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I had an opportunity to interview Gingrich several years ago. His wife is a Luther College graduate, and he presented a distinguished lecture on health care as part of Luther's homecoming festivities in 2003. America had invaded Iraq five months prior, and many people on both sides of the aisle had questions and concerns about this monumental move and what it meant for the future of our country.
I liked Newt Gingrich. Not enough to vote for him, but I liked him. Gingrich is a former teacher, and he knew that I wasn't a reporter that was going to try to catch him off guard and exploit it in a headline. So he took extra time and was very candid with me, which I appreciated.
It made me wish that everyone could have the opportunity to have that kind of discussion with the people who help lead our country. Too often, the mean-spirited rhetoric and the competition for the biggest headline or longest air time get in the way of meaningful dialogue and debate. Our national tone is, "You don't agree with me, so you must be stupid." It's sad, really.
Grandma Trewin, who was as dyed-in-the-wool Democrat as they come, was really proud of this interview and sent lots of copies of it to her friends. She also appreciated better understanding the Republican perspective on foreign policy, especially at a time of war. So, in the spirit of promoting healthy discussion, and respecting people we may not agree with, here's my interview with Newt from eight years ago.
My 19 minutes with Newt Gingrich
Originally published in the Decorah Journal - Oct. 16, 2003
I was ill-equipped for an exclusive interview with Newt Gingrich. It was Friday, and I was wearing jeans. I hadn’t watched CNN in the last 24 hours. I hadn’t brushed up on my knowledge of the latest happenings in the Middle East. I wasn’t sure of the most recent book he published or what it was about. And I was more than a little intimidated.
The former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is an imposing figure. He has a tendency to verbally chew up his opponents and spit them out. He’s one of the bullies of the GOP. The Rottweiler of America’s right-wing politics.
Maybe Katie Couric can hold her own with him, but she has a staff feeding her questions and briefing her on up-to-the-second Washington news. I don’t.
So I took a deep breath, wiped my moist palm on the leg of my jeans, and thought to myself, "Here goes. How many chances will I have to interview the former speaker of the house? And I may learn something." Gingrich didn’t disappoint me.
He entered the room with his wife, Callista, a 1988 Luther College graduate, to whom he introduced me. He wore khakis and a dress shirt with no tie, his sleeves rolled back. He assumed a relaxed position across the table from me, and pulled occasionally on a Diet Coke.
He told me he had spent the better part of the afternoon talking with Luther’s political science classes. Following a meeting with the campus Republicans, he would be attending a Nordic Choir rehearsal so he would be able to meet Weston Noble, an opportunity he described as "a thrill." Then he settled back and met my eyes, as if to say, "Your turn."
I was trying really hard to be cool. I had my game face on. I was poised to ask him something intelligent. But my need to understand overcame my desire to sound smart, so what came out of my mouth was this:
Look, I would be really remiss if I didn’t ask you some questions about foreign policy. And to be honest, I, like the rest of the country, am really confused about the Bush administration’s tactics and whether it’s a good idea that we’re in Iraq. Are we a safer nation today than two years ago?
This is what he told me:
"We’re safer than we would have been if Saddam Hussein was still trying to get weapons of mass murder, and still had biological warfare scientists on his payroll. We’re safer after we’ve proven to Afghanistan and Iraq how serious we are. I don’t feel we’re safe yet.
"My sad message to the American people is this is going to be longer, harder and bigger than any of us yet understand. Dictators and terrorists have a connection. And whether it’s a North Korean dictator, or Iranian, a Libyan or a Syrian; they don’t like us.
"There are relationships between countries and terrorists; relationships of financing and weapons that we have to confront. Afghanistan and Iraq are two steps in a long campaign for safety, help, prosperity and freedom. We need to establish that in the Middle East, North Korea and sub-Saharan Africa, or we will continue to have significant challenges and national security threats."
The Bush administration seems to be spending a lot of time defending itself and its policies in the Middle East. Why is there such skepticism on the part of the American people regarding our foreign policy?
"Part of it is bias and our elite media, part are the assumptions of the left in politics and some of it is the clumsiness by the Bush administration," he answered.
"The Kay report is actually pretty definitive that Saddam Hussein was breaking the UN resolution, had a program for biological and chemical weapons and was trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, page one, paragraph three of the report stated, ‘we did not find any weapons,’ and people quit reading. What the Bush administration should have done is laid out the facts and put what they found on the last page."
Gingrich continued, "The Bush administration hasn’t come to grips with how big and long this war is. The challenge they have is to communicate it is unavoidable, not desirable. Our friends on the left want to debate if it is desirable. The president is carrying the burden to communicate that this is a good and fun thing to do. What he should be doing is convincing the nation that it’s necessary and it’s hard. It’s not hard because Bush is president; it’s hard because we have real enemies.
"No one blamed FDR for the fact that the Japanese and Germans fought," he continued. "We have been very successful in Germany, Japan, South Korea, most of Latin America and much of Eastern Europe. Who would have imagined 15 years ago that Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic would be experiencing real freedom?
"We have a real debate – a healthy debate – that we as Americans need to have. Is America best represented by a strong foreign policy with risks, or hiding and hoping that nothing bad happens?"
Attempts to create democracy in Israel and Palestine have failed. Can we be successful helping Iraq govern and police itself as a nation?
"What you’re asking me is really two questions. The first is, can we help most of the Iraqi people create safety, help, prosperity and freedom. Second, can we do it amid the remnants of a fascist dictatorship. I don’t believe we’re in the ‘mopping up’ phase in Iraq. There are dictator-terrorist war elements in Syria, Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and North Korea, and they all have an interest in killing Americans and defeating us. We’re in a real war – a long war – and a war the Iraqi people need to help us win.
"With regard to Palestine – I’m very much for a Palestinian state, but one that will enable Israel to survive in peace. The key to that is to identify and organize those Palestinians who want their children to be safe and free, and they feel strongly enough about that they are prepared to help fight the Palestinians determined to destroy Israel.
"When the leader of Hammas states that not a single Jew can survive, I take that seriously. You can’t negotiate with that. We’re seeking to find a diplomatic answer, and it’s not a diplomatic problem. It’s a military police problem. So we need to arm citizens seeking freedom, and provide them with necessary equipment, intelligence and other assets to help them defeat terrorists."
He paused. "We’ve covered a lot of territory." We had. The time allotted for my interview had come to a close. And while I didn’t completely agree with some of the things he said, I have an increased understanding of an important perspective on our nation’s foreign policy.
My hope is this column has done the same for you.
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