March
28, 2008
5
Ex-Chief Diplomats: Close Guantanamo
By Greg Bluestein, Associated Press
ATHENS,
Ga. -- Five former U.S. secretaries of state on Thursday urged
the next presidential administration to close the Guantanamo Bay
prison camp and open a dialogue with Iran.
The former chiefs of American diplomacy, who served in Democratic
and Republican administrations, reached a consensus on the two
issues at a conference in Athens aimed at giving the next president
some bipartisan foreign policy advice. Each of them said shuttering
the prison camp in Cuba would bolster America's image abroad.
"It says to the world: 'We are now going back to our traditional
respective forms of dealing with people who potentially committed
crimes,'" said Colin Powell, who served as President Bush's
first secretary of state.
Powell was joined by Henry Kissinger, James Baker III, Warren
Christopher and Madeleine Albright, who sat in a round-table discussion
sponsored by the University of Georgia at a sold-out conference
center in downtown Athens.
Kissinger called Guantanamo a "blot on us" and agreed
it should be closed, but wondered aloud about the consequences
of a closure.
Baker, a lawyer who served in President George H.W. Bush's Cabinet,
said he has struggled with its legal implications.
"It gives us a very, very bad name, not just internationally,"
he said. "I have a great deal of difficulty understanding
how we can hold someone, pick someone up, particularly someone
who might be an American citizen, even if they were caught somewhere
abroad, acting against American interests, and hold them without
ever giving them an opportunity to appear before a magistrate."
The former secretaries of state also urged that the U.S. open
a line of dialogue with Iran, each saying it is important to maintain
contact with adversaries and allies alike.
Albright stressed the importance of finding "common ground"
and Christopher urged diplomats to explore opening contact with
other "vectors of power," such as clerics and former
political leaders. Albright and Christopher served under President
Clinton.
Baker suggested the dialogue could center on a common dilemma,
saying a "dysfunctional Iraq, a chaotic Iraq, is not something
that's in the interest to Iran. There's every incentive on their
part to help us, the same way they did in Afghanistan."
Kissinger, who served the Nixon and Ford administrations, urged
an open, if delicate, line of communication with Iran.
"One has to talk with adversaries," said Kissinger,
who served the Nixon and Ford administrations.
Powell compared the potential talks to difficult visits he made
to Syria while he served as America's chief diplomat.
"They are not always pleasant visits," he said. "But
you've got to do it."
Kissinger, who laid the groundwork for Nixon's historic 1972 visit
to China that opened relations with that nation, had sharp words
when the topic veered to America's perception of China.
"We should not look at China as a military adversary,"
said Kissinger, adding that a military confrontation is unlikely.
"We should see where we could cooperate."
Powell said he agrees, arguing that the biggest threat to a peaceful
relationship with China would be Taiwan declaring its independence.
"And, frankly we can keep that from happening," said
Powell.
Some of the strongest words were reserved for the trade embargo
against Cuba.
"The 50-year-old embargo has not worked, not worked to our
benefit or their benefit. This is one of those issues that is
driven more by politics than foreign policy," said Christopher.
"When policies don't work for 50 years," he said, "It's
time to start thinking about something else."
Copyright
2008. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
