Writings, Speeches & Interviews

Interview by Anthony Manduca originally appeared in The Times of Malta, 27 September 2005

ANTHONY MANDUCA speaks to the new American Ambassador to
Malta, MOLLY BORDONARO, about US-Maltese relations, the Iraqi
war and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 
 
One has to admire Molly Bordonaro’s sense of optimism when it
comes to a such a sensitive foreign policy issue as the war in Iraq.
Despite the difficulties being encountered by the United States and
its coalition allies in the aftermath of the overthrow of Saddam
Hussein President Bush’s new ambassador to Malta believes
things are getting better in Iraq. 
 
I pointed out to her that former Secretary of State Colin Powell (like
her, a Republican) recently criticised the conduct of the Bush
administration in the war in Iraq. Do she acknowledge that many
critical mistakes were made by the US in the aftermath of the
overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime and did she actually
believe there is light at the end of the tunnel in Iraq?
 
“Nobody can predict how a war is going to be and so you can always
second guess. There is tremendous success that has been made
in Iraq. There have been free elections where eight million people
turned out to vote, over 3,200 schools have been refurbished and
renovated, people are going back to work, children are going back to
school, the majority of the people in Iraq do not support the
insurgency movement, they are supportive of furthering democracy
and establishing peace in their country.
 
“So these are all points of success which can be absolutely looked
at, and we  are continuing to see greater measures of success as
we move forward. So, yes, we can definitely see light at the end of
the tunnel because of these successive steps that have been
achieved. We are going to continue to see that type of success and
this is going to be very, very important. We are going to stay the
course, and make sure that Iraq is a safe, free country with a
democratic regime,” she insisted.
 
I point out to her that the security situation doesn’t seem to be
getting better at all. The car bombs and terrorist attacks are on the
increase and two years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein the
road from Baghdad airport to the so-called green zone is still not
secure.
 
She sticks to her position: “I would disagree. Things are getting
better. We can point to the elections where eight million people
turned out to vote, to the renovations of the schools, to the number of
Iraqis returning to work who are now living in a free society where
they can control their destiny and the destiny of their children.”
 
“Unfortunately there are insurgents out there who are terrorists.
They want democracy to fail and they want to have a tyrannical
dictatorship. We cannot let these very few people, who are in the
minority, succeed. We can’t even point to them as overshadowing
the successful steps that have been achieved, because there has
been tangible success and there will continue to be tangible
success and we continue to believe in the end that we will be able to
defeat terrorism. It is critically important for Europe, the US, Malta, to
defeat terrorism.”
 
Ms Bordonaro, who is from Portland , Oregon, is the fifth political
appointee in a row to be appointed US ambassador to Malta. She
has worked in public relations and was Mr Bush’s regional
campaign chairman for the Pacific States (California, Oregon and
Washington State) in the presidential campaigns of 2000 and 2004
as well as the chairman of the Oregon Victory 2000 and 2004
presidential campaigns. In 1998, she was the Republican Party’s
candidate for the US House of Representatives in Oregon’s First
District but was not elected.
 
Asked what her reaction was to her appointment by President
George W. Bush and how her past career would help her in her new
post, she replied:  “I was very humbled and honoured that President
Bush appointed me as US Ambassador in Malta. I am very pleased
to be given this post here. My husband is first generation American
from Sicily  and we are very familiar with this part of the world and so
were very pleased to be coming to Malta.
 
“My background is very different from many diplomats. I have spent
many years in the private sector and I think bringing a different skill
set from the business world to this task is a benefit. I also have a
background in politics and I hope that that will bring a whole deal of
experience to the issues that we will be working with and ultimately
to strengthen the ties between the two countries.”
Regarding the strengths and weaknesses of US-Maltese bilateral
relations Ms Bordonaro describes the relationship between the two
countries as “very strong”.
 
“It’s continuing to grow stronger. As you know President Bush and
Prime Minister Gonzi are meeting at the White House on October 3 –
a great representation of the fact that both leaders think the
relationship is valuable. I think we will build on that relationship
which is critical for very important reasons and issues such as
security.”
 
The Ambassador says she would like to strengthen the
relationship between the two countries and would like to see further
collaboration on important issues particularly global security “and
there is a lot of room to do some work on that because of Malta’s
strategic location in the Mediterranean.”
“I hope during my tenure to accomplish very specific things that will
help with the overall collaboration between our two countries on
working on global security issues. There are some other
agreements and treaties that our countries are working on and I
hope these come to completion as well,” she says.
 
Asked to define US interests in Malta, Ms Bordonaro calls these
“important” and adds: “It is particularly important because of Malta’s
location in the Mediterranean. The US is very interested in working
closely with Malta on global security. There are business interests
as well, and then of course there is an interest among Americans in
the historic and tourist aspect of this great country.”
 
The Ambassador believes Malta has  played a very important role
on the issue of global security.   “As you probably know the air space
and water space around Malta is 1,800 times the size of the island
so this is a great part of the Mediterranean that Malta is directly
responsible for. Malta has worked with the US on specific issues
such as port security and immigration. Furthermore, Malta has also
allowed our naval ships to come here, and has given us some
airspace rights as well. So we have worked very closely and our two
militaries also work very closely on specific issues.”
Malta and America still do not have a double taxation treaty and
Maltese citizens still need a visa to visit the US, something
successive ambassadors have failed to achieve any progress over.
Did she think she could make a difference?
“We are continuing to have a dialogue on these issues and I think
on the technical aspects we are beginning to make progress. There
are specific technical issues that need to be met for these matters to
go forward. I know that both of these issues will be raised in the
meeting between the Prime Minister and President Bush. I think that
hopefully, on the technical side, progress will be made.”
Ms Bordonaro said the US embassy was continuing to work on the
commercial side of relations with Malta and a seminar entitled
Doing Business With The United States is being organised this
Friday in co-operation with the Maltese-American Chamber
“We are working with American corporations – I know my
predecessor did some work bringing some companies to Houston
to visit the oil industry. So we are going to continue to work along
those roads. We think this is an attractive place for American
business because of the highly educated workforce and the location
in the Mediterranean.”
 
Asked what Malta’s EU membership meant for US-Maltese
relations, the Ambassador says that it has added a new dimension
to the relationship “because of a number of issues we are working
on with EU countries. Not only the commercial and trade aspects
which are very significant – we have a trillion dollars in trade
between the EU and the US – but on the overall picture – on peace,
freedom , democracy, the US sees Europe and the EU in particular
as its number one partner on the aspect, and so we look forward to
working with Malta – now an EU member – on these very important
issues.”
 
Regarding whether the US has identified a site for its new
embassy in Malta and whether a target date has been set to open
the new embassy, Ms Bordonaro said that the embassy is working
right now on selecting a site and that they do not have a target date. 
“We think this is going to be a good thing, not only for us in building
a new embassy but also for the Maltese – this will be a $50 million
investment into the local economy. Hopefully this will be soon and
we will be able to move forward”.
   
I asked her whether George Bush’s re-election last November
ushered in a more internationalist US foreign policy and better
US-European relations as many people in Europe had hoped. 
“Yes. President Bush was in Brussels in February. He is reaching
out and absolutely believes that the EU and Europe are absolutely
critical to the success of freedom, democracy and human rights
being spread to all parts of the world, in particular the Middle East. 
President Bush is very focused on building a stronger partnership
with Europe and I believe that as a result of his efforts and his trip to
Brussels we are beginning to see the relationship strengthened in
the past few months.”
 
Questioned whether President Bush’s foreign policy is sometimes
unjustly criticised as unilateralist or selfish Ms Bordonaro said she
believes President Bush’s policies  are to the benefit of Europe, the
United States and everyone in the world.
 
“If we achieve freedom, democracy and peace in Iraq, then this will
benefit everyone’s global security, and that includes people in Malta.
Whether there is criticism or not doesn’t impact how decisions are
made. Clearly decisions must be made to enhance freedom, to
enhance human rights and not support dictators or oppressive
regimes.
 
“So these policies are made and President Bush made them in a
collective manner and continues to work to create this coalition, to
broaden this coalition and to enhance this partnership with Europe
on this specific issue which may have caused some criticism in the
past. I believe we will continue to see a greater partnership because
it is in everyone’s interest.”
 
What did she think the aftermath of hurricane Katrina did for the
image of the US? There has been a lot of criticism at the federal
government’s weak response to the hurricane, including harsh
criticism by Republican politicians. What went wrong?
“First of all it shows that there is no nation that is not vulnerable to
the impact of human nature. This has been the worst hurricane that
we have seen in modern history to hit the US.  It was a tremendous
tragedy and unfortunately it is unavoidable when it is mother nature.
President Bush has said there were some things that could have
been done better. He takes full responsibility and looks forward to a
thorough examination after we  move forward to help people and
rebuild so that in the future some of the mistakes can be learnt.
 
“However, right now, the image that is shining through is that
America is a very compassionate place. It is reaching out to its own
countrymen in numerous ways, both at the federal government  level
and other levels of government. So the compassion of the American
people who are opening up their homes for people who have lost
their homes, who are donating goods and services, doctors who
have been going to the area – that’s the image which is shining
through. Where there were some mistakes made we will correct
them. But most importantly it showed the true compassion of the
US.
 
“I also want to say it showed the compassion of the people around
the world. I was personally very touched by what people here in
Malta did. I recently accepted a cheque from the Civil Protection
Department and also from the Maltese Red Cross. I have been very
touched by the contributions and the prayers from lots of people
here in Malta,” she said. 
 
I pointed out that what shocked many people in the aftermath of
Katrina were the scenes of inequality that were clearly visible – the
images of the poor in New Orleans who were left behind to fend for
themselves by the richest and most powerful country in the world.
Did she agree that these scenes damaged the image of the US to a
certain extent?
 
“America, just like any country has areas of lower income and we
are just like any other nation where we are constantly working on
raising the quality of life for all individuals. Unfortunately in any
natural disaster like this those that tend to consistently need help in
vulnerable situations need help the greatest. We are a
compassionate country because we are reaching out tremendously
to help those individuals. We have historically always done that”.
I asked whether she agreed with President Bush who said that he
hoped to “clear away the legacy of inequality” as the hurricane-hit
Gulf Coast was rebuilt. Could this be a turning point in the way the
federal government looks at its cities?
 
“The policy of this administration and of America has always been to
try to lift up those who are most in need, and the greatest thing about
America is that there is always an abundance of opportunity both to
help those who are most in need and also for those who are most
needy to find opportunity. I support what President Bush has said:
this does create an opportunity to again, reach out to those who are
most in need in unique ways, help them rebuild their lives and find
new opportunities.”
 
Not an easy task, but time will tell.