The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (PBS) - 1992-08-14 - 1 of 2

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Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:06] Good evening. I'm Robert MacNeil in New

[0:08] York.

[0:08] >> And I'm Judy Woodruff in Washington.

[0:10] After our summary of today's news, we

[0:12] turn to Bill Clinton's view of the

[0:14] world. We'll hear excerpts of his

[0:16] foreign policy address and discuss what

[0:19] he said with advocates for Clinton and

[0:21] President Bush. Then we review the

[0:24] political week and raise the curtain on

[0:26] next week's Republican convention with

[0:28] our team of Gergen and Shields. Finally,

[0:31] essayist Richard Rodriguez has some

[0:33] thoughts about where Los Angeles is

[0:35] headed.

[0:36] >> Funding for the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour

[0:38] has been provided by PepsiCo.

[0:52] PepsiCo.

[0:55] Part of helping the world live and

[0:56] communicate better is keeping it well

[0:58] informed. That's why funding for the

[1:00] NewsHour is also provided by AT&T.

[1:04] And by the Corporation for Public

[1:06] Broadcasting.

[1:07] And viewers like you.

[1:10] >> The European Community held another

[1:11] round of Yugoslav peace talks, but

[1:13] reported no progress towards stopping

[1:15] the fighting. The Brussels meeting ended

[1:17] shortly after the Bosnian government

[1:19] said it would not take part in the

[1:21] negotiations.

[1:22] Also in Brussels, NATO officials backed

[1:25] away from the immediate use of force in

[1:27] Bosnia despite a new UN mandate to do

[1:29] so. The 16-nation alliance turned down a

[1:32] French offer to send 100,000 troops to

[1:35] deliver humanitarian supplies. It said

[1:37] it needed at least 10 days to consider

[1:39] the range of options.

[1:41] In neighboring Croatia, Serbs and Croats

[1:44] exchanged more than 1,000 prisoners of

[1:46] war today. The prisoners were captured

[1:48] during the ethnic battles that raged in

[1:50] Croatia following its declaration of

[1:52] independence last year. David Rose of

[1:55] Independent Television News reports from

[1:57] Osijek.

[1:58] >> Fire in Osijek!

[1:59] >> The greetings the returning Croatian

[2:01] prisoners received were unbelievably

[2:03] emotional and moving. One by one the

[2:05] pale men stepped from the buses, some to

[2:08] be enveloped by their relatives, others

[2:10] to wander through the crowd searching.

[2:13] The men who had endured Serbian prisons

[2:15] said conditions had been bad. Bad food,

[2:17] beatings, some of their fellow prisoners

[2:19] killed.

[2:23] Most of the families with missing men

[2:25] had had no word from them or the Serb

[2:27] authorities.

[2:30] Their anxiety had only been heightened

[2:32] by the pictures and reports of the

[2:33] emaciated Muslim prisoners.

[2:38] The day had started 4 miles away at

[2:40] Nemet on the front line. The exchange

[2:42] organized by the Red Cross had been

[2:44] scheduled for 11:00 this morning. In

[2:46] fact, the first Croatian prisoners were

[2:48] returned shortly before 4:00.

[2:50] Many Croatian soldiers were there

[2:52] waiting for their colleagues.

[2:54] Buses took Serbian civilian prisoners

[2:56] down to the exchange point. Then the

[2:58] first Croatians appeared, pale but

[3:00] clearly thrilled to be nearly home. Once

[3:03] safely on the buses, they waved

[3:04] excitedly, giving the victory salute to

[3:06] everyone on their way, they hoped, to

[3:08] their loved ones.

[3:10] Many of these families are simply hoping

[3:12] that a husband or a brother or a nephew

[3:14] will turn up. The list are incomplete.

[3:17] Until the names have actually been

[3:18] checked, no one will know who's

[3:20] returned, who's missing, and who's been

[3:22] killed.

[3:23] >> In Geneva, the UN Human Rights

[3:25] Commission today strongly condemned

[3:27] abuses in what was Yugoslavia. It agreed

[3:30] to send a special envoy to investigate

[3:32] reports of atrocities at detention camps

[3:35] in Bosnia and other parts of the former

[3:37] Balkan Federation.

[3:38] Judy?

[3:39] >> Fighting in the former Soviet Republic

[3:41] of Georgia killed at least 10 people

[3:43] today. It was centered in the capital of

[3:46] a breakaway region in Western Georgia.

[3:48] Government tanks and troops fought local

[3:50] militia in the region, which declared

[3:53] its independence from Georgia last

[3:54] month. Troops were dispatched earlier

[3:57] this week after more than a dozen

[3:59] Georgian officials were kidnapped. The

[4:01] unrest was the worst in Georgia since

[4:03] former Soviet foreign minister Eduard

[4:06] Shevardnadze took over as leader.

[4:09] >> More than 150 Haitian refugees were

[4:12] detained in Port-au-Prince today, just

[4:14] minutes after they were returned by the

[4:16] US Coast Guard. Haitian police said they

[4:18] wanted to question them on the possible

[4:20] hijacking of the boat they used to

[4:22] escape. They were the first refugees

[4:24] sent back this month under the new Bush

[4:26] administration policy ordering their

[4:28] return without a hearing. The

[4:30] administration has argued that no

[4:32] hearing is needed because most are

[4:33] fleeing economic deprivation, not

[4:36] political persecution.

[4:38] >> Three days before the start of the

[4:40] Republican convention in Houston, much

[4:42] of the political talk today was about

[4:44] the strong anti-abortion plank in the

[4:46] party's platform. First Lady Barbara

[4:49] Bush expressed a contrary view in a

[4:51] magazine interview released yesterday.

[4:54] In it, she said abortion was a personal

[4:56] thing and quote, "Should be left out, in

[4:59] my opinion, out of platforms and

[5:01] conventions." That view is counter to

[5:04] the official position of her husband.

[5:06] Vice President Quayle, meanwhile,

[5:08] suggested there is room in the

[5:09] Republican Party for both views. He was

[5:12] interviewed on the program CBS This

[5:14] Morning.

[5:15] >> There are different viewpoints in the

[5:16] Republican Party on this issue.

[5:19] Uh it divides men and women. Uh husbands

[5:21] and wives disagree on that this issue.

[5:23] Uh families disagree on this issue.

[5:26] Uh the Republican uh party platform is

[5:28] going to remain pro-life. Uh the

[5:30] president has a pro-life position. I

[5:32] have a pro-life position.

[5:34] Uh we are not going to disinvite the

[5:35] pro-choice Republicans. Uh the Democrats

[5:38] are the ones that apply the litmus test.

[5:40] Uh they barred a pro-life Democrat

[5:42] incumbent governor from speaking in New

[5:44] York City.

[5:46] >> About 50 anti-abortion demonstrators

[5:48] blockaded a Houston area clinic today.

[5:51] Seven were arrested. The protesters were

[5:54] members of the group Operation Rescue,

[5:56] which has staged similar protests around

[5:58] the country. Abortion rights activists

[6:01] were also on hand to keep the clinic

[6:03] open. More demonstrations are expected

[6:05] during the convention week.

[6:08] Governor Bill Clinton and Senator Al

[6:10] Gore plan to keep their campaign visible

[6:12] during next week's convention. Clinton

[6:14] aide Betsy Wright said that she expected

[6:16] the convention to be a bash Arkansas

[6:19] party. She said the campaign would send

[6:21] a team of surrogates to Houston to

[6:23] respond to attacks. Republicans did the

[6:26] same thing during the Democratic

[6:28] convention last month.

[6:30] >> Top AIDS experts from the US and Canada

[6:32] met today to discuss a recently

[6:34] discovered illness in which patients

[6:36] exhibit the symptoms of AIDS, but do not

[6:38] carry the HIV virus. There have been 41

[6:42] such cases reported worldwide. The

[6:44] researchers met at the Centers for

[6:46] Disease Control in Atlanta. Federal

[6:48] health officials rejected a suggestion

[6:50] from some of the researchers that US

[6:52] blood supplies be screened for the

[6:54] disease. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the

[6:56] National Institutes of Health had this

[6:58] to say.

[6:59] >> It's too early yet, but there is no

[7:02] evidence to have us think that we're

[7:03] dealing with some frightful thing, and

[7:06] the more and more evidence that

[7:07] accumulates indicates that we're dealing

[7:09] with something that very well may not be

[7:10] infectious and might not be a virus.

[7:12] >> People shouldn't panic.

[7:13] >> Absolutely not.

[7:15] Yeah, at this point in time there's no

[7:16] reason to believe there's any danger

[7:18] with the blood supply cuz we don't even

[7:19] know if we're dealing with an infectious

[7:21] agent, and in fact the the evidence

[7:22] indicates that we're very likely not

[7:24] dealing with a transmissible agent.

[7:26] >> Officials at the Veterans Affairs

[7:27] Department announced today that they've

[7:29] begun tracking unusual patterns of

[7:31] illness among Gulf War veterans. A

[7:34] number of them have complained of

[7:35] parasitic infections, fatigue, and

[7:37] headaches. Secretary Edward Derwinski

[7:40] said the problems may have been caused

[7:41] by smoke from Kuwait's burning oil

[7:43] fields. He recommended that Gulf vets be

[7:46] examined at a VA hospital even if they

[7:48] don't have symptoms.

[7:50] >> In economic news, industrial production

[7:52] was up in July. 4.4% rather 0.4% gain

[7:57] reversed the 4.4% loss in June. The

[8:01] Federal Reserve report attributed the

[8:03] improvement to two factors, increased

[8:05] utility output due to summer

[8:07] temperatures and to rebound in coal

[8:09] mining after the June rail strike.

[8:12] That's it for the news summary. Now it's

[8:14] on to the Clinton foreign policy, Gergen

[8:17] and Shields, and to Richard Rodriguez

[8:19] essay about where Los Angeles is headed.

[8:37] >> We lead tonight with a look at the world

[8:39] view of the Democratic presidential

[8:41] nominee Bill Clinton. Yesterday the

[8:43] Arkansas governor opened a new offensive

[8:46] in the campaign accusing President Bush

[8:48] of exaggerating his foreign policy

[8:50] accomplishments and outlining his own

[8:52] view of the post-Cold War world. Here is

[8:55] an excerpt from his address to the World

[8:57] Affairs Council in Los Angeles.

[9:00] >> In their campaign the Republicans have

[9:02] already tried to claim sole credit for

[9:05] the victory of freedom in the United

[9:06] States in the Cold War.

[9:08] And they suggest that in their second

[9:10] term they will finally bring to domestic

[9:13] policy the same energy and expertise

[9:16] marked by foreign policy in their first

[9:19] term.

[9:20] This argument misreads both history and

[9:23] current events.

[9:25] The notion that the Republicans won the

[9:27] Cold War alone

[9:30] even more flawed is the Republican claim

[9:32] that just as they changed the world in

[9:34] their first term, they can now change

[9:36] America in their second

[9:39] or fourth.

[9:41] We must understand that foreign and

[9:42] domestic policy are now two sides of the

[9:44] same coin.

[9:46] If we're not strong at home, we cannot

[9:48] be strong abroad.

[9:49] And if we can't compete in the global

[9:52] economy, we will surely pay for it here

[9:55] at home.

[9:56] In this new era, our first priority in

[9:59] foreign policy and our first domestic

[10:02] policy are one in the same. We must

[10:05] revive our economy.

[10:08] The second imperative of presidential

[10:10] leadership in this new era is to

[10:12] reinforce the powerful global movement

[10:14] toward democracy and market economies.

[10:16] Our strategic interest and our moral

[10:18] values are both rooted in this goal.

[10:22] Yet, Mr. Bush has been oddly reluctant

[10:24] to commit America's prestige to the side

[10:27] of the people inspired by America's own

[10:29] example.

[10:31] When democratic reformers sought to

[10:33] break up the Soviet empire,

[10:36] this administration at first snubbed

[10:38] Boris Yeltsin,

[10:39] sided with the crumbling Soviet center,

[10:42] and failed to lead the call for aid to

[10:44] Russia until the president was pushed

[10:47] into it by Richard Nixon and others.

[10:50] When 50 million Ukrainians sought

[10:52] emancipation

[10:53] from the dying communist empire,

[10:56] this administration withheld moral

[10:58] support and instead, in Kiev itself, the

[11:01] president publicly chided Ukraine's

[11:04] voices of independence for seeking, I

[11:06] quote, a suicidal nationalism.

[11:10] When China cracked down on pro-democracy

[11:13] demonstrators,

[11:14] exported advanced weapons to radical

[11:16] regimes, and suppressed Tibet,

[11:19] this administration and this president

[11:21] failed to stand up for our values.

[11:24] Instead, he sent secret emissaries to

[11:26] China, signaling that we would do

[11:28] business as usual with those who

[11:30] murdered freedom in Tiananmen Square.

[11:34] And when it was clear to all that

[11:35] Yugoslavia was inexorably breaking

[11:38] apart, Mr. Bush and his Secretary of

[11:40] State gave short shrift to the yearnings

[11:42] of those seeking freedom in Slovenia,

[11:45] Croatia,

[11:47] and Bosnia, and ignored the warning

[11:49] signs

[11:50] that Milosevic was emerging as one of

[11:54] Europe's bloodiest tyrants.

[11:58] From the Baltics to Beijing, from

[12:01] Sarajevo to South Africa,

[12:03] time after time this president has sided

[12:06] with the status quo against democratic

[12:09] change.

[12:10] With familiar tyrants rather than those

[12:12] who would overthrow them.

[12:14] With the old geography of repression

[12:16] rather than a new map of freedom.

[12:19] The pattern was most glaring

[12:22] in Mr. Bush's treatment of Iraq prior to

[12:24] the invasion of Kuwait,

[12:26] and the later failure to support Saddam

[12:29] Hussein's opponents after the success of

[12:32] Desert Storm.

[12:34] The world remains a dangerous place,

[12:36] though the dangers are now different and

[12:37] less apparent than in the Cold War.

[12:40] So, as we scale down our military, we

[12:42] must also keep up our guard.

[12:45] United States military strength will

[12:47] remain a force for stability and justice

[12:50] as the old order continues to collapse

[12:53] and a new one emerges.

[12:55] We can never forget this essential fact.

[12:57] Power is the basis for successful

[12:59] diplomacy, and military power has always

[13:02] been fundamental in international

[13:04] relationships.

[13:06] So, a president must provide the

[13:07] American people with a clear explanation

[13:10] of our enduring security interests, and

[13:13] a new estimate of the threats we are

[13:14] likely to face in the post-Cold War era.

[13:18] So far, in my judgment, this

[13:19] administration has failed to supply that

[13:21] rationale, failed to give a clear

[13:24] strategy for a new national security,

[13:27] and that is fueling isolationism here at

[13:30] home from both the left

[13:32] and the right.

[13:33] Today, there are two wrong-headed and

[13:35] dangerous approaches to adjusting our

[13:37] defenses for this new era.

[13:39] One is the administration.

[13:41] It talks of strategic change, but

[13:43] basically simply shrinks the existing

[13:46] Cold War force structure.

[13:48] Continuation of this policy runs the

[13:51] risk of weakening the two elements that

[13:52] were absolutely critical to our victory

[13:55] in the Gulf. Our superbly trained and

[13:57] motivated personnel and our world-class

[14:00] weapons technology.

[14:02] At the same time, there are those, some

[14:04] in my party,

[14:06] who see defense cuts as largely a piggy

[14:08] bank to fund domestic wish lists,

[14:11] with our defense structures and missions

[14:13] as a mere afterthought, rather than a

[14:15] starting premise.

[14:17] This policy would also weaken our

[14:19] technological superiority and the

[14:21] quality and morale of our superb

[14:24] personnel.

[14:25] Leadership demands more than a Cold War

[14:28] minus our domestic spending plus

[14:31] approach to the defense of this nation.

[14:34] A president must identify the new

[14:36] threats to our security, define military

[14:38] missions to meet those threats, adapt

[14:40] the forces to carry out the missions,

[14:42] and back up the forces with the

[14:44] training, technology, and intelligence

[14:46] necessary to prevail.

[14:48] We must start with a fresh assessment of

[14:49] the new dangers that could threaten our

[14:51] interests and potentially require the

[14:53] use of force,

[14:54] including the risk of new threats from

[14:56] former Soviet republics should democracy

[14:58] fail, especially before all the nuclear

[15:02] weapons have been dismantled.

[15:04] The House Armed Services Chairman, Les

[15:06] Aspin of Wisconsin, has put it right.

[15:09] He says the administration's base force

[15:10] plan leaves us with a military that does

[15:12] not fit our strategy and cannot do what

[15:14] we ask.

[15:15] Burdened with redundancy,

[15:18] lacking flexibility and mobility.

[15:20] Just as you don't shoot gnats a

[15:22] howitzer, we can't always respond

[15:24] rapidly and flexibly to far-flung

[15:27] regional conflicts with forces designed

[15:30] primarily for warfare in Europe.

[15:33] In other words, we must not merely

[15:34] decide how much force we need, but we

[15:37] must design the right kind of forces.

[15:40] Our new military must be more agile

[15:41] because with the end of the nuclear

[15:43] standoff, new battlefields will likely

[15:45] be dominated by maneuver, speed, and

[15:48] out-thinking the enemy.

[15:49] That is why, for example, I support a

[15:51] technology this administration has tried

[15:54] to cancel, the V-22, because it is the

[15:57] only aircraft capable of certain special

[15:59] operations, including the rescue of

[16:01] Americans deep in hostile territory.

[16:04] And as the chairman of the House

[16:05] Intelligence Committee, Dave McCurdy of

[16:07] Oklahoma, has said, we must have

[16:09] superior intelligence to know where to

[16:11] apply force with the best effect. And we

[16:14] have seen in the last 2 years

[16:16] the lack of intelligence and the price

[16:18] it can cost.

[16:20] The Clinton-Gore defense budget brings

[16:22] savings of about $60 billion

[16:25] over the current Bush plan through 1997,

[16:28] very close to the numbers recommended by

[16:30] Senator Nunn and Representative Aspin.

[16:33] But our efforts must go further.

[16:35] I agree with Senator Nunn that it's time

[16:37] to take a fresh look at the basic

[16:39] organization of armed forces.

[16:42] There is today no serious plan

[16:45] to help our defense workers and military

[16:47] personnel to make a transition to a

[16:49] civilian economy.

[16:51] I have such a plan.

[16:53] For example, I support incentives for

[16:54] military personnel

[16:56] to earn military retirement by taking

[16:59] jobs as teachers and police officers, as

[17:01] Senator Nunn has suggested.

[17:03] I want to help

[17:08] I want to help retrain defense

[17:10] technicians for for work in critical

[17:12] civilian fields, such as biotechnology,

[17:15] renewable energy, and environmental

[17:16] cleanup.

[17:18] The ultimate test of presidential

[17:19] leadership, of course, goes beyond

[17:21] defense budgets or battle plans.

[17:23] It is the judgment a president exercises

[17:25] in the perilous moments when countries

[17:27] are invaded,

[17:28] friends are threatened, Americans are

[17:30] held hostage,

[17:32] and our nation's interests are on the

[17:34] line.

[17:35] When the American people choose a

[17:37] president, they want someone they can

[17:39] trust to act when those moments arise.

[17:43] Every president in the last have