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Cohen Weighs In on Iraq

Aired July 13, 2004 - 12:32   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.


DALJIT DHALIWAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Now we're joined by former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen now for our regular weekly discussion of events in the news, and he now heads the Cohen Group, an international business consulting firm, and he joins us from Washington.
Thanks very much for joining us, Mr. Cohen.

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Good to be here.

DHALIWAL: Let's talk about the situation in Iraq. Does it appear that it pays to talk to Iraqi militants if you want your nationals freed?

COHEN: Well, there are obviously some delicate discussions going on, as we speak, and we should always take care when we're dealing with an individual citizen or a soldier, for that matter.

But, clearly, there is a larger issue involved as well, and I'm sure that President Arroyo has that very much in mind in terms of -- her troops are coming home, in any event, in about a month or so, but the cruelty of the group that are holding the individual now, Mr. de la Cruz, it's obvious, and they're trying to accelerate the troops' departure a month or so early.

And so she has a delicate issue to deal with domestically, but also an important one internationally as to whether or not by yielding to the demands of the terrorist groups, whether she's going to be encouraging more hostage-taking by others.

DHALIWAL: Do you think that's what's going to happen?

COHEN: I don't think anyone can tell at this point. I think that she's going to weigh that both from a domestic point of view, but also international. I think the -- basically, most countries understand that when you yield to these kinds of threats, you only give an incentive for more types of soft targets, hostage-taking and more extortion, but that's an issue that she'll have to resolve consistent with her own security interests and domestic and political situation.

DHALIWAL: One of the interesting things, of course, is that the Philippines is a key ally in the war on terror, and, when it comes to cracking down on the insurgency back at home, Mrs. Arroyo has made no bones about that, but it seems that it's fine to talk apparently to hostage- takers in Iraq.

COHEN: Well, it's a difficult issue for many countries -- Japan, South Korea, other countries who are contributing troops to the region. It's very unpopular within their own domestic constituencies, and so there is some political risk involved on the part of all concerned.

But most leaders understand that this is an international problem and there are international consequences, and so they have to weigh that, and I'm sure that President Arroyo will do precisely that, trying to measure the gravity of the decision involved, an individual's life weighed against what could take place in the future, but there are no easy calls in this particular case.

I think it's very clear on the part of the United States and coalition forces that they prefer that no "negotiations" or discussion take place under these kinds of conditions, but that's something only a national leader can determine for themselves.

DHALIWAL: How do you think it is going to -- what kind of knock-on (ph) effect is it going to have for the coalition and what about the whole area of U.S. and Filipino relations? Do you think that's going to be affected in any way in the long-term?

COHEN: Well, there are other countries certainly who are prepared to increase their support. South Korea, I mentioned just a moment ago, is going to increase its participation to about 3,000 personnel. I think they have something like 600 there now. They're going to increase to up to 3,000 which will make them tied with Italy for the third largest contributor to the coalition forces, and so others are going to continue to support the effort there.

With respect to the issue of impact on relations, the position of the United States must be to persuade and not to try and talk about invoking any kind of sanctions or consequences. Ours is to persuade and not to try to push, and I think that that is precisely the relationship we will continue to have with the Philippine government.

They are strong allies of the United States. They will remain so. This is an issue that is of some importance, obviously, but it is not going to disrupt our relations with them, whatever decision is made.

DHALIWAL: OK. I think we've got time for a very quick question on U.S. election politics. There has been talking of delaying the elections. What do you make of that?

COHEN: I think that's a lot of speculation. Dr. Rice indicated very clearly that that is not the position of the current administration. I think there are some issues that certainly should be discussed and looked at by a panel, a blue-ribbon panel of experts, saying what if there were a number of terrorist acts taking place during election day, what would be the consequences, how would we cope with it.

But I think any effort on the part of the administration to pursue this would be counterproductive and would be seen as Florida writ large and would be met with political opposition and quite strenuous opposition at this point. So I think it's academic at this point, and perhaps that's where it should remain, at least in the near future.

DHALIWAL: All right. William Cohen. Thanks very much for joining us.

COHEN: My pleasure.

END

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Aired July 13, 2004 - 12:32:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DALJIT DHALIWAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Now we're joined by former U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen now for our regular weekly discussion of events in the news, and he now heads the Cohen Group, an international business consulting firm, and he joins us from Washington.
Thanks very much for joining us, Mr. Cohen.

WILLIAM COHEN, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Good to be here.

DHALIWAL: Let's talk about the situation in Iraq. Does it appear that it pays to talk to Iraqi militants if you want your nationals freed?

COHEN: Well, there are obviously some delicate discussions going on, as we speak, and we should always take care when we're dealing with an individual citizen or a soldier, for that matter.

But, clearly, there is a larger issue involved as well, and I'm sure that President Arroyo has that very much in mind in terms of -- her troops are coming home, in any event, in about a month or so, but the cruelty of the group that are holding the individual now, Mr. de la Cruz, it's obvious, and they're trying to accelerate the troops' departure a month or so early.

And so she has a delicate issue to deal with domestically, but also an important one internationally as to whether or not by yielding to the demands of the terrorist groups, whether she's going to be encouraging more hostage-taking by others.

DHALIWAL: Do you think that's what's going to happen?

COHEN: I don't think anyone can tell at this point. I think that she's going to weigh that both from a domestic point of view, but also international. I think the -- basically, most countries understand that when you yield to these kinds of threats, you only give an incentive for more types of soft targets, hostage-taking and more extortion, but that's an issue that she'll have to resolve consistent with her own security interests and domestic and political situation.

DHALIWAL: One of the interesting things, of course, is that the Philippines is a key ally in the war on terror, and, when it comes to cracking down on the insurgency back at home, Mrs. Arroyo has made no bones about that, but it seems that it's fine to talk apparently to hostage- takers in Iraq.

COHEN: Well, it's a difficult issue for many countries -- Japan, South Korea, other countries who are contributing troops to the region. It's very unpopular within their own domestic constituencies, and so there is some political risk involved on the part of all concerned.

But most leaders understand that this is an international problem and there are international consequences, and so they have to weigh that, and I'm sure that President Arroyo will do precisely that, trying to measure the gravity of the decision involved, an individual's life weighed against what could take place in the future, but there are no easy calls in this particular case.

I think it's very clear on the part of the United States and coalition forces that they prefer that no "negotiations" or discussion take place under these kinds of conditions, but that's something only a national leader can determine for themselves.

DHALIWAL: How do you think it is going to -- what kind of knock-on (ph) effect is it going to have for the coalition and what about the whole area of U.S. and Filipino relations? Do you think that's going to be affected in any way in the long-term?

COHEN: Well, there are other countries certainly who are prepared to increase their support. South Korea, I mentioned just a moment ago, is going to increase its participation to about 3,000 personnel. I think they have something like 600 there now. They're going to increase to up to 3,000 which will make them tied with Italy for the third largest contributor to the coalition forces, and so others are going to continue to support the effort there.

With respect to the issue of impact on relations, the position of the United States must be to persuade and not to try and talk about invoking any kind of sanctions or consequences. Ours is to persuade and not to try to push, and I think that that is precisely the relationship we will continue to have with the Philippine government.

They are strong allies of the United States. They will remain so. This is an issue that is of some importance, obviously, but it is not going to disrupt our relations with them, whatever decision is made.

DHALIWAL: OK. I think we've got time for a very quick question on U.S. election politics. There has been talking of delaying the elections. What do you make of that?

COHEN: I think that's a lot of speculation. Dr. Rice indicated very clearly that that is not the position of the current administration. I think there are some issues that certainly should be discussed and looked at by a panel, a blue-ribbon panel of experts, saying what if there were a number of terrorist acts taking place during election day, what would be the consequences, how would we cope with it.

But I think any effort on the part of the administration to pursue this would be counterproductive and would be seen as Florida writ large and would be met with political opposition and quite strenuous opposition at this point. So I think it's academic at this point, and perhaps that's where it should remain, at least in the near future.

DHALIWAL: All right. William Cohen. Thanks very much for joining us.

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