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12/21/2000
Colin Powell, Part I
On Saturday, December 16, President-elect George W. Bush
tabbed Colin Powell to be his new Secretary of State. Following
are some excerpts from Powell''s comments that day. When
"Hott Spotts" returns on Jan. 4 (after a one-week hiatus), I will
have a specific discussion on Powell with opinions pro and con.
For now, suffice it to say that I''m psyched. In the words of
George W., "I know of no better person to be the face and voice
of American diplomacy. Wherever he goes, and whomever he
meets, the world will see the finest of the United States of
America."
Colin Powell:
Mr. President-elect, during your administration you''ll be faced
with many challenges, and crises that we don''t know anything
about right now. But I believe that these challenges and these
crises will pale in comparison to the wonderful opportunities that
await us: Opportunities that have been brought about by the end
of the Cold War; by the spread of democracy and the free
enterprise system around the world; opportunities that come to us
because we held steadfast in our belief in democracy;
opportunities that will come to us because of the information
revolutions that are reshaping the world as we know it,
destroying political boundaries and all kinds of other boundaries,
as we are able to move information and capital data around the
world at the speed of light, able to move knowledge around the
world at the speed of light; opportunities that will come to us
because the old world map as we knew it of a red side and a blue
side, that competed for something called the third world is gone,
and the new map is a mosaic, a mosaic of many different pieces
and many different colors spreading around the world, a world
that has seen that communism did not work, fascism did not
work, Nazism did not work.
If you want to be successful in the 21st century, you must find
your path to democracy, market economics, and a system which
frees the talents of men and women to pursue their individual
destinies. And at the center of this revolution, America stands,
inspiration for the world that wants to be free, and we will
continue to be that inspiration by uniquely American
internationalism, as President-elect Bush has stated it.
Not by using our strength and our position of power to get back
behind our walls, but by being engaged with the world. By first
and foremost, letting our allies know that we appreciate all we
have been through over the last 50 years, and our alliances are as
strong now as they ever have been, and they are as needed now
as they ever have been, and we''ll work with our allies to expand
and make those alliances the center of our foreign policy activity.
We will work with those nations in the world that are
transforming themselves, nations such as China and Russia. We
will work with them not as potential enemies, and not as
adversaries, but not yet as strategic partners, but as nations that
are seeking their way.
We will have areas of agreement and areas of difference, and we
will discuss them in rational ways, letting them know of our
values, letting them know of the principles that we hold dear.
For those nations that are not yet on this path of democracy and
freedom, for those nations who are poorly led, led by failed
leaders pursuing failed policies that will give them failed results,
we will stand strong.
We will stand strong with our friends and allies against those
nations that pursue weapons of mass destruction, that practice
terrorism. We will not be afraid of them. We will not be
frightened by them. We will meet them. We will match them.
We will contend with them. We will defend our interests from a
position of strength.
That strength comes to us from the power of our system, the
democracy and free enterprise system. It comes to us from our
economic power. It comes to us from our military power. And
as we go into this new century, and as we begin this new
administration, we have to make sure that all of those elements
of power are protected and allowed to thrive even more.
With an economy that is strong, growing, part of the new
international system, global trade, with military power, we are
the best on the face of the earth. We''re going to keep it that way.
And we''re going to take actions early on to ensure that our
young men and women who might be called to go in harm''s way
have what they need to be successful. We owe that to them.
I spent a good part of my life helping those GIs get ready for
battle, and I spent a good part of my life up on Congress, before
Congress, working hard to get those troops what they needed.
Well, I don''t have to do that quite anymore, but I will certainly
be there with the secretary of defense, assisting the secretary in
getting what he needs for the military.
But I now will be up before the Congress, letting them know, in
the most powerful terms that I can muster, that the dedicated men
and women of the State Department need that same kind of
support.
They are in the front lines, they are part of this contest, they are
part of the battle, and we must make sure that when they go to do
the work of the American people they not only have the support
that they need, but they have the resources that they need, and
that will be a priority of my stewardship as Secretary of State.
So I think these are promising times, times of great opportunity,
but times, also, of challenge and danger. We are up to the task.
[After a review of his last year''s work with America''s Promise,
Powell concluded his formal remarks.]
I would just like to note that in the newspaper stories that will be
written about this occasion, they will say that Colin Powell, first
African-American to ever hold the position of secretary of state.
And I''m glad they will say that, and I want it repeated.
I want it repeated because I hope it will give inspiration to young
African-Americans coming along, but beyond that, all young
Americans coming along, that no matter where you began in this
society, with hard work and with dedication and with the
opportunities that are presented by this society, there are no
limitations upon you.
And I also want to pay tribute to so many people who helped me
reach this position in life: African-Americans who came before
me, who never could have risen to this position because the
conditions weren''t there, and they had to fight to change those
conditions.
For me, this isn''t history. It''s my lifetime. I was exposed to
these things in my lifetime. And I will work with President-elect
Bush and with Vice President-elect Cheney to do everything I
can do to help them, to show to America, as President-elect Bush
said the other evening, that this will be an administration, he will
be a president for all the people, all the time.
I know that is the deepest emotion in his heart. The American
people will see that in due course. We''ll get over these
difficulties that we have seen in recent days, and we''ll come
through this a stronger, greater nation on the way to that more
perfect union that we always dream about.
---
Q&A which followed Powell''s formal remarks:
[On the Middle East]
I expect it to be a major priority of mine, and of the department.
It will be based on the principle that we must always ensure that
Israel lives in freedom, and in security and peace. But at the
same time, we have to do everything we can to deal with the
aspirations of the Palestinians and the other nations in the region
who have an interest in this.
And so I think America will continue to be a friend to all sides.
America will continue to put forward ideas. America will remain
engaged until we can find that solution to this most difficult
problem.
But at the end of the day, it''s going to be the parties in the region
who will have to find that solution and come into agreement.
They are going to have to live with each other, and hopefully, in
the near future, we can find ways that they can accommodate
their differences, and find that elusive solution. It is elusive, but
it is out there somewhere, and hopefully, if it doesn''t happen in
the very near future and becomes something for us to manage,
you can be sure that we''ll be fully engaged in trying to find a
solution to that problem.
[On Iraq]
We''re in a different situation now than we had in 1991 and 1992.
At the end of the Gulf War, your acting regime agreed to the
conditions that brought an end to the conflict, that they would
fully account for all the weapons of mass destruction and other
evil technologies that they were working on.
They have not yet fulfilled those agreements, and my judgment is
that sanctions in some form must be kept in place until they do
so. We will work with our allies to re-energize the sanctions
regime. And I will make the case in every opportunity I get that
we''re not doing this to hurt the Iraqi people, we''re doing this to
protect the peoples of the region, the children of the region, who
would be the targets of these weapons of mass destruction if we
didn''t contain them and get rid of them.
Saddam Hussein is sitting on a failed regime that is not going to
be around in a few years'' time. The world is going to leave him
behind, and that regime behind, as the world marches to new
drummers, drummers of democracy and the free enterprise
system.
And I don''t know what it will take to bring him to his senses, but
we are in the strong position, he is in the weak position. And I
think it is possible to re-energize those sanctions, and to continue
to contain him, and then confront him should that become
necessary again.
---
Brian Trumbore
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