Excerpt from Sen. Chuck Hagel interview with CNN, September 30, 2001

Excerpt from Sen. Chuck Hagel interview with CNN, September 30, 2001
CNN LATE EDITION WITH WOLF BLITZER
Ashcroft Discusses Latest Developments; Hagel, Schumer Discuss U.S. Policy on Taliban; What are America's Anti-Terrorist Options?
Aired September 30, 2001 - 12:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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BLITZER: All right. Senator Hagel, you heard Senator Schumer give the president of the United States, a Republican -- he's a Democrat -- an A.

But let's move on and talk about the possibility that the mission may expand beyond Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda group in Afghanistan to perhaps other countries in the region, whether Sudan or Yemen, Iraq, Iran, some talk of Syria.

Are you among those who say, wherever terrorism is, the United States must go after those terrorists even if it means destroying this coalition that the administration is trying to put together?

HAGEL: The coalition is critical for the future war against terrorism, and that's what we are about here. Yes, we are about getting bin Laden, going after the al Qaeda network and all those associated with that network. No question, that is a focus.

But at the same time, this is a long-term effort. This is going to require an immense amount of commitment and discipline and leadership over a long period of time. That's going to require a very significant international coalition. No one is safe from this.

Look at what just happened in Colombia, for example. The wife of the Colombian attorney general being abducted and killed. That's terrorism.

And so, all of this that is surrounding us -- this sea around us of terrorism and terrorist acts are maybe not part of the same conspiracy, but nonetheless, the civilized world is at war against that. So this coalition is going to be very, very critical.

And Chuck Schumer said it right. We have never experienced anything like this. This is unprecedented. So I think we must be very careful here how we construct this coalition and keep it as best we can. It will float, but we need that coalition.

As of October 1, 2001, this document was also available online at http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/30/le.00.html