Ronald Reagan / George Bush Debate
Ronald Reagan / George Bush Debate
Continuation of debate between Republican Presidential candidates George Bush and Ronald Reagan, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, moderated by Howard K. Smith. Debate topics include foreign policy, the Iranian hostages.
Ronald Reagan / George Bush Debate
Howard K. Smith: Gentlemen lets turn to Foreign Affairs, both of you have been unsatisfied with how the President has been handling the Iranian crisis lately, and now he apparently is having some thoughts of using force which I think you have indicated in a general way you approve of. Let me run some forcible options past you and see whether you approve or disapprove. The most often quoted one is mining the oil ports of Persia, blockading the oil ports of Persia, is there not a danger if that were adopted that the Russians would send mine sweepers in to sweep the mines or run the blockade and we would either have to shoot or shut up, do you find that Governor Reagan, a danger. Ronald Reagan: Well, it s difficult to talk about what is a viable option now, as we re late in their sixth month of their captivity. Because first of all, there s a fear that something might endanger them father but second there is also, if you do have a good idea, something that should be done, I don t think we should say it out loud and let the Iranians hear about it. My criticism and I don t mind criticizing what has been done. Frankly, I don t think the President has done anything that he couldn t have done five months ago or longer. And then was the time to, when all the means of diplomacy failed, then was the time to look at the options which only the President knows that he has, as to what he thought might, with the least chance of any violence, that might exert the greatest pressure on them and then give them a date certain, saying either the hostages are released on that date, or this goes into effect. He s used the term military force now as a possibility but that could include what you said, mining, it could include blockade. If we mined, and I m sure those would be the kind of mines that are activated by radio and can be deactivated, but we would have to also prevent Russian mine sweepers from going in there and trying to take them out, if they wanted to try that. I wonder, whether they re prepared for a possible escalation of conflict with us at this time. They re aggressive against an Afghanistan and an Africa, and so fourth, and even though they have a lead on us in virtually everything, I don t think that maybe they re prepared at this time to dare the possible, well they don t want at this time the confrontation directly with the United States. Howard K. Smith: Wouldn t it be quite a risk to find out if they re willing or not? Ambassador Bush, when they are operating just on the other side of the border from their supply depots and we ll be operating 8,000 miles away from ours? George Bush: No, it would not be that big of risk in my judgment. I ve been to that part of the gulf, I do business in that part of the world. In my judgment the situation in Iraq, where you see Iraq pulling away from the Soviet Union has a bearing on this. In my judgment the situation in Pakistan where you have both China concerned and us concerned about Afghanistan for very different reasons, the Chinese with their special relationship with Pakistan, where you have Islam concerned, almost united in their concern about the Soviets. Where you have the Soviet Union as over committed in Afghanistan as it is, I don t believe your hypothesis is correct Mr. Smith. I don t believe the Soviets will escalate. And I believe that is an option that the President should give very serious consideration to, and your not talking, when you get into a situation of mining, of having to seed it the way, once you mine, no matter of how many mines you put in, the insurance rates sky rocket for all intents and purposes commerce screeches to a halt. I think it should be considered. I think it s for the President to make the determination, one thing I learned from my experience in foreign affairs is that there s a high reclassified body of information that only a handful of people, properly in my judgment, have access to, and that s the President and a handful of top people. And so if that decision is made by them, it would have my support. I don t believe that the risk that you site is a risk to be concerned about. I think the risk would rather be internally in Iran when you re dealing with outrageous, reckless people who have no respect for international law. They ve already made a hostel act under any interpretation of international law, seizing our embassy. And so I wouldn t worry about the Soviet s in this context for the reasons I ve given you.
Ronald Reagan / George Bush Debate
Howard K. Smith: What about the option, what about the option of doing nothing at all? Clearly the most important fact about Iran today, is that s it s a country that hasn t completed it s revolution. There are probably more pro US people in Iran than we realize from watching television and seeing only anti-US militants. If a show down inside Iran which may have begun already, with the students fighting one another, might see our side, the side that wants to get along with us, win. But if we use force, we may force Iran into Russian arms and endanger the hostages. Would it be worthwhile being patient a while longer since the hostages are apparently physically in good condition? Ronald Reagan: I don t think they re seeing it as patience. I think they see it as weakness. They have no respect for us. They ve humiliated us. One of their officials that we sent back just the other day, one of the diplomats, his speech when he arrived was boasting on how they rubbed our face in the dirt all this time. But what if the United States had in those first hours, had used all the diplomatic things that we done, not that commission from the UN because that isn t even in the UN charter, and I think it was a terrible precedent for us to set, that the UN can do such a thing outside the charter. But all the diplomatic efforts we could make peacefully, to get them back. And then used one of these, let s say hypothetically the mining of the harbor and the blockade. First of all, at that time they were greatly dependent on outside commerce, and dependent for about 30% of their food. Now they have adjusted and for us to put sanctions on, our trade has shrunk down to a place where it s hardly going to affect them at all. But then, if we had done that forcefully, in the first few days and gotten our hostages back, then we could have said to them Now look, we don t want any trouble with you. We d like to be friends with you. We would like to work with you and we can be helpful to you. You ve got a neighbor up north that I m sure you don t want in here. I think they would have listened to us. But now, why would they listen to us when they look to themselves as stronger then we are? Because of the way we ve drawn on month after month letting this humiliation occur.