Panetta Rebutts Criticism of President's Iran Policy

Inside Politics, April 21, 1996

WOLF BLITZER, Anchor: Thanks, Mr. Panetta, for joining us on Inside Politics Weekend.

LEON PANETTA, White House Chief of Staff: Good to be with you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And it's a good thing the weather is cooperating here in Moscow today as well. So much to talk about back home - the legislative agenda, campaign politics, Whitewater politics. Let's start off first with international affairs. That's why the president is making this round-trip journey right now. Was it a mistake to, in effect, give Israel the green light to respond as it did to the Katyusha rocketing of Northern Israel?

PANETTA: Well, we at the time indicated our concerns about the level of violence that was increasing in that area. Obviously, there were concerns about who fired first and why Israel felt it had to respond. But the United States has been basically saying we ought to move forward, try to restore calm, try to get a cease-fire in place, and try to see if we can put the pieces back together to advance the peace process again. That's the main concern right now.

BLITZER: Did the Israelis miscalculate, misinterpret, what the U.S. was doing by strictly blaming the Hezbollah forces but not urging restraint on Israel, at least in the first few days of this recent crisis?

PANETTA: Well, you know, that part of the world has for so many years been filled with violence and counter-violence, reaction and counter-reaction, that the whole purpose of trying to get a peace agreement in place is to try to end that kind of recrimination and try to end that kind of counter-reaction. I think there was just a- everybody fell into a pattern, obviously, of reacting as they have in the past. And I think the concern right now is that regardless of who's to blame, let's have a cease-fire, let's restore calm, and let's get the peace process back in place.

BLITZER: So many of the successes of the Clinton administration in international affairs seem to have a potential for collapse, including the Middle East peace process. The situation in Bosnia seems to be moving along right now, but there are potential pitfalls. Here in Russia there are elections that Boris Yeltsin has in June and the communist party certainly has a resurgency of sorts. If you have to take a look at the period ahead between now and November, will international affairs be a big issue in the presidential campaign?

PANETTA: I think leadership on foreign affairs is an extremely important part of the determination about who should be president of the United States and, clearly, that will be one of the issues that I suspect will be involved in the debate. A president has to be- One of his primary responsibilities as commander-in-chief is to be responsible for the foreign affairs of this country and how those foreign affairs affect the American people. This trip has been a reflection of that.

BLITZER: What's your sense about Boris Yeltsin's prospects for reelection?

PANETTA: Well, you know, it's going to be up to the Russian people to make that decision. I mean, obviously our primary concern in the United States is to ensure that the effort at promoting democracy in this country and promoting reforms continues to move forward. The Russian people are going to be free to make their choice as to who they want to lead this country. But the important thing from the United States point of view is let's continue to move forward on democratic reforms. That's essential.

BLITZER: If we take a look at some of the other- A major issue that has come to the fore in recent days, the U.S., the Clinton administration, in 1994, winking at Iranian arms shipments to the Bosnian Muslims. Republicans are now saying this has given the Iranians a foothold in Europe, in Bosnia. Was that a mistake?

PANETTA: Well, you know, this is kind of interesting as Republicans try to recreate history. I mean, don't forget this was initially an effort by Senator Dole that basically said we ought to bring down the effort to try to restrict arms shipments and allow free arms shipments to go into Bosnia. We shared the information that was involved with this issue. I think in the end what has happened in Bosnia has been the right thing. That if we had suddenly basically gotten rid of the prohibition on arms shipments at that time, it would have brought down our relationship with other countries, it would have brought down our relationship with NATO, and I think it would have set us back in Bosnia. Frankly, it has helped us move forward now to put the Bosnian situation in the right place.

BLITZER: If the White House has nothing to be embarrassed about or to hide, why not release that report of the Intelligence Board to Congress, as they want, and not invoke executive privilege.

PANETTA: We have been providing a full summary of all of this information. Mr. Harrington, who's head of our Intelligence Board, has provided that information. On Capitol Hill we're more than prepared to continue to provide a full summary of this information. There is- Obviously, we want to protect the sources that come in to the Intelligence Board, but at the same time, frankly, there's nothing to hide here and we are fully prepared to provide a full summary of this report to whoever wants to look at it.

BLITZER: But not the actual report in detail.

PANETTA: Again, Mr. Harrington is prepared to go over the report with whoever wants to look at this and talk about it because, frankly, there is nothing to hide on this issue.

BLITZER: Let's make the turn to some of the domestic issues that, of course, are going to await the president upon his return. Bob Dole says that the Clinton presidency has a history of appointing liberal judges. He also goes on to say that there's an outright hostility to law enforcement. He did this in a speech Friday back in Washington. How do you respond to that kind of accusation which seems to be a major issue as far as the Republicans are going to try to use in going after President Clinton being weak on law enforcement.

PANETTA: Frankly, from our point of view, it seems a little desperate, and, you know, we're more than happy to engage him on this issue if this is really what he wants the election to be about. First of all, of the 185 judges that this president nominated, Mr. Dole voted for 182. Only three were excepted from that number. So, over 98 percent of the judges that have been recommended and nominated by the president have been supported by Senator Dole. If he had problems, he certainly didn't indicate them early on.

Secondly, these judges that this president has appointed are the most qualified since the Eisenhower administration. That's what the American Bar Association says. The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that.

BLITZER: Senator Dole says he wants to take the ABA out of the equation.

PANETTA: Well, you know, it's interesting. The American Bar Association is obviously- They're the ones who look at qualifications and make those judgments. And you know, he's basically now casting that aside. But more importantly, I think this is largely- this whole attack is kind of a cover-up for their failure to deal with the crime issue in this Congress. Senator Dole did not support putting 100,000 cops out on the street, he's supporting a repeal of the assault weapons ban, of the Brady bill, almost step after step we find that he basically is not supporting the steps advanced by this president trying to promote a strong effort against crime. I think this is, in part, a cover-up for those failings.

BLITZER: So, do you think there can be any cooperation on legislative issues, substantive legislative issues, now with Senator Dole, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for example, on minimum wage. Do you think that can get enacted at this point or is that going to be a subject that's going to have to be deferred for the future at some point.

PANETTA: Wolf, we hope so. I mean, I think it would be real setback for the American people if we can't use this period between the political primaries and the conventions to try to do some good for the country. There will be plenty of time for the election, there will be plenty of time for these candidates to basically fight each other on the issues.

But, in terms of the country, you've got a president of the United States, you've got the majority leader in the Senate. There is no reason why we can't make some progress on a balanced budget. There is no reason why we can't make progress on minimum wage and putting that in place, trying to resolve issues related to health reform. These are goals that the American people want to see achieved and if all of this just suddenly turns just strongly political as opposed to substantive in dealing with these issues, I think it will reflect badly on both Mr. Dole and Mr. Gingrich.

BLITZER: Speaker Gingrich says that he may be willing to go for a compromise on the minimum wage if it's linked to a $500-per-child tax credit.

PANETTA: Well, you know, again, it's pretty clear what needs to be done here. We need to improve and advance the minimum wage which is at a 40-year low. The president has made a recommendation for a two-step approach to that, to do 45 cents this year and 45 cents the next year. Let's get that done. Let's not try to- I mean, you know, having been in the Congress for a long time, the first instincts you always have of the opposition is, well, let's try to make it a little bit harder for the president to try to get this issue done, so let's look at amendments and let's look at other ways to try to embarrass him. This is not the place to do it. If they want to advance a $500 child credit, we're more than prepared to work with them on that. But let's not muddy up the issue of the minimum wage. Let's get the minimum wage passed. This should be a bipartisan issue. It has been in the past. Let's get it done.

BLITZER: The House Majority Leader Dick Armey said the other day that the White House is a White House that engages in blood sport and the Democratic party is a very mean party. As a result, the Republicans have to keep the focus of attention on Whitewater and other issues that are embarrassing to this president.

PANETTA: Well, I guess I was a little surprised that he would say it publicly, what he said. I mean I think we've always assumed that the basic motivations here on Whitewater were largely political. But to have the majority leader of the House basically say that Whitewater is justified by politics, I think basically confirms our worst suspicions about why this is happening.

Look, I don't think the American people really want to see the parties engaging in that kind of recrimination. I really think that they want to see both Republicans and Democrats working with this president trying to get some things done for the country. And, frankly, that's what Mr. Armey ought to focus on. He ought not to focus on, you know, who's trying to attack who, or why they're attacking this president. How about just rolling up his sleeves and trying to get something done for the American people.

BLITZER: You know, a week from Sunday, the president is going to have to testify in his Little Rock Whitewater trial via videotape. How embarrassing is that? How much of a concern is that to you and to others in the White House?

PANETTA: I think the president has made very clear that there is nothing to hide here. He's going to basically make that point in his testimony. We've cooperated in every way, this president has cooperated in every way. We think that the American people fully know what's involved behind this, and Mr. Armey's comments in a sense confirm that there are political motivations as to what's going on here.

BLITZER: OK, Leon Panetta, thanks again for joining us on Inside Politics Weekend in this lovely, almost postcard-picture setting. Thank you.

PANETTA: Thank you very much. Nice to be with you.

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