AMBASSADOR Robert Holmes Tuttle
Speeches, Remarks & Events
06 September 2007
Transatlantic Relations: An Ambassadorial Reflection
Address to the World Affairs Council of Orange County
Richard Nixon Presidential Library
California
Twelve hours after my wife, Maria, and I arrived in London in July of 2005, we were standing silently before a wall of flowers and messages of grief at a small church in the center of the city. It had been a makeshift hospital in the immediate aftermath of the July 7th bombings, but had become the focus for a community in mourning.
Police tape was everywhere as we made our way to the Embankment gardens to lay a wreath and join the thousands who had signed the book of condolence. We spoke to police and London Underground staff, who had spent days below ground, trying to find answers as to what had happened on that morning: the day the unsuspecting commuters of London became targets for terrorists.
Exactly one week before the bombing in London, we were in Washington for my confirmation hearing as ambassador.
Exactly one week after the bombing, I was sworn in by Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, to represent the United States to the United Kingdom.
How different life felt from one week to the next.
Instead of our planned, gradual exit, we left immediately for London.
For us, July 7th could no longer be another terrible event, far away. As memories of September 11th came flooding back, we knew our place was in our new home.
The first call on our time had to be to honor those killed and wounded and to pay tribute to those who continued to search for an answer to the question we all grappled with: who would do such a thing?
In the weeks that followed, we also watched the pain of our new British friends deepen, as the suspicion that the crime had been committed by part of their own community, gradually became reality.
It was not what one might have expected to be a "typical" first official visit – and such a tragedy could not have been further from the mind of President Bush when he asked me to go to London. But even from the outset, the President wanted to ensure that, as well as leading our Embassy's efforts to advance America's interests with the government of the United Kingdom, I would also lead the Embassy in its outreach to the people of the United Kingdom.
The President wanted me to make public diplomacy a priority – and I have been learning ever since just how complex that mission is.
To try to meet that challenge, Maria and I have taken two trips outside London almost every month for the last two years. We have been to every major population center in the United Kingdom and stepped up the outreach activities of our embassy staff from 25, to 125 events per month.
We have tried to use Winfield House, the legendary residence of America's Ambassador in London, as a showcase of the best of America's art and culture – a place to "talk policy" – and a place to "do business." We have welcomed over 15,000 people to the residence since July of 2005.
Our wreath–laying in July was not a "typical" first visit, but then – these are not "typical" times.
Through our public diplomacy efforts, we try to help the British understand America better, and for our part, there is always more to learn about the rich diversity of the United Kingdom.
But the key to the transatlantic Relationship is the fact that there is so much our nations do together on what I have come to believe are the three greatest challenges of the 21st Century:
- The terrorism that stems from division and extremism;
- World poverty and social injustice; and
- Global environmental degradation.
These are challenges we cannot deal with independently, because they are not problems that can be confined within any nation's borders.
These are not "typical" times, but I can think of no better ally in these struggles than the United Kingdom – our "un–typical" friend.
To better understand our relationship – let me offer a few basics about this "un–typical" partner:
The population of Los Angeles is broadly similar to that of London, while the population of the UK is about twice that of California. That means London and the UK contain some of the most densely populated real estate in the world. This affects the way in which business in the UK is conducted, and it affects the way national media, television and regional papers report the news. It affects the relationship among political parties – and their response to issues such as immigration, climate change and public services.
The United Kingdom is a place where personal links matter, overlaps between issues and sectors are inevitable, and every national institution carries decades, if not centuries, of precedent and history.
I observed some of these differences early on, when I spent an "un–typical" day with the British then–Foreign Secretary – now the Secretary of State for Justice – Jack Straw, in his constituency of Blackburn, in Northwest England.
It was fascinating for me to watch a man, expert on foreign policy, deal with local constituency concerns. There, he was just "Jack" – a member of Parliament.
Most members of parliament hold these sessions they call "advice surgeries" with their constituents. Watching Jack discuss housing, schools and roads demonstrated to me, more than anything else, the way the country operates, the real issues and the local pressure – even on government ministers. It showed me just how different our systems really are.
The former Foreign Secretary's constituency is also a good example of the diversity of modern British life, and of the first challenge I mentioned. There is a large Muslim community in Blackburn, and, particularly since the July 7th bombings, and the attempted attack later that same month and again this summer, there is a real tension in some parts of the country.
I have made a point of visiting mosques and speaking with Muslim community leaders whenever possible. Maria has visited the mosques with me and has gone to a number of schools to talk with Muslim girls and boys.
These are not always easy conversations. There are long–standing misunderstandings and deeply held views that are not going to go away because the Ambassador and his wife came to call.
I visit all kinds of groups and listen to how they see things. I try to understand them and to help them see our point of view. This needs to be a two–way street.
Outreach to such communities, despite disagreements or discomfort, is one of the most important parts of our job, because we must face the fact there are young people today who grew up with the benefits of democracy and freedom, who feel so isolated they are willing to resort to extremism – and even to terror.
We must find ways to involve them, if we are to re–affirm our values and live up to our standards as a society.
Another aspect of our public diplomacy effort involves both the visitors who come to the UK and those who travel between our countries.
In London, we have a nearly–constant stream of representatives from the U.S. government – and I don't just mean the President, who has been to the UK three times during his administration – or the Secretary of State, who has been to London five times during my tenure.
We have also welcomed General Petraeus, Chief Justice Roberts, Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte, Speaker Pelosi, Robert Zoelleck, the new head of the world bank, and our own Governor Schwarzenegger.
Every year, Embassy London hosts over 18,000 local, state and federal U.S. officials who come to share – and to learn – from their counterparts in the UK. However, these visits are also crucial to the wider American public diplomacy mission because London is one of three media "hubs" in a global communications network.
This network, set up by Karen Hughes, Under–Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, works to ensure that we seize every opportunity to have our U.S. visitors speaking to British and foreign media – explaining the American point of view.
But as important as those governmental links are, for me, the links between people are equally important.
More than 32,000 American, and 8,000 British students, traveled across the Atlantic to study last year, and a massive four and a half million UK citizens made the United States their destination of choice. Almost exactly the same number of Americans went to the UK.
If we are to combat the isolation that breeds division and the disillusion that encourages extremism, and even terror, we need to do all that we can to encourage the natural curiosity and affinity between our countries – and among all countries.
Those millions of links between people and groups cultivate trust and inspire respect. They provide the first line of defense we have in an uncertain world, and they are the final court of opinion and appeal. Those individual relationships are a demonstration of our values in action, and the fabric of our shared future.
Our future – as well as our challenges – are also found in the concerns of the young people we speak to at universities around the UK. Students always make a particularly spirited audience, and a university campus is a wonderful place to reconnect with the idealism and passion of youth.
I recently spoke to a student group at Oxford University to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Marshall Plan. We talked about trade and security, climate change and, of course, Iraq.
But Africa also regularly comes up with those younger audiences.
You may recall how Britain's new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, made Africa one of their highest priorities for development and aid. This has had a huge impact on students in the UK. They are keenly involved and engaged in the problems of not only African development, but poverty and social justice issues generally.
Yet they are not alone in the UK in knowing very little about what the United States has done in Africa. Most do not know, for example, that President Bush has tripled assistance to Africa since the Clinton Administration and will double it again by 2012. Or that the United States has, in partnership with host countries, provided antiretroviral treatment for over 800,000 people – up from only 50,000 just a few years ago.
Or more recently, that the President has launched a massive $1.2 billion program to cut deaths from malaria by 50 percent.
They are not aware of how closely the United States and the United Kingdom have been working on these issues, or the power of the transatlantic relationship to move forward on programs of economic development.
To me, the concerns of these students highlight the second major challenge of this century: our security and the security of our world will be determined by what we do today in places like Africa, where hunger and disease are the comrades and allies of oppression and tyranny. Where instability and chaos are the most common export of weak and rogue states.
Between internal genocide and external terrorism, such countries have the potential to unbalance the international order and render it unsustainable.
If we do not ensure that such countries have the means and capacity to become economically self–sufficient and politically self–sustaining, not only will those Oxford students and future generations judge us harshly, but their world will be even more insecure.
Sustainability is also key to the final challenge I see ahead.
I was in Aberdeen, Scotland, a few months ago – the oil capital of the United Kingdom. But I wasn't there to talk about oil. I was talking to a large, alternative-energy conference about biofuels and sustainable forms of energy.
Generally, I have found that climate change is an issue where public policy needs public dipomacy.
Both countries have the same goals, but to date, we have used very different means to achieve those ends.
Inevitably, that difference in approach has resulted in different policies, but our basic agreement is sometimes obscured by the fact most British people don't have the opportunity to hear about American initiatives in this area.
That is why it is so important for me and our Embassy staff to get out and tell people about the President's commitment to reducing U.S. greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent by 2012. And about the fact that, since 2001, the U.S. administration has spent $37 billion on research into the development and deployment of clean technologies – more than any other country in the world.
When one explains the President's argument in favor of research and development as a means to decrease our dependence on fossil fuel, the British people, and British business in particular, understand its economic sense.
These are the issues I discuss with the people of the United Kingdom – but they are also the biggest challenges of our time.
So what is the role of the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom in the face of these challenges?
Since 1974, the number of democracies worldwide has quadrupled. In the past 10 years alone, the number of democracies has almost doubled to over 120 nations.
Today, there are over a billion people living in democracies who only 30 years ago lived under dictatorships. Electoral democracy is now the world's dominant form of government.
Before I arrived in the UK, it was suggested to me by some people that while we all agree democracy is a wonderful system, it was not really something that one spent a great deal of time talking about.
Perhaps they thought it wasn't "polite" to "boast."
To them I say, that advice may have made sense in times past, but these are not typical times, and this is not a typical relationship.
Our countries' bond remains fresh and strong because it is built on something essential, something permanent, something in our democratic DNA. We are driven by our shared values, shared aspirations, and a shared sense of our responsibilities and duties as world leaders.
It is our unity in the protection of those values that creates the sense that this link is not only "special," but unique in the world.
And it is our unity in the promotion of those values around the world that helped ensure that the last quarter of the 20th Century produced the greatest expansion of democracy in history.
I may debate issues with my British friends, and we may disagree about tactics and approach. But we always come to the same questions:
What can we do about the division and extremism that breed violence and terror, world poverty or climate change?
What can our two nations do about these challenges – together?
I know there is a lot of discussion in the press about anti–Americanism, but that has not been my experience. Many people in the United Kingdom and in Europe disagree with some aspects of U.S. foreign policy. That is not exactly news. Many people in the United States disagree with some aspects of U.S. foreign policy.
But if you look deeper, there are issues – including foreign policy – on which the British, Americans and Europeans agree:
- They agree that iran should be prevented from gaining nuclear weapons.
- They agree that there should be more cooperation to promote democracy and secure our energy supplies.
- They agree that there should be a growing role for the EU in world affairs.
And that sense of international agreement has led to some significant accomplishments that are too often overlooked in the midst of other pressing issues.
The international community, and in particular the UN Security Council plus Germany, has worked tirelessly to contain Iran's nuclear aspirations through not just one, but two UN Resolutions calling on Iran to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency requirements.
More work is now underway on a new UN Security Council resolution, as well as bi–lateral work that will help to prevent Iran from making a profit in the international marketplace as long as they refuse to meet the terms set out by the UN.
In the Middle East, the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is now the Special Representative and Middle East Peace Envoy for the EU, the UN, the United States and Russia – the Quartet. He has been asked to bring continuity to the ongoing work of the Quartet in support of the Palestinians in the areas of economic development and private sector partnerships. He has also been asked to focus on the creation of viable and lasting government institutions that represent all Palestinians and support the rule of law.
The pressure brought to bear by the international community has borne fruit, even in North Korea, as evidenced by the UN's confirmation of the closure of the five nuclear facilities at the Yongbyon complex and by North Korea's agreement to disable all such facilities by the end of the year.
As one of the six–party members, the United States continues to work with our international colleagues on the disclosure required of North Korea's nuclear program, as well as the overall de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula – but this start gives us cause for cautious optimism.
Clearly, there is agreement on many aspects of the international agenda, and there is ample evidence of the international community at work, but at its heart is a transatlantic engine of liberal democracy – powered by the shared values and common purpose of the United Kingdom and the United States.
All of which brings me back to my friend, Jack Straw.
Jack argued this case in Blackburn, when he pointed out that UK "national interests" were best advanced, in his words, by –
". . . Building a community of nations in which people can share in common values – respect for human rights, democratic accountability, rule of law, economic freedom, opportunity for all – a helping hand for the poorest."
He called them "global values."
The United States and the United Kingdom have stood shoulder-to-shoulder not only in tests of military and geopolitical might, but in addressing the causes of terror at home and abroad, issues of social injustice and environmental degradation.
I began my remarks by talking about the tragic events of July 7th and our public diplomacy mission to speak to the people of the United Kingdom.
What I have found is a country with a strong sense of history and tradition – but a willingness to change; communities of great aspiration – but with their feet firmly on the ground; a people of deep convictions – but with a tolerant heart.
I have found more that binds us together in spirit, than could ever divide us in practice.
The United States and the United Kingdom are partners not because we always agree, but because we know that, on these challenges, we are on the same side and heading in the same direction.
That is the message I have heard on my travels – all over the United Kingdom.
It has been my great privilege to meet and deal with Gordon Brown, first, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and now as Prime Minister.
Like so many people in the United Kingdom, he has a great curiosity about the United States and a great affection for our country. He is known as a cautious man, but he has been a champion of internationalism and globalization from the outset of his political career.
He has been vindicated in that faith by the success of the British economy throughout his tenure as Chancellor. But behind that economist's persona, I know he also cares deeply about the challenges I have cited.
It seems appropriate that I leave you with something he said about our relationship.
". . . I believe that our two countries, learning from each other, can meet the great challenges of change. Not by protectionism, but by openness and internationalism. Not by resisting change but by equipping people to cope with change. . . . Both of us are stronger because of the shared history that links our countries – and the shared values that bind us – even more closely together."
These are not typical times, but we should be grateful that our connection to the United Kingdom is also far from typical.
It is an honor for Maria and me to play some small part in this transatlantic engine of liberal democracy, and make our contribution to the process of constant renewal of the values that make us one.
Thank you.
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