tv Face the Nation CBS May 11, 2014 8:30am-9:31am PDT
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from cbs news in washington, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: today on "face the nation" -- breaking news this morning. another scandal comes to light in the secret service. trouble at the veterans administration. and what is vladimir putin up to in ukraine? and as the world watches, the heartbreaking story of the missing nigeria school girls. what can the u.s. do to help? we'll sit down with former secretary of defense robert gates, intelligence committee chairman, mike rogers, and clarissa ward, who's on the scene in ukraine. plus, we'll talk with massachusetts senator elizabeth warren, who's i shaking things p on capitol hill. cbs news got the first look from inside the washington monument, which reopens tomorrow after three years of repairs and, as
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always, we'll have analysis on all of this from an all-star panel. 60 years of news because this is "face the nation." ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs >> schieffer: good morning again. we begin with the news from overnight. the washington post reports that top officials of the secret service ordered officers who the "the post" says are part of a squad that patrols a perimeter of the white house to leave their posts and drive to southern maryland to check on then-secret service director mark sullivan's assistant who is having trouble with her neighbors. the post says these trips took place over a two-month period in 2011. the secret service told us this morning they happened only over a 4th of july weekend when the president was not at the white house.
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sullivan has since retired as secret service director but said in a statement to "the post" that the secret service has always taken seriously threats made against employees. even so, "the post" says the agents involved were so concerned about being pulled away from their assignments that they kept records of the episode and reported it to superiors. we'll have more as that story develops. we'll turn now to the ongoing crisis in ukraine, where today parts of eastern ukraine voted on becoming independent republics, a possible first step towards secession to russia, just as we saw in kwai meea. clarissa ward. >> reporter: good morning. we've been to quite a few polling stations this morning and there are some long lines out there. everybody who we saw with the exception of one young woman appeared to be voting yes for independence. but let's be clear. this vote does not meet any international standard. we visited polling stations
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where there were no booths, where people were simply voting out in the open at a large desk. we saw one older woman who voted twice because she panicked that she accidentally voted no the first time 'round. and one young man who was allowed to vote in a polling station where he wasn't actually registered. and then, of course, there are the many people here who don't support the pro russia separatist movement. they are not even voting in today's referenda because like the government of ukraine and of the u.s. and much of the international community, they view this vote as being illegal and illegitimate. >> schieffer: thank you so much, clarissa, and we'll be watching. and joining us now, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, mike rogers. mr. chairman, so far and so good over there no violence at least, but i want to ask you about this thing that happened last week where putin said he was going to pull back his troops that were amassed along the border. do you see any indication that
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he's done that? >> well, the only thing we've really seen, bob, is they're pulling troops out but for the sole purpose of rotating out their conscripts. they have two-year conscription there in russia. those two years are up for a lot of those forces along the border so they're really rotating them out. i would not read that he is wholesale pulling his troops back. this is a function of making sure he has fresh conscripts up along the border. >> schieffer: we'll sure be watching that. i want to ask you also this morning about this horrible story that keeps -- we keep learning about in nigeria, the kidnapping of almost 300 school girls. we understand the united states has sent some help in there. do you know what it is exactly we're doing? >> well, it's -- looks as if there's a hostage negotiator and then some military advisers. but here's the point on this, bob. and if we look at this, this was a problem in 2010 when boko haram said they wanted to be part of al-qaeda. that's where the problem started. and so this policy, this new
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ecosystem of tment that's all the way from nigeria all the way across northern africa to aqap and yemen, all the way over to pakistan and afghanistan, you can't base your policy on what's trending on twitter. it has to be more than hashtags and selfies. this is a huge and growing problem that's really been relatively ignored. i just got back from chad. chad has been screaming for help from the united states for two years on one front boko haram on the north, they have al-qaeda and then in the southeast they have el sha bob. and they're try fighting to push all of that back. not a lot of help from the united states. can we help with the girls? i think we can and we should and we must. but we also have to worry about the women of afghanistan, some 11 million. we're getting ready to walk away from them. in syria, you have 12 million women who are under siege, some 150,000 syrians. last week a school was bombed, 25 kids killed. this is going to continue to
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happen unless we have a robust holistic approach to what is radicalism and extremism popping up all around the world. >> schieffer: there's so much to ask but this morning. let me just ask you simply, what is your take on this thing involving the secret service? >> well, it's unfortunate. i will tell you, it's an important organization. there are some fine, upstanding, great secret service agents who are patriots to their country. this is just one of those black marks that make you scratch your head. you have to ask if there is a leadership culture that needs to be ripped out at the secret service. this is just one more example of a leadership failure at the secret service. very, very concerning. when you have someone removed from a post whose primary responsibility is to protect the president and the white house's occupants, that is very, very concerning. and the one concern that i have is, during that episode, the new director was the chief of staff. so they're going to have some explaining to do, and maybe they've got great explanations. but they're going to have to
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come up and explain it. and if they can't get this piece right, i think you're going to have to look at a cultural leadership shift in the secret service. >> schieffer: speaking of leadership shifts and -- these stories that continue to come out of the va. where these veterans who have life-threatening diseases, some of whom have actually died while they were waiting to try to get in to a v.a. hospital, is the secretary over there, eric shinseki, is he going to have to go? >> well, he's had five years to fix this problem, five years. and hey found most disturbing about this is that, when the veterans affairs committee was trying to get him up, it took a subpoena to get him up to answer questions. that's a huge problem. you cannot, as a veteran myself, walk away, turn your back on what also appears to be a cultural problem throughout the veterans affairs of trying to make it look good without it being good. our soldier, our sailors,
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marines, they deserve better. and if he can't come to congress and say this is exactly how i'm going to fix it, he needs to move along. >> schieffer: how did it get into the mess that it's in? >> it's hard to know. the money has been there. we've appropriated every year. congress has been very jenrous to the v.a. we've tried to improve mental issues and other things, services and access. it just sure seem seems that thy can't quite get it right at the midlevel at the veteran affairs. every week somebody brings a new problem about the vetranceo affairs and its inability to get it right. that's a leadership problem. if mr. shinseki can't tell us how he's going to change it, we need to find somebody who can shake up the veterans apairs so their number 1, 2 and third pry ort are making care of the men and women who serve this country. >> schieffer: we haven't heard
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from the president on this. >> he's going to have to spend some time and focus on this issue. we've got soldiers deployed. they're coming home. some are still going to be injured and wounded in ways that are going to need all of america's support. the first line of defense in that is our veterans affairs and the v.a. so that -- where they can get good healthcare, mental serve is and others. if that part isn't working, their integration into society is going to be less successful. we should not stand for that. and so, yes, the president is going to have to get involved. he's going to have to make a decision on mr. sin secy -- shins ecky are. >> schieffer: thank you, mr. chairman. earlier, we traveled to the college of william and mary in williamsburg, virginia where roberts gates is now chancellor and he asked him about the problems at the v.a. >> if there's one bureaucracy in
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washington, it' that's more intractable than the department of defense, it's v.a. i give a lot of credit to eric shinseki. i think he has all the will in the world to do the right thing by veterans. he's totally committed. but he sets astride a very tough bureaucracy. the administration has protected the v.a. in terms of budgets and so on. i think -- my own view is that the problem is below the secretary, and i think it's really important for him to del off into this and then if there are real problems then to hold people accountable. >> schieffer: i think it's fine to have these congressional investigations, and certainly this deserves one, but it seems to me the priority should be some kind of a crash program to make sure these people that were supposed to be on these lists for treatment get treatment immediately. i mean, for them, it's not a bureaucratic problem. it's a life-or-death problem, it seems to me. is that possible? can't they do that?
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>> yes, they can do that. and i think that that's why it really needs to be handled on an urgent basis within the executive branch. we can't wait for a congressional investigation and findings and so on. this needs immediate action and i'm hopeful that secretary shinseki will do and hold people accountable. >> schieffer: john boehner said he didn't think it was shinseki's fault. he said it was just systemic. that seems to be what you're saying here. >> i worked very closely with secretary sin shinseki and i know that he and i would agree to a lot of things and, unless he personally bird-dogged it, it was very tough for those things to get done in v.a. i had my own problems in the department of defense, but i know it was a challenge for him and frankly for his predecessors. >> schieffer: we had this awful situation involving these
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missing nigerian children. there anything the united states can do here? >> i think there is, bob. i think that we have intelligence assets that -- particularly intelligence assets that may prove useful. i think if we had special forces, advisers that could perhaps help the nigerian military and police. i don't think we ought to be involved militarily at all, but i think we do have assets that could be brought to bear if the nigerian government was willing to ask for our help. >> schieffer: i want to ask you about this situation in ukraine. you have dealt with vladimir putin for a long time in various capacities in the united states government. what's he trying to do here? >> i think the key to understanding putin is the past. vladimir putin is all about lost empire, lost glory, lost power. when he said that the collapse of the soviet union was the
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greatest geo strategic, geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, he meant it. he moved into the cry mia after his prorussian president of ukraine was overthrown. he did not want to risk losing that naval base or russia's only warm-water port in crimia. he was going to take it over. and as far as i'm concerned that's a done deal. there's nothing we can do to change that situation. what he wants to accomplish in eastern ukraine, i'm not sure he knows at this point, other than to -- in the long term objective of protecting the russians and making sure the ukraine ultimately leans back toward russia. i don't think he'll rest until there's a pro-russian government in kiev or a federated ukraine where the eastern part of the country for all practical purposes looks to russia. >> schieffer: do you think in the end that's what we're going to wind up with?
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because it seems like we don't have many cards in our hand that we can play. >> well, the president -- our president is in a tough spot. we really have very few tactical options. there is no real military option. and in the short term, there's not a lot we can do. my view is, if putin is playing a long game, that's what we need to do. and we need to figure out how we can push back on the periphery of russia in terms of making sure those states have the independence to choose with whom they want to ally or have economic relations. i'm worried about the baltic states. i'm not worried about putin sending troops in. but russia has essentially an economic strangle hod on these countries and so my worry is that he will begin to exercise that influence, and i think one of the contingency things we in the west need to be thinking about is, what kind of an economic safety net can we create for the baltic states so
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they're given -- so they have a choice other than knuckling under to russia? >> schieffer: we see a longer-than-usual military parade in moscow stay showing off all the weapons. putin shows up in the crimeya. what do you make of that? >> i think this is, again, about asserting russia's place on the international stage basically saying russia is back and particularly under his leadership that they are a force to be reckoned with. i think we have underestimated for a long time the magnitude of the hum humiliation that russias felt with the collapse of the soviet union, because it also involved the collapse of russian empire, and the way the west tried to teach 'em how to conduct their economy and their affairs, and they bitterly resented it. so i think what we're seeing is
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putin reasserting russia's place as a superpower and a force to be reckoned with around the world. >> schieffer: do you -- i take it you do not see, though, russia as posing the greatest national security threat to this country at this point. (laughter). >> i think the greatest national security threat to this country at this point is the two square miles that encompasses the capitol building and the white house. >> schieffer: he'll explain to us what he means by that, and he'll have a lot more to say in our next half-hour. in a minute, one of the democrats' rising stars, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren. (mother vo) when i was pregnant...
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i got more advice than i knew what to do with. what i needed was information i could trust on how to take care of me and my baby. luckily, unitedhealthcare has a simple program that helps moms stay on track with their doctors and get the right care and guidance-before and after the baby is born. simple is good right now. (anncr vo) innovations that work for you. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. >> schieffer: we're back now with senator elizabeth warren. her book "a fighting chance" is in the number two position on the best-seller's list. i want to ask you about this legislation you unveiled to
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allow people to refinance their student loans. >> yep. schieffer: which you say is now higher than either credit card debt or auto loan debt in this country. >> that's right. schieffer: already republicans said no way, no how. senator cornyn said it looks like another way to raise taxes. so is that it? >> no. so let's start by just reminding everybody what that th is. our young people are being crushed by student loan debt. $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loan debt and it is exploding. in less than a decade student loan debt has gone up 71% for the average amount that young people are borrowing. this is a crisis that now is not just affecting families that get hurt by it, it's affecting the whole economy. >> schieffer: my mantra is that the congress is broken. our whole political system is broken and not much can get done. you take kind of a different take in your book. you say the system is rigged, rigged to help the rich people
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and the big banks. >> yeah. schieffer: so what is your solution? what do you see as a way out of all this? >> well, so as i talk about in my book, what i really see -- this is a firsthand account in the book. it's kind of the eyewitness from going to washington in different fights along the way, always running into the moneyed interest. so that washington works for anyone hoops who can hire -- who can hire lobbyists and lawyers. it just doesn't work for regular families. so what i think that's going to have to be about is they've got the concentration of money and power that makes sure that every rule works for those who are rich. what we have on the other side is we only got two things. we've got our voices and we've got our votes. and we've got to make sure we get heard. that's the only way we ever get a level playing field. >> schieffer: we've got a democratic administration. president obama's been in there for more than five years now. >> yes. schieffer: is your fight with him, or is it with the
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republicans? >> you know, look, as i make clear in the book, i have had very strong and, frankly, pretty public disagreement with both the bush administration and with the current administration, particularly during the financial bailout over the treatment of the biggest banks. my view was there was too much and still is too much tilting of the playing field in their favor. but i also want to say on this we always have to remember, i got out there and fought for the idea of a little consumer financial protection bureau. idea behind it was that credit card companies and mortgage companies shouldn't be able to cheat ordinary families. do you know who stood up for that? it was president obama. >> schieffer: let me ask you a little bit about politics. you've got midterm election coming up here. my sense is that there's a very good chance the republicans are going to take back the senate. >> well, i'm going to be out there nighing that, i'll tell
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you that. because i know which side, which party stands with american families, stands with america's middle class, who wants to give the middle class a fair shot. and so i'm going to be out there doing everything i can for the democratic candidates. we've got good people in the united states senate. we've tried to move something forward. take a look at the house if you want to see what happens when republicans take over. what are they on now? is this their 50th vote to repeal obamacare? that's not how you run a country. we have real issues we need to deal with. minimum wage, student loan debt, equal pay for equal work, little accountability for the big financial institutions. >> schieffer: you know, your fans say you're a populist but your critics say you're just basically a socialist. (laughter). >> i just don't know where they get that. you know, look at the issues. i mean, really, let's take a look at them. minimum wage? i just believe nobody should work full time and live in poverty. and you know what?
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most of america agrees. student loans. i don't think the u.s. government should be making tens of billions of dollars in profits off the backs of our students, which is what the current student loan system is doing. and i think most americans agree with me on that. >> schieffer: you know, two years into your term now, you have written a book. that's exactly what barack obama did two years into his senate term. but you've also said about 19 times that you're not running for president. so i'm going to give you a chance to say for the 20t 20th time. >> i am not running for president. >> schieffer: but if hillary clinton decides not to run, will you reassess? >> you know, i am not running for president. but let me say something about that book, because it's important. this is my tenth book, not my first or second. this book is about my life's work. i have written all those books about what's happening to america's middle class. and i have watched as america's middle class just gets hammered
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one more time and one more time and one more time. i have watched as washington tilts more and more and more toward the rich and the powerful. i wrote this book because i'm out there trying to make sure that every kid gets a fighting chance. >> schieffer: -- hillary clinton? >> we're not there. this is about the issues on the table right now. we got it talk about student loans. we've got it talk about minimum wage. we have got to make changes, and we have an election coming up in 2014 where those issues are going to be right on the table. people will have voted, and the voters will have a chance to look at how the senate voted. >> schieffer: elizabeth warren, thank you so much. >> thank you. it's good be here. >> schieffer: thank you. and we'll be right back. their type 2 diabetes... ...with non-insulin victoza. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar, but it didn't get me to my goal. so i asked my doctor about victoza. he said victoza works differently than pills,
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and it comes in a pen. and the needle is thin. victoza is an injectable prescription medicine that may improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. it is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and should not be used in people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. victoza has not been studied with mealtime insulin. victoza is not insulin. do not take victoza if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza or any of its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction may include swelling of face, lips, tongue or throat, fainting or dizziness, very rapid heartbeat, problems breathing or swallowing, severe rash or itching. tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. serious side effects may happen in people who take victoza
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including inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis) which may be fatal. stop taking victoza and call your doctor right away if you have signs of pancreatitis, such as severe pain that will not go away in your abdomen or from your abdomen to your back, with or without vomiting. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you have any medical conditions. taking victoza with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. the most common side effects are nausea, diarrhea, and headache. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. if your pill isn't giving you the control you need... ask your doctor about non-insulin victoza. it's covered by most health plans. >> schieffer: and on this mother's day, a little poem i wrote in honor of my own mom some years ago. "what is there to say about moms that hasn't been said before?
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here's just a couple of things, maybe three or four. when you were just a little one, who was it that taught you a song? and even more important the difference tween right and wrong? when others turned against you, who was always there? who always took your side no matter when or where? if you're like me, it was mom. who kept the family going, whether times were good or not? who always could remember the things that we forgot? birthdays, homework, deadlines, 100 things or more. and on schooldays, wide awake or not, got you out you the door. if you're like me, it was mom. who told you you were just as good as any rich man's son and not to look for some excuse to do what needed done. you've known some movers and shakers. some may even know you. but in the final accounting, who taught you most that's true? if you're like me, it was mom." or how ornate the halls are.
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it doesn't matter if there are granite statues, or big mahogany desks. when working with an investment firm, what's really important is whether the people behind the desks actually stand behind what they say. introducing the schwab accountability guarantee. if you're not happy with one of our participating investment advisory services, we'll refund your program fee from the previous quarter. it's no guarantee against loss and other fees and expenses may still apply. chuck vo: standing by your word, that's what matters the most. when folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country,
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>> schieffer: and welcome back to "face the nation." and as promised, more now of our interview with former defense secretary robert gates, and we'll pick it up right where we left off when we asked him if he considered russia a serious threat to our national security. >> i think the greatest national security threat to this country at this point is the two square miles that encompasses the capitol building and the white house. >> schieffer: how do you mean that? >> if we can't get some of our problems solved here at home, if we can't get our finances in a more ordered fashion, if we can't begin to tackle some of the internal issues that we have, if we can't get some compromises on the hill to move the country forward, then i think these foreign threats recede significantly as far as being a risk to the well-being and the future of this country.
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>> schieffer: do you think these things, this sort of gridlock that washington finds itself in now, do you think this is seen in other countries as -- does it hurt our credibility abroad? >> oh, absolutely. i think that other countries are watching us very carefully. our allies are watching to wonder whether we will be there for them if they are challenged. internally or externally. other countries, whether it's russia or china or iran or north korea, are looking to see if what they perceive as our withdrawal from international leadership presents them opportunities down the road that they can take advantage of. so i absolutely believe that other countries are watching us. you know, getting out -- withdrawing from wars that don't end in clearcut victories is a
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tricky business. and to avoid the impression that you're withdrawing from global responsibility. nixon and kissinger, i think, don't get the credit they deserve for diverting attention from our loss in vietnam by their initiatives with the soviet union and china in the early 1970s, which sent the message to the rest of the world, we may have had this problem in vietnam, but the united states is still going to be the preeminent superpower in this world, and we're still going to be in the catbird seat when it comes to dealing with the major powers. unfortunately, there aren't opportunities like that right now. and the more the only message people here is that we're coming home and we're going to do nation building at home, the more they wonder whether we will be there for them if we're needed. >> schieffer: your book "duty" was a fascinating look from the inside. but i want to ask you, were you surprised at the -- some of the responses to your book? because i think a lot of
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people -- and i will say myself. i was actually surprised that you said some of the things that you said while the president was still in office. you were pretty hard on him. why did you -- were you surprised at the response you got from some quarters? >> i was surprised that a particular journalist cherry-picked quotes out of the book to make it appear to be more critical of president obama than it actually is. and francly, that narrative only lasted a few days and as more journalists and more reviewers actually read the book, they real eyed that it -- as the review said, it's a pretty balanced and straightforward accounting. i think that i'm very fair toward both president bush and president obama. and give him a lot of credit a lot of things. one of the conclusions of the
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book is i saw them both take decisions that were against their political interests but in the best interest of the united states and, for that, they had my highest respect. >> schieffer: you were adviser to how many presidents? and how many administrations were -- >> well, i worked for eight presidents. i worked closely probably with four, maybe five. >> schieffer: do you feel that president obama made the best use of you that he could? >> actually, i think he did. i think we had a very good relationship. he was -- we were very candid with one another. i met privately with him a great deal. i supported virtually every decision he made for the first two years i was secretary. i began to disagree with some of the decisions in early 2011. i didn't agree with the way we handled president mubarak in egypt. i didn't agree with intervening in libya. and we began to have some differences over the defense
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budget. but he always treated me well and with a great deal of courtesy. he was probably more patient with me sometimes than i deserved. but i think we had a very productive, good relationship. and i joke with people. sometimes people write washington memoirs to say, if they'd only done what i recommended. the truth is a lot of times he did do what i recommended. so i felt pretty good about it. >> schieffer: talk a little bit about syria. i mean, it's become just this humanitarian and strategic disaster. 150,000 dead. 11,000 children dead. 3 million refugees. three years ago, president obama called on the -- but he's still there. is he winning? >> yes. i think it will be hard for him to resume control over the entirety of syria, but if winning means remaining as president of syria, i think he
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is winning. i think in all honesty, having just said some very positive things, i think that this is one of the sad stories of the president's foreign policy. and i think last fall was a real low point where we went in the space of a week from saying assad must go to assad must stay in order to fulfill the agreement sponsored by putin to get rid of the chemical weapons that assad had used against his own people. and i think we got distracted and lost our perspective. there have been hundreds of atrocities against civilians in this civil war. 1,400 were killed in that chemical attack. but as you say, 150,000 were killed in -- by conventional means. and we got distracted from the 150,000 for the 1,400. and i think that it has -- and the geneva negotiations that
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collapsed, i think there was a chance for the administration to do something that -- and others in the region, to do something early on in the civil war. i think was -- i think was assad was back on his heels and significant amount of assistance at that time might have made a big difference. now i think it's very difficult. >> schieffer: can we live with what's happening there? i mean, what -- what do we do now? >> i think we may have to. schieffer: we may have to. and you don't see very much changing there, right? >> well, i certainly don't see a diplomatic solution. >> schieffer: i want to ask you about china. there are increasing signs they're becoming even more aggressive in the last couple of days. we hear about the chinese trying to put an oil rig in that area claimed by both vietnam and china in the south china sea. i'm told they sent 80 ships to patrol the area. and according to the vietnamese,
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they rammed a couple of vietnamese vessels. wheredo does this go? >> i think that what we're seeing is a manifestation of what we were talking about earlier, and that is, if there's a perception that the u.s. is withdrawing back home, then other countries are going to look for opportunities to advance old nationalist ambitions or satisfy revonchous claims. this is what i was referring to when i said you may see more frequent conflicts and confrontations in the future if people don't believe the united states is willing to assert its role, if you will, as guardian of the international order. a lot of people don't like to hear that. but it's a role we've played for decades. it doesn't necessarily mean getting ourselves involved in
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conflict all the time. but it does mean a presence and it means that people know that when we say we will do something, we will do it. >> schieffer: have you ever thought of running for president? >> absolutely not! (laughter) two words -- instant divorce. (laughter) >> schieffer: secretary, it's always a pleasure to talk to you. >> thank you, bob. schieffer: thanks so much. and we'll be right back with our panel. stay with us.
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when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence.
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it's one more part of our commitment to america. >> schieffer: joining us now for some analysis, david ignatius from "the washington post." and michael crowley who wrote an article in "time" magazine on vladimir putin. and margaret brennan from the cbs news state department. it was very interesting to hear secretary gates. it's always interesting to hear these officials after they've been there and they can step back, a little time has passed. he gave -- i think his book was a fairly balanced account, as he argued in this interview, but he wasn't afraid to say they made some real mistakes. >> the reason that secretary gates was so effective -- and you saw this, i thought, throughout your interesting interview with him -- is that he's smart. he's bipartisan. he's served presidents from both
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parties. and he's tough. he kept saying about shinseki at the v.a., he needs to impose accountability he needs to go in there and dig. and i've watched secretary gates covering the pentagon, fire people. if you did the wrong thing in bob gates' eyes, you were out. and he imposed a degree of accountability on that big, impossible-to-manage place that's rarely seen. and i think that's really the message i'd take away from that interview if you're looking at -- we talked about the secret service problems. they need accountability. they need somebody to just go in and look at what happened and fire the people who did things wrong, same thing with v.a., same thing with the kind of policies in our financial sector that elizabeth warren talked about. that seems like the missing thing right now in our public life is holding people accountable, not in a partisan nasty way but in the sense of good public management. >> schieffer: well, you know, to your point, i remember very well when the airports turned up they
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were being kind of careless with handling nuclear weapons, he fired not only the airport chief of staff -- >> and the sealktary. schieffer: he also fired the secretary. >> i remember being around the building right after that. and i'll tell you, bob, people were scared of being seemed to be making mistakes in the eyes of secretary bob gates. the whole place tightened down. and everybody said, oh, i better get this right, which is the kind of management culture this town needs to so badly. >> schieffer: let's talk a little bit about syria and what's going on there. he obviously said we should have done some things in the beginning, margaret, and also michael, that we didn't do, and now we have what we have. where do you see this thing coming out? >> well, it looks like assad has the upper hand now. their rebels have essentially given up the -- they were dug into a hole in holmes which was the birthplace of the revolution and have agreed to a deal with the government. there was a time when there was no talk of doing any kind of a
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deal with the government. it would be unthinkable. the obama administration, i think, might dispute that there was a time when you could really turn the course of this thing. if there was ever a way that we could manage that chaos to an outcome we want. and by the way, bob, i think there's some ambivalence about what outcome we do want. there are people in this administration who think that what would follow assad might very well be worse, that you could have radical islamist al-qaeda-affiliated elements running large portions of the country and that would be very bad. assad may be the least of the evils here. the last thing i'll say is the debate about whether to provide more sophisticated weaponry to the rebels, surface-to-air missiles. there's this fascinating conversation happening right now. you can outfit these surface-to-air missiles with biometric locks and gps devices that would prevent them from being taken to other areas or given to other people and potentially to shoot down civilian airliners which would freeze up the global air traffic
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system and cause an economic catastrophe? really hard call but there's a lot of pressure on the administration to move forward with that. >> schieffer: i think that is an excellent point. margaret, you're at the state department every day. what do you think's going to happen here? are we going to give more aid? is there very much we can do right now? >> well, i tell you, no one at the state department would sayin' ott record what secretary gates did, which was there's no diplomatic solution, because officially, that's the u.s.' position. we can negotiate with someone who has no interest in negotiating himself out of power. what we are seeing quietly and what's not talked about are some of the increased support with getting the gulf countries slowly on the same page in terms of who they're funneling money and weapons to. you've heard progress on that front. and the awareness that people who end up running the country are not the ones necessarily who will be at the white house or here in washington this week. you do have the leader of the main syrian opposition going to the white house later this week. and that's supposed to be a sign
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back home in syria that the u.s. is standing by you. we are increasing nonlethal support officially. there's more that's sort of creeping in terms of support, but the administration has been incredibly reluctant to really get full-on engaged in a conflict -- >> schieffer: will the president see this later, this rebel leader who's coming? >> unclear and officials are very noncommittal about that. the head of the political opposition is supposed to meet with susan rice. perhaps the president could drop by, but there's no official statement of any of that. he did meet with secretary kerry this week. >> schieffer: michael, you did the cover story on putin. let me just ask you what i asked secretary gates. what's this about from putin's point of view? >> i think it's about a couple things, bob. the one thing that people will have heard a lot of discussion about is restoring russia to its lost of greatness. putin very strongly felt a kind
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of humiliation over the collapse of the soviet union and a feeling that the west kind of danced on the soviet union's grave, can panded nato, according to putin, violating explicit promises not to do so right up to russia's doorstep and a feeling that ukraine was never really a real country, should never have been an independent country, and he has accomplished a lot of that now. i'm not sure he will actually occupy or invade ukraine, but he's fully destabilized it. it's going to force decentralization in these next elections, prevent any short-terminateo or u.e. membership. the other point that has not gotten as much attention is what's going on at home. putin is over 80% in his approval ratings. that a sa four-year high. he is charging down -- knocking bloggers offline entirely, shutting down tv stations, any -- what little independent critical voices, what few independent critical voices there were are now being silenced. and this guy is consolidating his power. remember, after time, it has not been a totally smooth ride for
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him. he did face some substantial protests in moscow and other parts of the country after he returned to the presidency. so in some ways, that may be the most important part of this game for him, and i think he's winning it. >> schieffer: i think mike ropers made an interesting point talking about this week hearing about movement of those troops along the blorder. he says they're just replacing troops, that this is a rotation that's going on. >> putin clearly wants to keep that pressure on, i'm sure, through the ukrainian elections on may 25, probably long after. we've learned a lot about vladimir putin watching him in this crisis. and the only disagreement i have with michael is i think putin is running a country that's much weaker economically and politically than we sometimes realize. russian financial markets have fallen on the order of 15%. and that was from a fairly weak base to start off with. it's basically a one-commodity economy, export of energy. it isn't modernizing in the way
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that its western european neighbors are. putin is g ing to have trouble keeping as many troops in the field for as long as he seems to want to. and i finally have been struck by the way in which he's kind of winging it. he amassed those troops, appeared ready to invade ukraine. then i think as he saw that the u.s. and germany were standing together, he thought that was not such a good idea and has been pulling back and made a statement last week that he thought the elections should go forward. so we shouldn't think that this is a master player who's thought every move through the end of the chess game. he's a very aggressive, leader who's trying to put his country back in the game, but i don't think he's thought it through all the way. >> schieffer: are there more sanctions coming? >> from the e.u. you hear from european officials you could see some as son as monday. but the u.s. is moving much more slowly on this. it was very interesting that the u.s. sanctioned russia for
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its support of syria. they're also backing the assad regime on a few fronts, ukraine and others are not doing what we would like. but it's really may 25t 25th election that the u.s. is europe are very focused on and making sure they're going to flood the country with election monitors, a 10th of that delegation is going to be americans to make sure that election becomes legitimate and that will help put in place new government in ukraine. but putin maybe didn't even need to invade, because he certainly destabilized and achieved that aim. >> schieffer: let me ask you all about this awful thing that's happening in nigeria. you heard secretary gates say there really is not a lot we can do besides providing some intelligence help. but you also heard mike rogers say we should have gotten more involved in that whole situation a long time ago. michael? >> well, there has been a robust debate it bthat. and hillary clinton and her camp are on the defensive right now because it has been reported that she chose not to put boko
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haram on the terrorist designation list a couple years ago. i think it's a reasonable argument there were a lot of smart people who said there were reasons not do this. the top state department official who works on africa advised against it. and it's not entirely clear to me that -- it's not clear at all to me that would have made a difference in what's happening now. one big problem we had -- i actually was at remarks the president made before meeting with the president of nigeria when he was up for the u.n. in 2013, it's human rights abuses which have frozen our cooperation with them to fight boko haram because that military has been guilty of allegedly some serious human rights abuses. so it's really hard to find a neat solution on this. the last thing i'll say, though, i think mike rogers made the right point, which is there is a lot of islamic radicalism in northern africa right now. you remember the terrible attack in kenya. you remember when mollyz was the crisis of the day. this is a new iteration of al-qaeda that the government is
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still getting its arms around. it's very difficult from the al-qaeda in pakistan we're used to dealing with. a lot of these guys are not al-qaeda but are affiliated with them, inspired by them. how do you fight that? >> schieffer: although we all hope somehow or another those children are still alive, nearly 3 unof them at this point, there is no indication that they are. we really still don't know anything about that situation. well, thank you all. and we'll be right back. ,,,,,,,,
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man: you know, it's funny, this baja quesadilla burger doesn't really look like burger. man 2: grilled beef patty? that's burger-esque. man 1: yeah, but the flour tortilla is, like, quesadilla-y. man 2: it's both, okay? you happy? man 1: dude, it's four bucks. i am definitely happy. [ding] waitress: welcome to denny's. >> schieffer: turning now to the good news, a turn we don't seem to take much anymore, i am happy to announce the washington monument, which has been closed for repairs for three years, will reopen to the public tomorrow morning. washington without the monument has been like thanksgiving without the turkey. since its dedication in 1885, it has been standing watch over the city. the backdrop for speeches and marches that changed history. for rallies and protests. ♪
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concerts and fireworks and a destination for tourists from around the world. but three years ago, a minor earthquake shook its very foundation and cracked the walls in 150 places. we watched the repairs unfold from the outside and even enjoyed a surprise light show. >> it fell down and we're able to reuse it -- >> schieffer: the interior secretary took "cbs sunday morning's" dan crawford for a few washington hasn't seen in a while. >> this is the view people have not had for the last few years. >> this is arguably the only place that you can get any kind of a view like this in washington short of flying over in an airplane, which, of course, you're not allowed to do. so this is the best view there is in town. >> schieffer: a great view since local billionaire david rubenstein agreed to pay half
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the $15 million repair bill. >> i've tried call what i've done a patriotic philanthropy which is to say try to give back to your country any way you can and that's what i tried to do with the washington monument. >> schieffer: so the washington monument is back in business and don't worry about all that scaffolding going to waste. work is now underway to repair the capitol building. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪ [ birds squawking ] my mom makes airplane engines that can talk. [ birds squawking ] ♪ my mom makes hospitals you can hold in your hand. ♪ my mom can print amazing things right from her computer. [ whirring ]
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[ train whistle blows ] my mom makes trains that are friends with trees. [ train whistle blows ] ♪ my mom works at ge. ♪ for it's a challengefornia fostto replace clothes. that are too small or worn out. i grew 3 inches last year. i don't need anything fancy. i never had much to begin with. when i look nice on the outside, i feel better on the inside. to help, sleep train is collecting new clothes for kids big and small. bring your gift to any sleep train, and help make a foster child's day a little brighter. not everyone can be a foster parent, but anyone can help a foster child. [ dog barks ]
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♪ [ male announcer ] imagine the cars we drive... being able to see so clearly... to respond so intelligently and so quickly, they can help protect us from a world of unseen danger. it's the stuff of science fiction... minus the fiction. and it is mercedes-benz... today. ♪ >> schieffer: that's it. we'll see you next week right here on "face the nation."
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