Talking Foreign Policy With Madeleine Albright

By Broadside Staff Reporter David Pierce

Former United States Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, spoke at a foreign policy town hall meeting Saturday, Sept. 20, in Dewberry Hall on the bottom floor of the Johnson Center. She was part of a three-person panel that included terrorism expert Richard Clarke and Rep. Jane Harman (D.-Calif.).

Albright, 71, introduced herself as a life-long scholar of national security policy, before expressing her opinion regarding the current global scene.

“I don’t think I have ever seen the world in such a mess, and that is a diplomatic term,” said Albright.

Albright outlined major foreign policy issues that she felt the next president has to face once elected. She explained that the country needs to fight terrorism without creating more terrorists in the process, placing blame on the Bush administration.

“Even former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said we were creating more terrorists,” Albright said, adding “not everybody who dislikes us is part of al-Qaida.”

The former secretary of state claimed that our nonproliferation system was broken. She said that the original agreement was that nations with nuclear arms should disarm, while those who don’t have nuclear weapons should not acquire them.

“Both sides of that bargain have been broken,” Albright said. She felt that the U.S. has not disarmed, and that North Korea has exploded a nuclear weapon, both occurring while President Bush has been in office.

Restoring democracy in the world was another issue that Albright felt was very important.

“I think that [democracy] is the best form of government in the world,” she said.

Albright also expressed concern regarding the negative aspects of globalization, especially the expanding gap between the rich and the poor. She felt that the recent financial crisis affecting the global stock market was of major concern to the next president, as well as the importance of talking to our enemies as a diplomatic tool.

“When President Obama suggests we talk to Iran, it is a sign of strength, not of weakness,” explained Albright.

She had some advice for President Bush: “You don’t say to a country ‘I won’t talk to you until you do all of the things that we are actually going to talk about’,” said Albright, “which is what is going on now [in the Bush administration].”

Los Angeles area representative Jane Harman assured the audience of the capability of Senators Obama and Biden, if elected.

“Democratic women and men understand security issues,” claimed Harman, adding “it’s a slam dunk for Obama-Biden.”
She also criticized the Bush administration’s handling of the September 11th terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq.

“We’ve had seven years to capture, or kill, Osama bin Laden,” said Harman, “[Instead we] went into Iraq, and took our eye off the ball.”

Richard Clarke, a terrorism expert, began his speech by emphasizing the importance of Virginia in the 2008 general election.

“This is the battleground state,” said Clarke, “we could be the pivot of this election.”

He expressed his support for Sen. Barack Obama by saying that Obama was right for calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, an action that was opposed by the White House.

“The Bush administration just agreed to a withdrawal timetable with the Iraqi government,” said Clarke, alluding to Obama’s choice in, what he feels, is the right direction.

Albright and Clarke both criticized Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.).

“I very much want to see a confident president, rather than a certain president,” said Albright.

Richard Clarke questioned McCain’s judgment. “When McCain was singing about bombing Iran,” said Clarke, “Obama was suggesting that we use something called diplomacy first.”

Questions were briefly accepted from the audience as the event neared conclusion.

When asked about Republican claims that Obama does not have the experience required to become president, Albright immediately replied “I’ll start by saying they are totally wrong.” She further explained that Obama is a person of incredible judgment and wisdom.

“He knows the difference between the Sunnis and the Shias [in Iraq],” said Albright, adding “he has also served very well on the foreign relations committee.”

Immediate feedback from audience members after the speech concluded was varied.

Ian Cook, a Vienna resident, felt that although Albright was not bad as secretary of state under President Clinton, another panelist interested him more.

“I was more taken by Richard Clarke,” said Cook. Cook also expressed criticism of Albright’s support of Obama, saying that the other panelists supported the Democratic presidential nominee more than she did.

Reston resident Sandra Klassen was more concerned about the questions from the audience, citing that there should have been more time allotted for them. She also felt that the panel didn’t address Russian President Vladimir Putin consolidating power in his region. “It could have been addressed in a stronger way,” said Klassen.

Jim Pflieger, a Fairfax resident, was very pleased with Albright’s speech.

“I wish I could’ve gotten a CD of [her] speech to use it to convert independents over to Obama,” said Pflieger. “She had a very convincing argument,” he added.

This town hall meeting was the fifth one in Virginia, according to Oscar Ramirez, the Virginia policy director for the Obama campaign. At the beginning of the event Ramirez asked if there were any undecided voters in the audience, and three hands were raised. By the conclusion of the event, one of those voters claimed to have decided to vote for Sen. Barack Obama.