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| Madeline Albright Speaks.... |
| 2003-09-14 |
| When Madeleine Albright became Secretary of State, the Czech-born exile was the first woman to serve in that post. On the eve of the publication of her memoir, Madame Secretary (Miramax; 592 pages)—which covers everything from discovering belatedly that her family was Jewish to her years in the Clinton Administration—she spoke with TIME’s J.F.O. McAllister. Unlike other memoirs, Madame Secretary has hardly a hint of score settling. If you didn’t want to set the record straight, why did you write it? "The day-to-day making of policy is arguing all the time. You’re trying to get the right approach and the right answer, and there are moments that aren’t very pleasant. But in the end, you look at the overall product. Any differences we had [in the Clinton Administration] were so minimal compared to what I see in the Bush Administration, I thought: It’s just not worth it." ("...and let’s face it, I want to be a player in the next Democratic administration - from my lips to God’s ears - and I don’t want to pi*s anybody off too badly." ) Did you neglect the threat posed by Osama bin Laden and leave it for the Bush Administration to clean up? "President Clinton focused on terrorism from the start." ("...whenever the body count was too high to ignore..." ) "The CIA set up a special bin Laden division, and the President authorized the use of lethal force against him." ("...of course, we never did actually authorize anybody to FIND him..." ) "We struck his camp in 1998 after the embassy bombings, and we came close." ("...which, of course, only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades..." ) "President Bush has been in Afghanistan with 8,000 troops, and they still haven’t found him." ("...the fact that he probably wasn’t IN Afghanistan within about 30 seconds of the towers going down is Bush’s fault, too." ) Should the U.S. have invaded Iraq? "I always believed Saddam has the kind of record that justifies taking action." ("...and if there’d been a Gore Administration, we’d have had another eight years to diddle about deciding what kind of action." ) "I didn’t see Saddam as an imminent threat," ("...which is why we whacked his backside only when it would take the heat off Bubba..." ) "which is where I parted company with them ..." (I mean, if he’d have done it to distract the people from a scandal, okay, but geeze..." ) "I think the whole thing has been mishandled." ("...after all, what’s the point of having an Army if you won’t use it...um..whoops...didn’t say that...that was about bosnia, and that was good, got it?" ) Has the war made the problem of terrorism better or worse? "The Administration immediately tied Sept. 11 to Saddam. They said, basically, that Saddam and Iraq were a hotbed of terrorism." ("...at the absolute worst, they were ony a medium warm bed of terrorism. Nowhere near as bad as those obnoxious Israelis." ) "While I had many criticisms of Saddam, that’s not the way I saw it. But now Iraq is in fact a breeding ground for terrorists." ("...which makes them an endangered species, and therefore you can’t touch ’em" ) What should the U.S. do next? "Frankly, if there was a President Gore, we wouldn’t be in this particular mess." ("...actually we’d be in a worse one, because President Gore would have been under incredible pressure to either glass the place or let ’em go - but it wouldn’t have been a mess where we’re actually making some kind of headway against these guys." ) "But we are, and we cannot fail." ("...holy crap, did I say something reasonable? Strike that." ) "I very much hope there will be a U.N. resolution that makes clear the U.S. has military command but that would set up a U.N. high representative to coordinate the political and humanitarian things the U.N. does very well." ("...and as long as I’m dreaming, I’d like a pony." ) Bush’s foreign policy started as "Anything But Clinton" in almost every area—the Middle East, North Korea, China. Now events have pushed it back much closer to your approach. Do you ever succumb to schadenfreude? "No, I’m much too kind and generous a person." ("...BWHAHAHAHA....no, seriously though, I’d rather be doing the tarantella on Colin’s desk right and screaming, ’NANNY NANNY BOO BOO, YOU SCREWED UP!!!’ " ) Has Bush been right to sideline Yasser Arafat in the Middle East peace process? "I think that’s been a mistake." ("...shoulda shot that baby-wipe lovin’ ol’ perv from the word go." ) "Now, that doesn’t mean it’s much fun to talk to him. I don’t think he’s a force for good, but he’s part of the story." ("...and thank God the Israelis haven’t written him out yet, because otherwise there’d be a whole lot of terrorist-sympathising idiots out of a job." ) Is Sharon as big an obstacle to making peace? "I am willing to believe that he can do a Nixon in China. The U.S. has to play the role of making sure that both sides really do what they’re supposed to do on the road map. But it requires the constant attention of the Administration at a very high level. I may be wrong, but I don’t see that happening." ("...I mean for cryin’ out loud, what’s more important - a couple of thousand dead Americans or Yasser living long enough to hand power over to the next despot? Con-tin-ouity is the IMPORTANT thing here." ) What did being a woman mean to your term as secretary of state? "I think the personal relationships I established mattered in terms of what I was able to get done. And I did bring women’s issues to the center of our foreign policy." ("...and don’t you say anything about women in Afghanistan, they were perfectly happy." ) You’re known for wearing pins that make political statements. How many do you own? "I honestly don’t know—probably about a hundred. I think I’ve revived the costume-jewelry industry." ("...this nice ’Bush Su*s’ one is my favorite..." ) Mike |
| Posted by:Mike Kozlowski |
| #2 "Now, that doesn’t mean it’s much fun to talk to him [Arafat]..." And he's certainly not as good a dancer as Kimmy... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2003-9-14 11:12:20 PM |
| #1 ...and no one listens anymore. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-9-14 10:04:17 PM |