Typically, these interviews come in multiples, but they arrive
sporadically. These are he first to appear. If more come in I will add
them to this post.
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| U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton attends a dinner hosted by
Swiss authorities after a meeting of the Action Group for Syria at the
European headquarters of the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland,
Saturday, June 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Laurent Gillieron, Pool) |
Interview With Michele Kelemen of NPR
Interview
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Geneva, Switzerland
July 1, 2012
QUESTION:
Thank you for joining us here. Kofi Annan called it a serious
agreement, this push for a new transitional government, but it seems
quite vague. He said that it can include current government officials
and opposition figures, as long as there’s mutual consent. But aren’t
you worried that this just is a new recipe for more conflict? I mean,
how do warring parties come to an agreement on who’s in the government?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, the transition plan that we have adopted in this document makes
very clear that the Special Envoy will be working to determine who can
be in a transitional governing body based on mutual consent, which means
people with blood on their hands or jihadi extremists are not going to
be at the table.
And I think it’s important to just pause and say –
I am familiar, intimately, with a few peace processes, and you do not
sit down in the beginning with people that you even want to talk to or
see. It was so remarkable this week that Martin McGuinness shook Queen
Elizabeth’s hand. He was a commander in the IRA. And so you don’t know
how this is going to all play out unless you get started. And my point
is: Let’s get started. And we couldn’t get started until we had an
agreement of the most interested parties, which of course included
Russia and China. We now have such an agreement, and we’re fully behind
Kofi Annan’s effort.
QUESTION: You spent a lot of
time talking to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when we were in
St. Petersburg. Do you get the sense that the Russians are really ready
to lean on Bashar al-Assad? And do you think the Russians have influence
with him?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I think the answer
to the first question is yes, I believe they are ready to lean. They
have told me that. They have made clear they have no continuing
strategic interest in Assad remaining in power. So I have every reason
to believe – both on what I was told by Minister Lavrov yesterday and
what he said in our meeting all day today – that they will make the case
that there needs to be this transition.
Whether he has influence
and leverage to the extent that we would want to see won’t be known
until it is tested. But at least now we’re in a position where we can
together be pushing the Assad regime and the opposition.
Michele,
there are so many terrible things about this violence that has gone on
for so long: the fact of the violence, the loss of life, the
destruction, the government abusing and killing its own people. But I
think today it became very clear that everyone, including Russia and
China, is worried about it spreading. So the motivation and the focus
today was very clear to me. Now we just have to work to see what we can
do with it.
QUESTION: And the fact that Turkey
was there, and just had this incident with the Turkish plane being
downed, did that influence that aspect of the conversation?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
I think it did. Because in my remarks, for example, at the plenary this
morning, I was able to point at Iraq sitting there, I was able to point
at Turkey sitting there, mentioned Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the
countries in the region that are already dealing with the repercussions
of the violence and instability in Syria. And everyone around that table
knew that we could – if we didn’t act today and get behind this
transition plan – be sitting in six months with a literal war in the
region on our hands that was destabilizing country after country. And
Turkey was very clear about its worries that that was one of the
outcomes if we failed.
QUESTION: But Kofi Annan
had very strong words – that history is a somber judge; it will judge us
harshly if we prove incapable of taking the right path. How is this
crisis weighing on you?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I
not only think about it and worry about it, I work on it a lot. I mean,
in the last 24 hours, between St. Petersburg and Geneva, it has been
the principle focus of all of my efforts. And it’s because I care deeply
about the kind of abuses that no people should suffer in the 21st century. That is absolutely one of my highest priorities, is to work as hard as I can to end these kinds of terrible conflicts.
But
it’s also because I am very worried that, in the absence of the leading
nations that were gathered here today and the others we can bring on
board doing everything we can to send a message to both the government
and the opposition that they’ve got to begin negotiating about a
transition, we will see some really serious and dangerous consequences
for the region, for U.S. interests, and in fact, as one of my colleagues
said, for the whole world.
QUESTION: Just one quick thing. I mean none of his plan has worked so far, so what makes you think --
SECRETARY CLINTON:
I want to be caught trying. I can’t, sitting here today, tell you
whether Assad is ready to stop killing his own people. Usually you don’t
get to a peace table, negotiate transition, until something happens and
those with the guns, on whatever side they are, finally decide that
there’s got to be a better way. I mean, we negotiated for more than a
year in Yemen. We had former President Ali Abdullah Saleh up to the
signing desk three or four times, and he would back off every time. So
there’s nobody anywhere that is more aware of all of the problems we
have going forward.
But I am 100 percent convinced that we have to
begin changing the reality in the minds and on the ground. And having
Russia and China sign up to this lengthy list of guidelines and
principles will, I believe, give us the opening to do just that.
QUESTION: Thank you so much for your time today.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Michele.
_____________________________________________________________
Interview With Indira Lakshmanan of Bloomberg
Interview
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Geneva, Switzerland
July 1, 2012
QUESTION:
Thank you, Secretary Clinton, so much for making the time. I know it’s
been a very long day. (Laughter.) All right. Can we get started? Great.
So
today in Geneva this political transition plan that has been endorsed
didn’t have the strongest language that the U.S. had hoped for. What
makes you think that Russia and China are committed to pulling their
support for Assad? What makes you think this is going to work?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I believe it did have strong language. We can always, in any
document, worry over and argue over words, but the bottom line is that
it pledged to support a transitional governing body whose members can
only be put on that body by mutual consent. So as I said in the meeting
when we were working together, I don’t think you have to be up on
current events to know that no member of the opposition is going to have
Assad or anyone else with blood on their hands on the transition body.
So
I think the important achievement was to get a unified P-5, plus the
permanent members of the Security Council, plus other key actors to
really endorse Kofi Annan’s guidelines and principles so that he was
empowered. He can now go to the Assad regime and say we have to start
talking about a transition and not be met with well, we don’t have to do
that, because Russia and China don’t agree with us. And I believe that
it was a significant step forward in giving him the tools that he needs
to test whether it is possible to mediate this very bloody, violent
conflict.
QUESTION: So not everything you had hoped for, but better than it could have been?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Oh, I didn’t know that we were going to be able to get anything when we
started. There was every reason to believe that we would never get the
Russians and the Chinese on board or that we would ever satisfy the
legitimate anxieties of the region about what is happening on their
doorstep. Turkey, of course, was here today. And I think the fact we did
demonstrated a recognition by the Action Group of the high stakes.
I
mean, it’s not enough just to wring our hands and make impassioned
speeches about how terrible the Assad regime is and how they are
deteriorating into a civil war that will have regional consequences. We
needed to put some flesh on the bones. And the only way to do that
within the existing framework was to empower Kofi Annan. That’s what he
was asking for; that’s what he wanted. And I really judge the success by
the fact that he believes – and I agree with him – that he now has a
stronger hand to play then he did yesterday.
QUESTION:
So the challenge, as you said, is in the implementation. Now, you’ve
publicly criticized Russia for selling arms to the Syrian regime. So if
an arms embargo were agreed to, would Russia abide by it? And could the
U.S. force its allies – Saudi Arabia and Qatar – to stop arming the
opposition?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I think that’s one
of the issues that we’re going to have to be discussing further as we
go forward. Clearly, the United States believes that ending the arming
of the Assad government is the first order of business. The Russians
continue to claim that they are not providing anything that can be used
to suppress internal dissent. We beg to differ.
But nevertheless, I
think where we are today gives us the basis for going to the UN
Security Council to discuss what consequences have to be considered and
imposed if after empowering Kofi Annan he comes to the Security Council
and reports to us – as he said he will do – that the government’s not
cooperating, that other parties are not cooperating, that he’s not
making progress. Then I think we will have to act. And I believe we will
be building the case as to why the Security Council should take such
action.
QUESTION: Well, that’s actually what I
wanted to move to. Is the next step proposing a Chapter 7 mandate at the
UN Security Council that could mandate sanctions or authorize military
force to stop the slaughter? And would China and Russia agree to that?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I think we are going to test first whether we can get the
agreement we reached today implemented. And we are certainly going to
consider any and all appropriate action through the Security Council as
circumstances require. So I don’t want to answer a hypothetical, because
we’ve just finished a very long day of very hard negotiations, and the
fact that we came out united and determined to empower Kofi Annan has to
be given some time to be tested.
But I said – and I said it again
in my press avail after the session today – that we, the United States,
are perfectly free to propose whatever we believe is necessary in the
Security Council, and we will listen closely to Kofi Annan’s reports to
us.
QUESTION: Let me just turn for a moment to
Iran’s nuclear program. You recently sat for an interview with former
Secretary of State James Baker in which he said that at the end of the
day, if pressure and talks don’t work, we ought to take them out. You
said that the end of the day might be next year. How much time are you
giving for diplomacy and sanctions?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, what I meant was that we’ve always had a two-track policy. The
President’s been very clear on that. The pressure track is our primary
focus now, and we believe that the economic sanctions are bringing Iran
to the table. They are going to continue to increase and cause economic
difficulties for them. But the President has said no option is off the
table. We obviously, clearly, prefer that we resolve the international
community’s dispute with Iran over their nuclear program through the
diplomatic channels that we are pursuing. That is what we’re focused on
and that’s what we’re going to do everything we can to make successful.
QUESTION:
Last question on Pakistan. It’s been seven months since the accidental
attack that killed some Pakistani soldiers and the Pakistanis shut their
supply lines. Relations have been frozen since. Why not just apologize
and try to move on?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we
have a number of issues with the Pakistanis that we are continuing to
consult with them over. It goes on constantly. It may not be in the
headlines, but there is a constant exchange of military and civilian
experts. And I want to look at this comprehensively. And there are a
number of issues that are important to the United States, and there are
issues that are important to Pakistan, but it has to be negotiated in
order to resolve any of them. And we’re still in the process of trying
to do that.
QUESTION: Is an apology still possible?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, I’m not going to get into the specifics, because there are a lot
of things we want from them, and they want things from us, and we’re
just going to have to see what is possible to get the relationship
moving. As I’ve said many times, I think this is a consequential
relationship. I think it has great impact on America’s national security
interests, on the regional interests. And so we are continuing to work
as hard as we can to try to resolve the ongoing differences between us.
QUESTION: Thank you so much, Madam Secretary.
__________________________________________________________
Interview With Jill Dougherty of CNN
Interview
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Geneva, Switzerland
July 1, 2012
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, thank you very much. I know it’s been a very long and intense day.
Let’s begin with that critical point that you’ve talked about so many
times, that Assad has to step down, leave. Now, it appears that the
Russians won that point. There is no direct demand that Assad go.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Jill, I couldn’t disagree with you
more. I think that what the agreement clearly states is that there has
to be a transitional governing body that will be constituted of people
who are there by the mutual consent of the government and the
opposition. Now, unless I am wildly off base, there is no way anyone in
the opposition would ever consent to Assad or his inside regime cronies
with blood on their hands being on any transitional governing body.
But I said weeks ago that Assad going could be an outcome as well as a
precondition, and what was important is that we were on a path with an
empowered Special Envoy with the full support of all the P-5 members,
including Russia and China, with an approach that absolutely guarantees,
if there is a transition that is still the hard work ahead, Assad will
not be part of it.
And we’ve had lots of experience in this. I mean, we just went
through more than a year with Ali Abdullah Saleh in Yemen, and he kept
saying he would go, then he wouldn’t go. And people just kept bearing
down and pushing forward and eventually were successful.
But until today, we did not have the kind of roadmap in specifics,
with concrete actions, that you could telegraph to Damascus, where I
believe they are shocked that Russia and China have signed onto this
agreement, which so clearly says goodbye to them in this transition.
QUESTION: But the timing. In other words, this could be down the road; this could be a year from now. What?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, of course, making peace is really
hard. And when it happens and how it happens is dependent on so many
factors. And what we did today was to make clear that, for the first
time, we had agreed-upon approach that satisfied the Russians and the
Chinese and the neighbors, who are very anxious, for understandable
reasons, about what’s going on in Syria.
Jill, there’s no guarantee that we’re going to be successful. I just
hate to say that, because it’s the fact. But I am very grateful that we
now have a roadmap that has everybody on board with a clear path towards
transition, with a clear set of expectations that have to be fulfilled.
And now I believe the internal reality within both the regime and
elements of the opposition will begin to move in a direction that, I
hope, puts us on an inevitable path.
QUESTION: But how do you get to that transitional body? Because people are fighting.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Right.
QUESTION: I mean, isn’t it unrealistic to think that you’re going to get the body that you say will strip him of his power?
SECRETARY CLINTON: No, because I just look at history. I look
at the conflicts that I’m familiar with. I have to smile thinking about
Queen Elizabeth shaking the hand of Martin McGuinness, an IRA commander,
just this past week. Whenever you start with a process like this,
number one, there’s neither a guarantee as to the outcome nor as to the
timing, but you are beginning to change the international calculations
of everybody who is a party to the conflict.
And that’s what I think will really give Kofi Annan the support he
needs. Because now when he goes to Damascus and he says, “I have been
instructed by all Security Council members, including the Russians and
the Chinese, to begin talking to you about appointing an empowered
interlocutor to meet with me and meet with representatives of the
opposition. Who are you going to appoint?” and they’re not going to be
able to say, “Well, there’s division in the international community, and
there are a lot of people who are on our side.” They are pretty much
left with Iran.
QUESTION: Do you really believe that the Russians can convince Assad?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Jill, I think that’s a great question,
because one of the points that became clear, both in my long
conversations with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last night in St.
Petersburg and then in our larger group today – they have committed to
trying, but they’ve also admitted that they may or may not have enough
leverage to convince not just one man but a family and a regime that
their time is over. But what was important was to get them on board to
make this effort on their own, using their leverage, and in support of
Kofi Annan. And I think it’s a significant step forward in our efforts
to try to figure out the least violent, disruptive, destabilizing way to
end this conflict and give the Syrian people a chance at a different
future.
QUESTION: So if the Russians are supposed to influence Assad,
you are supposed to influence the opposition. How do you do that? What
do you say to them?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, not just me, but others as well. I
mean, we will have an American presence at the meeting of the opposition
in Cairo next week. But the Turks, the Qataris, the Arab League, all
who were part of our negotiations to reach this agreement today, will
all be there. Because what’s the alternative? I mean, what are they
going to do? Just continue to have meeting after meeting, or are they
going to buckle down to the hard work of choosing someone to – or
several people – to represent them in a transitional governing body to
engage in the negotiation. And they’re going to have to finally make a
decision about what it means to take responsibility for trying to end a
conflict and lead a nation.
We went through this in Libya. The Transitional National Council had
both members of the Qadhafi regime, who had fairly recently left, along
with longtime oppositionists. So we have seen how important it is to
have an organizing focus. We now have that. So at the meeting of the
opposition in Cairo, they will hear from a number of different voices
that you have to make some decisions about how to be part of this
process.
QUESTION: There are some people who say that the Russians want
to play this out, that they look at the election schedule in the United
States, November there’s an election, they realize that there’s little
appetite either in Washington or practically any other capital for
military action, and so they’re just playing it out, banking on the fact
that nobody is going to really take any type of strong military step.
What do you say to that?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I’d say that if we were talking a
week ago, based on what we were hearing from the Russians, from the very
highest levels, from President Putin on down, we would never have even
had the meeting in Geneva, they would not have come under any
circumstances, and they would not have participated in reaching the
agreement that we reached today. So what happened?
I think they have begun to realize that they are trying to ride two
horses at the same time, so to speak. They are constantly saying we have
no love lost for Assad, we don’t have any stake in him staying, but we
are afraid of the violence and what will come after. So the argument I
have made to them consistently is that their failure to be part of the
solution is the surest way to ensure we have a civil war with sectarian
conflict that spills over the borders.
And I can’t speak for them. I can’t put myself into their internal
discussions. But I believe, based on my lengthy conversation last night
and our discussions today, they’ve decided to get on one horse, and it’s
the horse that would back a transition plan that Kofi Annan would be
empowered to implement.
QUESTION: Okay. Could I ask you a quick question on Egypt?
President – incoming President Morsi wants to ask the United States to
extradite Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman from the World Trade Center attack in
1993 on the basis of – humanitarian basis. What would the U.S. do in
that case?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think it’s very clear that he was
given due process. He was tried and convicted for his participation in
terrorist activities, most particularly the bombing of the World Trade
Center in 1993. The evidence is very clear and convincing, and he was
sentenced to life in prison, and we have every reason to back the
process and the sentence that he received and will do so.
QUESTION: Madam Secretary, thank you very much.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Jill.
