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Insight & Analysis from Former Defense Secretary William Cohen

Aired June 22, 2004 - 12:30   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.


ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Let's get some insight now into the news of the day and some analysis from one of our regular contributors, the former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen. He joins us now from New York. Secretary Cohen, good to see you.
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Good to see you, Zain.

VERJEE: Only eight days away to the handover of power in Iraq, June 30. Do you think that the Iraqi Governing Council has the resources, is capable -- excuse, me, the Iraqi interim government -- has the resources or is capable of governing Iraq, or are they, in the words of one journalist I heard earlier today, being handed a poisoned chalice?

COHEN: Well, I think it's always going to be in the process of becoming. You must start somewhere. Anytime you want to have a transfer of power, it has to begin at some point, and I think that point has arrived, and it will help at least transform the image of what is taking place, by saying now Iraqis are in charge of their political system on the interim basis, and therefore the insurgents are waging war against the Iraqi people. That would be a change or a shift or a transformation of the image itself.

The reality is that the United States and the coalition forces are still going to be in charge of the security until such time as the sufficient number of Iraqis can be trained, police, security and military.

VERJEE: Eight British military personnel have been detained in Iran. Iran is saying that their boats had crossed into Iranian territory. And I'm wondering whether you think that this is really an issue of international maritime law, and the Iranians are just sticking to that, or if you think there's something more to it?

COHEN: It could be several things that account for their apprehension and detaining. First of all, this has -- this border has been in dispute for some time, and there have been clashes over the years. There was a war fought because of claims on the territorial integrity of those waters, in terms of them being either Iranian or Iraqi. So this is not something that's new. And so it could be just a situation where the boats may have gone over the line and they were arrested and detained.

But secondly, it could also be a diversion of sorts. The international community is coming down, we hope, fairly hard on the issue of the development of nuclear power or nuclear weapons. This may be an effort on the part of the Iranian people or the government to say, we are going to insist upon our territorial sovereignty, integrity, and not going to have it infringed upon. And so it could be a secondary message coming through here, but basically I think this will be resolved peacefully. There is no -- well, from what I can see there is no effort to put a military operation into Iranian waters. So we'll have to wait and see, but I think it will be resolved peacefully and they'll be released.

VERJEE: What is the timeline, do you think, of a situation like this that would turn it from just being what it is now to a crisis?

COHEN: I think if this were to be prolonged for a number of days -- one, I think the international community would just start to become much more actively engaged in this. Right now, I think it's an issue of a dispute about whether there were over the line or not. But if this were to drag on, if they could not resolve whether or not the intent of the individuals, the British military were really trying to intentionally invade and possibly do some covert surveillance for whatever purpose, then I think the tensions would start to ratchet up. But I think -- I don't think this is the situation. I think this will be resolved fairly soon.

VERJEE: You were Clinton's defense secretary. His memoirs are out, do you think that they and also in his own book tour, his own public appearances will hurt or help Kerry?

COHEN: Hard to say whether that would be helpful or hurtful. I think for the next month during the course of this tour, he will take (UNINTELLIGIBLE), so to speak, out of the political drama that's unfolding, and I think that until such time as the Democratic Convention takes place, the talk will be more about John Kerry than about Bill Clinton. After that, John Kerry will emerge as the official nominee, and then we'll see the focus shift from Bill Clinton to John Kerry.

I don't know than anyone can speculate that ultimately his service of office, those eight years, will have a positive impact upon John Kerry, that good days are here again or happy days are here again, or whether it will be seen as a negative; conservatives attacking Bill Clinton personally and trying to transfer that attack to John Kerry. I think it's all a matter of speculation, and we'll have to wait and see how it unfolds.

VERJEE: OK. Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, thank you so much. Good to see you.

COHEN: Thank you, Zain.

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 June 22, 2004 - 12:30:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Let's get some insight now into the news of the day and some analysis from one of our regular contributors, the former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen. He joins us now from New York. Secretary Cohen, good to see you.
WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Good to see you, Zain.

VERJEE: Only eight days away to the handover of power in Iraq, June 30. Do you think that the Iraqi Governing Council has the resources, is capable -- excuse, me, the Iraqi interim government -- has the resources or is capable of governing Iraq, or are they, in the words of one journalist I heard earlier today, being handed a poisoned chalice?

COHEN: Well, I think it's always going to be in the process of becoming. You must start somewhere. Anytime you want to have a transfer of power, it has to begin at some point, and I think that point has arrived, and it will help at least transform the image of what is taking place, by saying now Iraqis are in charge of their political system on the interim basis, and therefore the insurgents are waging war against the Iraqi people. That would be a change or a shift or a transformation of the image itself.

The reality is that the United States and the coalition forces are still going to be in charge of the security until such time as the sufficient number of Iraqis can be trained, police, security and military.

VERJEE: Eight British military personnel have been detained in Iran. Iran is saying that their boats had crossed into Iranian territory. And I'm wondering whether you think that this is really an issue of international maritime law, and the Iranians are just sticking to that, or if you think there's something more to it?

COHEN: It could be several things that account for their apprehension and detaining. First of all, this has -- this border has been in dispute for some time, and there have been clashes over the years. There was a war fought because of claims on the territorial integrity of those waters, in terms of them being either Iranian or Iraqi. So this is not something that's new. And so it could be just a situation where the boats may have gone over the line and they were arrested and detained.

But secondly, it could also be a diversion of sorts. The international community is coming down, we hope, fairly hard on the issue of the development of nuclear power or nuclear weapons. This may be an effort on the part of the Iranian people or the government to say, we are going to insist upon our territorial sovereignty, integrity, and not going to have it infringed upon. And so it could be a secondary message coming through here, but basically I think this will be resolved peacefully. There is no -- well, from what I can see there is no effort to put a military operation into Iranian waters. So we'll have to wait and see, but I think it will be resolved peacefully and they'll be released.

VERJEE: What is the timeline, do you think, of a situation like this that would turn it from just being what it is now to a crisis?

COHEN: I think if this were to be prolonged for a number of days -- one, I think the international community would just start to become much more actively engaged in this. Right now, I think it's an issue of a dispute about whether there were over the line or not. But if this were to drag on, if they could not resolve whether or not the intent of the individuals, the British military were really trying to intentionally invade and possibly do some covert surveillance for whatever purpose, then I think the tensions would start to ratchet up. But I think -- I don't think this is the situation. I think this will be resolved fairly soon.

VERJEE: You were Clinton's defense secretary. His memoirs are out, do you think that they and also in his own book tour, his own public appearances will hurt or help Kerry?

COHEN: Hard to say whether that would be helpful or hurtful. I think for the next month during the course of this tour, he will take (UNINTELLIGIBLE), so to speak, out of the political drama that's unfolding, and I think that until such time as the Democratic Convention takes place, the talk will be more about John Kerry than about Bill Clinton. After that, John Kerry will emerge as the official nominee, and then we'll see the focus shift from Bill Clinton to John Kerry.

I don't know than anyone can speculate that ultimately his service of office, those eight years, will have a positive impact upon John Kerry, that good days are here again or happy days are here again, or whether it will be seen as a negative; conservatives attacking Bill Clinton personally and trying to transfer that attack to John Kerry. I think it's all a matter of speculation, and we'll have to wait and see how it unfolds.

VERJEE: OK. Former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, thank you so much. Good to see you.

COHEN: Thank you, Zain.

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