CAIRO: John D. Negroponte is an American diplomat whose career has been dogged by controversy for almost three decades dating back to his tenure as US ambassador to Honduras when he was accused of ignoring human rights violations committed by the US-backed regime.
Negroponte was also ambassador to the UN before assuming the post of Ambassador to Iraq. He was then appointed as the Director of National Intelligence before serving as Deputy Secretary of State in the final year of the Bush administration. He is currently a lecturer at Yale University as well as vice chairman of McLarty Associates.
Daily News Egypt sat with Negroponte Sunday on the sidelines of the Cairo Global Leadership Conference.
Daily News Egypt: You were involved in the Iraq war, first through the United Nations and then when you became ambassador to the country itself. You argued for the disarmament of Iraq, one way or the other. In retrospect was it the correct course of action?
John D. Negroponte: We have the president as commander in chief and he s the architect of our foreign policy. He made that decision and then it was for us to execute it. I ve said personally that I would not have gone into Iraq as early as the president did. I would have given the inspection process more time. Had we done that, we might have gotten a better idea of what was going on inside Iraq. In retrospect historians will have to decide (whether it was the correct decision) and the Iraq story isn’t over, let s see how it plays out.
I’d like to ask you about the Ayad Allawi incident in June 2004 when two eyewitnesses claimed the interim prime minister executed six suspected insurgents in front of four of his US bodyguards. Allawi denied it and you said at the time that the case was closed, so did it happen and was there some sort of investigation?
He s denied that repeatedly and I believe that story has been refuted. I certainly give it no credence whatsoever. I don’t remember (whether we conducted an investigation) but what I do remember was I thought it was nonsense.
Egypt is a strong ally of the US, despite its documented poor human rights record and lack of democratic reform. How do you view this relationship?
I think the relationship between Egypt and the United States is very important. I think it s very positive that the president came out here so early in his tenure. We also have to recognize the courage that it took for Egypt to come to peace with Israel and to recognize the positive contribution they have made to peace in this part of the world.
On the political side, the debate in our own society is whether you influence human rights and democracy through the example of the United States or do it by imposition and pressure. Frankly, I think doing it by our example works better because if you try to do it through pressure you run the risk of a backlash and resentment. You also run the risk of trying to impose pressure on situations and circumstances you don’t fully understand. Yes we favor human rights and democracy anywhere and everywhere in the world but it should be reached by the peoples and governments concerned.
But there is a criticism that because of strong US support for the Egyptian regime, it s making it more difficult to achieve this.
People will always make arguments but look at what happened in the former Soviet Union. I don’t think in the end it was pressure from us that caused political evolution, I think it came from inside and I think that every country has its own way of getting there. I really do believe this is a matter to be decided by the governments and peoples concerned and I think that goes for Egypt as well.
Human rights groups opposed your appointment to the UN because of your time as ambassador in Honduras, where human rights abuses committed by the US-backed regime were allegedly rife. This has stuck with you throughout your diplomatic career, so were you aware of the violations that were taking place?
In my last appointment as Deputy Secretary of State I was approved by the senate by unanimous consent. I ve been confirmed by the senate nine times; five after my Honduras appointment so I don’t know who it stuck with, but my record in Honduras was a very positive one. I was there for the first democratic election in nine years; a civilian president was elected within weeks of my arrival to replace a military governor. I worked on the administration of justice in the promotion of democracy and perhaps most important of all I have five adopted Honduran children. So give me a break is what I would say.
You’ve said in the past you were working behind the scenes and in one case secured the release of a detainee held by Battalion 316 (a military branch of the Honduran government at the time). If that’s the case, why is the perception that you turned a blind eye especially as US aid to Honduras increased during your tenure?
The violations weren’t nearly as serious as some people allege. Honduras is much better than El Salvador or Guatemala or Nicaragua. If you put it in context, the level of the problem was much less in Honduras, and it was democratic. It had institutional freedoms, it had a free labor movement, a free press, which was the envy actually of other neighboring countries so you ve got to look at Honduras in a context which I m afraid some of these groups didn’t do.
I think frankly some people have an agenda; secondly there were some people who simply disagreed with Ronald Reagan s policy in Central America.
Battalion 316, which was allegedly used to crack down on dissidents, was supposedly CIA trained. Do the ends justify the means?
They did not (train them). This is sheer invention, it is not true.
You won t believe this but no one knew of Battalion 316 when I was there. This is a name that only came up after I left. I think they re referring to elements of the police. If it existed it certainly wasn’t known by that name, I certainly never heard of it.
I’d like to ask you about what is known as the Negroponte doctrine, which stipulates that the US would oppose any criticism of Israel in the UN Security Council that did not also criticize a number of groups considered terrorist by the US.
What we were trying to confront was the fact of lopsided resolutions in the UN which criticized Israel, and don’t forget when I was there the Intifada was going on and there were a lot of acts of violence against innocent Israeli citizens by Palestinian terrorists. So what I was advocating was these resolutions ought to be balanced and also reflect acts of violence by Palestinian terrorists. I did veto a couple of UN Security Council resolutions criticizing Israel but you know almost any US ambassador to the UN ends up doing that.
There are complaints in the Arab world that the US is not even-handed when dealing with the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. What do you think needs to be done for this perception to be rectified?
If you look at the amount of effort that the US has put into the peace process, you d have to recognize that it has been substantial over the years.
But isn’t it a bit like shooting yourself in the foot when you re expending all this effort and there s a perception of double standards?
I don’t know any better way to deal with the situation than to undertake a substantial level of effort to solve the problem. I think the perceptions will follow. If you come up with a solution then I think people will come around. Until a solution is reached there will always be skeptics.
What’s your take on the new administration’s policy regarding the Middle East and do you feel a difference in attitude between this administration and the previous one will foster a more positive atmosphere?
Sometimes people characterize the last administration in one sort of broad stroke. If you want to be fair then you have to say there were two phases of the previous administration s foreign policy, the first term and the second term. In the second term a lot more effort was dedicated to diplomacy.
But some said by then it was too little too late.
Peop
le can say what they want. I think it would be unfair to make a caricature of the entire eight years, I think there was a lot of diplomacy, particularly in the second half. That having been said, clearly there s a very positive tone now. President Obama s visit here went over extremely well and what that does is it buys us some time and space during which we need to pursue a peaceful solution.
Sidebar: John Dimitri Negroponte fact file
. 1960 – Joins US Diplomatic Service
. 1971 – 1973 – National Security Council Senior Officer in Vietnam
. 1981 – 1985 – US Ambassador to Honduras, during which accused of turning blind eye to systematic abuses of US backed regime
. 2001 – 2004 – Permanent US Representative to the United Nations. Argued in Security Council for Iraqi compliance in disarmament
. 2004 – 2005 – US Ambassador to Iraq
. 2005 – 2007 – Director of National Intelligence, credited with streamlining dissemination of information between intelligence agencies
. 2007 – 2008 – US Deputy Secretary of State
