December
14, 2012
Emel Bayrak interviewed Ben Rhodes, Deputy National
Security Advisor for Strategic Communications in the White House.
Emel Bayrak: Could you describe for us what
the President wants to accomplish in foreign policy now that he has been
relected?
Ben Rhodes: In his
second term the President is looking to move beyond what has been a decade of
war for us. When he took office we had the war in Iraq and we have now removed
150,000 troops from Iraq; we have moved towards a transition in Afghanistan
which will bring our troops home, and that allows us to look to a broader
foreign policy agenda.
Second, we will make continued efforts to stop
the spread of nuclear weapons, continued efforts to promote broader economic
developments around the world that lift people out of poverty and also help develop
new opportunities for U.S. business around the world. We also want look at our
continued focus on the Asia-Pacific region, increasing our presence in the
Asia-Pacific region, because it is one of the fastest growing in the world and
then focus very much on Turkey and in the Arab world in the Middle East. We
will continue to deal with the extraordinary transitions taking place to
consolidate the democratic change which is taking place in Tunisia, and in
Libya and also manage very different challenges like Syria as well.
Emel Bayrak: Bearing in mind that the
President is facing the fiscal cliff as well as crises in the economy here at
home. Do you think that the President will be able to fully focus on all issues
which you just mentioned?
Ben Rhodes: Absolutely. You know, the
President can focus on the economy and foreign policy at the same time….and
they are connected…. because the more we get our economy growing on a
sustainable path the more we will be able to support our foreign policy around
the world. So we have already put the economy a path from significant recession
when we took the office to economic growth now. If we can get our fiscal situation
in better shape that will allow us to have more space to focus an foreign
policy, more resources from a growing economy to focus on foreign policy. But
even at the same time as he deals with a series of very difficult domestic
challenges we are going to continue our efforts to wind down the war and focus
on counter-terrorism, and to work with allies like Turkey to get democracy and
stable transitions in the Middle east and North Africa.
Emel Bayrak: In
comparison to the first term, what are the big foreign policy challenges in the
2nd term for the President? Secretary Clinton said that the biggest
challenge for me is Iran when she was in the Brookings two weeks ago. Do you
think that is the biggest challenge for the Obama administration?
Ben Rhodes: Well, you know, ending the war
has been a big challenge. Al-Qaeda has been a difficult challenge but we have
reduced the threat from Al-Qaeda. At the same time non-proliferation is a huge
priority for the President and the administration and Iran is part of our
agenda and securing nuclear materials. And we are also doing this at a very
difficult time with North Korea but I do think that Iran is going to be one of
our most foremost challenges in the second term. What we want to do is resolve
the Iranian nuclear issue diplomatically. We respect the fact that Iran, like
all nations, has the right to peaceful nuclear energy but we have to have Iran
came in line with their international obligations, to not be in pursuit of a nuclear weapon, and not be in violation of international norms
and international obligations so they can rejoin the community of nations. That
is going to be necessary, quite frankly to secure a better future for the
people of Iran who are under extraordinary pressure right now with our economic
sanctions.
Emel
Bayrak: On Iran, USA has been following what
has been called the "carrot & stick" policy with Iran since
the beginning of President's Obama's first term and the President has not drawn
a "red line" on Iran's nuclear plans and the U.S administration keeps
tightening sanctions on Iran while saying that there is still time for a
diplomacy. What evidence is there that this policy is really working?
Ben Rhodes: Well, our red-line as relates to
Iran is that they cannot develop a nuclear weapon. Again, they have a right to peaceful nuclear energy but the
development of a nuclear weapon for Iran would be very bad for U.S, very bad
for Turkey because what you might see is an arms race in the region where other
states feel that they to acquire nuclear weapons if Iran has one. And the international
non-proliferation regime would be put at risk where you would have more and
more nations thinking they have to seek nuclear weapons or nations seeing that
there are not consequences for refusing to adhere to international obligations.
So that’s our red line. In terms of consequences the sanctions we put in place
working with international partners around the world have had an extraordinary
impact on the Iranian economy. And we see that impact in their decision-making
and impacting the relationships between Iran’s leaders as they deal with how to
get out from under that pressure. Our
clear message to them is there is a path towards greater economic property
ready for Iran, there is a path for getting away from under the sanctions if
they simply came in line with their international obligations. So that’s a
choice we will continue to present to them.
Emel
Bayrak: N. Korea now appears to have the
capability to put a satellite in orbit. Will the U.S. draw a red line with
respect to N. Korea developing a capability to develop intercontinental nuclear
weapons?
Ben Rhodes: Absolutely, you know with N.
Korea what we have is a coalition of nations that is insisting that they have
to adhere to their obligations with respect to their nuclear program but also
with respect to their ballistic missile program because ultimately the danger
of a North Korea that both a nuclear capability and an intercontinental
ballistic missile capability will pose a significant threat to U.S. So we put
sanctions on N. Korea and made it clear that they will face continued isolation
if they continue down a path of pursuing these technologies and violating U.N. Security Council resolutions. So we are
going to work with China, Russia and other members of the six-party talks as
well as our allies Japan and South Korea and send a message to N. Korea that
“there is a better path for them that will bring prosperity to the people of N.
Korea if they come in line with their obligations but they too will face
extraordinary pressure if they continue to pursue the behavior we have seen with
this latest rocket launch”.
Emel Bayrak: Turkish official told me that
if the President of USA draws a "red line" for Syria with
respect to the use chemical weapons it is not rhetoric. Obviously there is
a growing concern about the threat of using chemical weapons. And now
the regime is using Scud missiles inside Syria. Are you concerned that the
situation is getting out of control?
Ben Rhodes: Well I think the situation has
been very difficult, very chaotic and very tragic for some time in Syria. We
have seen thousands and thousands of people killed. We think that the answer to
that challenge is for Assad to recognize that he needs to leave power and for a
different government to take power in Syria.
In order
to bring that about what we’ve done, together with other nations, is recognize
the legitimate Syrian opposition, again as the representative of the Syrian
people. We want to work with that Syrian opposition council to foster a
democratic transition.
Now that is going to have to involve continued
pressure on the Assad regime, and we see the situation turning more and more
against the Assad regime as they are losing territory and, of course, we see
gains made by the opposition not just in Aleppo but also in Damascus. So the quickest
way to end the violence is for there to be a transition.
As long
as there is not we are going to continue to put pressure on Assad and continue
to provide assistance to the Syrian opposition; diplomatic support, non-lethal
assistance and specifically humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people who
are in need and we are going to make sure that we are doing what we can to
defend our ally Turkey which is why we have agreed with NATO to deploy two
Patriot batteries to Turkey so that there is additional defense in place should
they face a threat from Syria.
Emel Bayrak: Why did
the US administration hesitate in recognizing the Syrian National Coalition?
What changed your mind?
Ben Rhodes: Well what we wanted to see for
some time is an opposition that was broad and inclusive so it included all the
different sectarian groups within Syria, so you have Sunnis, Allawites, Kurds,
Christians so the different groups in Syria could see their voices represented
in the opposition. Also we wanted to see an opposition that brought together some
of the figures who were exiled from the country with some of the people in the
councils, who were recognized on the ground inside Syria. After the meeting in
Doha where significant progress was made in putting together this coalition we
felt that we had an opposition that was broad-based, that was putting forward a
vision of a Syria that was inclusive, that could bring together all the
different groups in Syria and also again have good connection into the local
councils on the ground in Syria which will be important in knowing how to best
provide assistance in the future.
Emel Bayrak: As you know
that the core issue in the Middle East is the Israel- Palestinian conflict.
Thus without ending this long term conflict almost no other problem can be
addressed/ resolved in the region? What do you think?
Ben
Rhodes: Well we certainly agree that when you look at the long
term future of the region a key part of fostering stability in the region and
allowing everybody to be able to determine their future is to have a solution
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; one where you have an independent
sovereign Palestine that is living side by side with a secure Israel. We’ve
tried very hard to bring about that outcome in the President’s first term but
we were not able to make as much progress as we wanted. We were frustrated by
lack of progress but we absolutely have to keep working at it in the second
term, and make it clear that is in Israel’s interest, in Palestine’s interest, in
America’s interest and in the interest of the whole region for there to be a
two-state settlement and that is what we are going to continue working towards.
Emel Bayrak: Turkish government tries to play a
constructive role in the region not only with its neighbors but also in North
Africa to support their transition period. Do you think that those efforts have
being effective?
Ben Rhodes: Absolutely we feel like Turkey
has been a key partner of ours in the Middle East and North Africa and the
President has a very good relationship with PM Erdogan. From the beginning of
the Arab Spring what we saw is that Turkey is a very powerful example of a
strong democracy in the region and when we look at Turkey’s contributions in Libya,
when we look at role that PM Erdogan is able to play in speaking out for
secular democracy in places like Egypt, Tunisia and Libya we believe that
Turkey has a strong voice, We believe again that Turkey can be a partner for US
and again dealing with very significant challenges like Syria, Turkey has of
course been indispensable partner for us, coordinating our assistance into the
country, and being a part of “the friends of Syria” group. So I think as we
look to the second term we look to see how we are going to manage the very
difficult challenges in that region with the transitions to democracy. Turkey
is going to be one of our most important partners in managing those challenges..
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