Spring Break
N-L discusses "War on Terror" with Matthews
- Page 1 of 1
News-Letter: In your speech on virtues that are American, you mentioned one characteristic as the skepticism with authority. Do you think America is a rebellious nation right now?
Chris Matthews: Well, I worry sometimes that we're losing our natural skepticism toward politicians. I see the president being very successful in changing public opinion according to his policies for his purposes. For example, earlier this year people would say that they felt that catching bin Laden was essential to any standard of victory against al Qaeda. Now, the president has gone from saying he wants him dead or alive to saying that he's irrelevant. And the public is saying the same thing. Why isn't the public standing by an earlier judgment of their own, buying into a president's latest version of his ambition? That's a serious question.
N-L: You mentioned the war on terrorism...
CM: I don't even like the word "war on terrorism" because a war on terrorism suggests that its going to begin in 2001 and end in 2005. I think it more of an attempt to punish the guilty and destroy the threat. Part of this effort is to reduce the hatred of America that leads people to commit suicide to hurt us. You have to find out what that hatred is based upon and try to reduce that.
That's why I think it's dangerous to call it a war. It's an attempt to reduce terrorism. That's our national goal: to lower and reduce terrorism and I think that's a very important goal and I think that to achieve it may involve catching the people who did it and it may involve breaking up the terrorist organization. It may involve reducing or eliminating those policies and behaviors that cause countries to despise us and cause people to despise us.
N-L: You said that American history is setting an ideal and trying to live up to it. Given the way that the United States is currently acting in foreign policy, is it upholding an old ideal or setting a new one?
CM: I don't accept it. I don't accept the idea that the United States should engage itself in foreign policy aimed at overturning governments we don't like by force. I don't know what doctrine that is. That's hegemony.