Quotes by Howard Baker

Any time the United States government turns over an American citizen, including military personnel, to the government of another country, it is in our nature to want to make sure that they receive the best treatment, the fairest treatment, and the most humane treatment.

Demography is changing us as we are older societies, we're living longer. How the generations balance each other out, how that affects education and health care.

I explained the American situation. I promised to pass on the substance of her communication to Washington as soon as possible. I did that. Well, certainly, the issue was difficult and painful. The relationship between Mrs. Tanaka and me and our two governments was difficult, but it was not painful.

I intend to travel to Okinawa and to visit with Okinawa officials and the citizens of Okinawa at an early date. I will send my best analysis of that situation, including the local attitudes, back to Washington, to the government there.

I think and hope and believe that the Japanese government and the people of Japan will be happy and content with the progress of justice in this case and that it will not become a great issue in the future.

I think it is a great tribute to the Government of Japan and to those who were handling it, including the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister, that we were able to negotiate at the highest levels - I mean the President, the Secretary of State, and then my opportunity - without high emotionalism.

I want her to play whatever role she's willing to play. I think she has described a range of possibilities, but her experience and her abilities and her talents are so broad that I would predict that there are other opportunities that will present themselves. And she will discover them. But she is a remarkable woman. And she was a remarkable Senator and she will be remarkable here on post in Japan.

It certainly has been [an intense week]. And I must say I had no expectation that we would hit the ground running, as we say in America - that things would be so intense so fast.

On the bad loans themselves, all I will say is that we had a similar situation in the United States in the eighties with our Savings and Loan, and we did approach it with a variety of tools, but the principle one was a federal agency that in effect took over those bad loans and took them out of the bank, packaged them, and then managed to merchandise them, to sell them.

So while I know the President well, I know his family well, I have known them for a long, long time and I count them personal friends, it is my full intention to work through this embassy and to transmit the thoughts and views I have directly through the system. By the way, Secretary Powell and I are great friends. He was National Security Advisor for President Reagan at the same time I was President Reagan's Chief of Staff. So we know each other very well.

The most difficult thing in any negotiation, almost, is making sure that you strip it of the emotion and deal with the facts. And there was a considerable challenge to that here and understandably so.

The President said at Camp David that he embraced the reform movement as described by the Prime Minister. And the President of course will speak for himself. I imagine that he supports the Prime Minister in his general efforts to reform the structure and procedures of this economy so that the economy can move forward. America prospers when Japan prospers.

The United States has led in all these things, been in the vanguard of the development of the techniques. So it seems to me that the United States should not be thought of as dragging its foot on environmental quality, but rather questioning the appropriateness of a treaty that has never been submitted to the Senate for debate and consideration.

The welfare of the planet and its environment is paramount. But what we do, and do equally and evenhandedly, is more difficult to identify. I have no doubt in mind that President Bush is serious in his determination to reexamine the overall issue and that would include reexamining the language of the Kyoto treaty.

To begin with, I am aware that I am the President's representative in Japan. I am his emissary. That's the way the title reads. And that's the way I present my credentials to the Emperor. I am the President's representative in Japan.

We must examine then the concerns of the Government of Japan about the language of the treaty itself - of SOFA - and of the interim and further arrangements that have been made since 1995, and see whether or not we need to make any changes. Those are decisions I cannot make.