taken military action, launched a cruise missile, launched an invasion, what prevented you. Those are important issues, but ultimately the most important thing, can we as a free society work together to deter, detect and defeat acts of terror before they occur?

HOLMES: Well, this is part of our weekly chat, so I want to move on to some other issues as well, while we've got you seated there.

The Israeli targeted killing or targeted assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual founder of Hamas, good idea?

COHEN: Well, the Israelis have made a decision that they think that Israel is going to be safer with the leader eliminated than not. Time will prove whether that's true or not. In the meantime, I think there's likely to be a spike in violence. We've seen it already taking place in places outside of Israel itself and Iraq. And I suspect there'll be other examples of Muslim rage directed against the United States and others.

So it's a serious issue. I know the administration, the White House has issued its statement that it finds it troubling, deeply disturbing, and other types of characterizations. But ultimately, we'll have to see how this really plays out, whether Israel will be more secure or, indeed, less secure in the days to come.

HOLMES: Just one more before we have to let you go. And that is, Pakistan, the events that have been going on there, this so-called high- value target that might or might not be surrounded by Pakistani troops, the importance -- in fact, the significance of having Pakistani troops even in that area, this is an area where no Pakistan soldier has feared to tread before.

COHEN: This is an important event by virtue of President Musharraf establishing that he is going to work to root out al Qaeda and to work with the United States and other countries in order to defeat terrorism. It also shows what I believe the futility of the notion that you could put a few troops into that mountainous region and hope to capture or kill bin Laden or his associates.

We now have 13,500 American troops in that region. We have thousands of Pakistanis. We still have been unable to locate the leadership of al Qaeda.

I'm hopeful that it will prove successful in the coming days. But it's a very difficult thing to do. But the importance is that Pakistan is clearly on the side of this determination to combat al Qaeda and to root out terrorism.

HOLMES: But would Pakistan be on that side if it were not for the quid pro quos that invariably come its way related to its finances or related to its nuclear program?

COHEN: Well, I think it made a determination after September 11 that it was going to side with the United States, that this was an intolerable act, this was a heinous crime. And that it no longer was going to either recognize the Taliban, give sanctuary to the al Qaeda, and throw its weight behind the effort to eliminate them.

So I don't think it was done in any quid pro quo. We obviously want to have better relationships with Pakistan. We've seen the benefit of that, frankly, the world has, in terms of improved relations between India and Pakistan.

We want to encourage as much reconciliation as possible. And to the extent that Pakistan is now prepared to join the international effort to combat terrorism, so much for the better.

HOLMES: All right. Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen joining us from Washington.

Secretary Cohen, thanks so much.

COHEN: Thank you.

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