[Nima Elbagir, Cnn:] Tonight, the violence in Myanmar that's had critics against its once face de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. I'll hear from a man who knows her well, biographer Peter Popham. Plus, former British foreign secretary David Miliband. Also ahead, former CIA director Michael Hayden on the top security concern facing the United States and the world. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the program. I'm Nima Elbagir in for Christiane Amanpour. Nobel Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi cancelled her planned appearance before the United Nation's General Assembly next week as the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar continues to spiral out of control. A government statement claims Suu Kyi the de factor leader of Myanmar is cancelling because of the possibility of further terrorist attacks in Rakhine state, where in the face of a brutal response by the military, hundreds perhaps even thousands are dead. Almost 400,000 Rohingya including more than a thousand unaccompanied children fled to Bangladesh and hundreds of homes are burned to the ground. The United Nation Security Council meets today to discuss the on going crisis. Here Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
[Antonio Guterres, United Nation's Secretary General:] The current situation is catastrophic. When we met last week, there was 125,000 Rohingya refugees who had fled into Bangladesh. That number has now tripled to nearly 380,000.
[Elbagir:] Suu Kyi, of course, has no constitutional control over the nation's military even so human rights activist find her silence baffling. Just today, a spokesman announced she will at last address the nation on the crisis early next week. David Miliband is a former British foreign secretary and now president of the International Rescue Committee. I asked him what his organization is dealing with on the ground and whether aide is reaching those who need it most.
[David Miliband, President, International Rescue Committee:] We've been the largest healthcare provider in the Rakhine state in Myanmar for a good few years now. I saw many of these services that we provide, both for Muslim and non-Muslim populations when I went there last year. Obviously, the biggest issue is that we can't get to those populations who are most in need at the moment, but all of the stories that we are hearing are of desperate fear, desperate threat to life and to livelihood, and complete bemusement that there is no proper humanitarian relief being provided because neither we nor other NGOs, nor U.N. agencies are being allowed into the north of the state.
[Elbagir:] There has, of course, been a lot of criticisms, but I think the question now is what is that criticism achieving? What do you tangibly need that pressure to be directed at.
[Miliband:] There is one big issue that is facing the populations in Rakhine estate now, and that is humanitarian access. That means we have people, medical supplies, doctors, nurses, staff ready to go into the north of the country but they are not being allowed in. And so the central demand is not a criticism, it's a demand at the moment that the government facilitates the exit access of humanitarian bona fide, humanitarian agencies both NGOs and UN agencies to allow them to do the immediate lifesaving relief work. There's obviously a very complex situation that needs to be addressed over the more medium term, but that will be 10 times harder. The greater the bloodshed, the greater the suffering over the next few days and weeks.
[Elbagir:] The government's line is that this is an extremist insurgency and it's responding to that. They say that they are cooperating. Are you optimistic that you will get the access that you need?
[Miliband:] I can't be optimistic when I have dedicated humanitarian workers desperate to go and make a difference, and then meeting a resolute wall of silence or resolute wall of nay-saying. It's vital that people understand that the humanitarian situation in Myanmar contributes to political instability is not just the Civil War set of Civil Wars that have contributed to humanitarian problem. Everyone should be unifying their call, which is for access to the besiege populations and immediate relief for the suffering of their undergoing.
[Elbagir:] Some of the recent statements from Aung Sang Suu Kyi's office have really concerned much of the humanitarian community. It has been felt that some of those sentiments about the need to investigate, where the U.N. aid workers were collaborating and working alongside extremist, that really has people worried. Are you concern for the safety of those that are waiting to go in?
[Miliband:] Well, obviously, the most important thing for any humanitarian agencies to preserve its commitment to independent help for anyone in need, I think the suggestion that U.N. workers or NGO workers are somehow colluding in some kind of insurgency doesn't match any of the experience that I have, all that we have of the work that we do. And I think that this is a moment for unified defense of the principles of humanitarian access, of humanitarian aid and is obviously tragic that this becomes focused on the person of Aung San Suu Kyi who was so much a beacon of light and hope for so many people. She is facing extremely complicated internal political situation, obviously.
[Elbagir:] You, yourself, said back in 2007 that you thought that Myanmar would be 100 times better when Aung San Suu Kyi took her place as rightful leader of a free and democratic Burma. Looking back at that statement now, how do you feel about that? How do you feel about the person who you are making those comments on?
[Miliband:] That was in a time when oppressed minorities minorities oppressed by the military, where marching cost the British Embassy in Rangoon and cheering and calling on the British government to continue his stand for opening up in Burma for democratic elections and for the release of political prisoners. It's not just about individual person, but she would be, Aung San Suu Kyi did and does represents the hopes of many Myanmar citizens of all stripes, and I think it's very important that we continue to hold on to the right standards that I think we will depend on.
[Elbagir:] Do you think she can ever kind of forge through the will of the generals to come out to the other side of this.
[Miliband:] I think that one has to have faith not just in one individual, but in the people of Myanmar. These are people who want to lead free lives. They want to lead lives that are unable to get on with their own business. There is deep and historic internal tensions within the country, and the violence that is meted out against different minorities is obviously horrific. The important thing for those of us who are outside is in addition to the obvious humility in the face of a complicated situation is to stand firm by some principles that have proved their worth over the years. Those principles include the respect for all individual rights. Those principles include the need for alleged for that to be legitimate and credible institutions of political power sharing. And they also include the responsibilities of the regional states.
[Elbagir:] And, of course, whether or not those principles continued to be embodied in the past and of Aung San Suu Kyi. Mr. Miliband, thank you so much for joining us.
[Miliband:] Thanks very much for your time.
[Elbagir:] Myanmar's de factor leader and long-time democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi has defended her government's response to the Rohingya's crisis. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its security forces have been instructed to avoid the harming of innocent civilians. Well, joining me now in the studio is Aung San Suu Kyi's two-time biographer Peter Popham, who wrote "The Lady and the Peacock" and "The Lady and the Generals." And who is now calling for her resignation. But before we start I want to read the following passage from Aung San Suu Kyi's famous 2012 noble lecture. "Wherever suffering is ignored, there will be the seeds of conflict. For suffering degrades and embitters and enrages". Mr. Popham, looking back on those words now, how does that feel to hear that?
[Peter Popham, Aung San Suu Kyi's Biographer:] Well, it once reminded of what an incredibly eloquent gift she had and presumably still have. I mean, she was rightfully awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She showed incredible courage over a long period of time. And the fact that the world is so unhappy with her now just shows to me that she has got herself politically into an impossible situation where the reasons that I am sure she would explain in private, but which are mysterious to the rest of us. She cannot say what is blindingly obvious to the rest of the world.
[Elbagir:] Is it prejudice on her part, or do you believe it's political expedience.
[Popham:] I'm sure that a lot of people at this point assume that she must like many of her Buddhist compatriots have a sort of paranoid suspicion about Islam in general and about Muslims on the Bangladesh border in particular. I don't think that's true of her. She has said practically she said nothing on the record that I have seen that suggests she has prejudiced against Muslims. She has always insisted that this is a problem with two sides, the Buddhist side and the Muslim side, which is true. So I don't think that's the answer and if it was the answer, I don't think she would have taken the step of appointing Kofi Annan, a diplomat of huge stature internationally to head the inquiry commission to propose solutions for the Rakhine crisis. So I think the idea that she has actually swallowed the prejudices of many of her compatriots is reading it wrong.
[Elbagir:] But in a way, isn't that kind of worst. I mean, the reality is that the Buddhist Nationalist vote is a key one. And we understand from those within the diplomatic community, who was speaking there at the time, pre-election, that she felt that that was one of the reasons she couldn't speak out. But then she won by a landslide and yet she is still not speaking out.
[Popham:] Well, I mean, in my opinion, at some point after her release from house arrest in 2010, she underwent a terrible loss of nerve. In the old days, back in '88, '89, she was able to stand up against the the violence within the Democratic campaign and tell it to stop. This must be a non-violent campaign. In 2011, 2012, right after 2015's election, she could have stood up and said no. We are one nation. We must have citizenship for everybody who has been here for a decent length of time. These prejudices belonging in the rubbish bin of history. And the fact that she didn't find herself able to say that is tragic. And I think it's why her position is now untenable and why I called for her to quit.
[Elbagir:] I mean, your words the beauty of your words, describing her life and her work definitely contributed to the mythology that surrounds her. Do you think that we saw the world saw a beautiful woman having this beautiful start and espousing these beautiful positions and we projected perhaps too much onto her?
[Popham:] I think there's a lot of that. I was doing my best not to contribute to the myth may.
[Elbagir:] It wasn't a question.
[Popham:] There have been a lot of people because she is so sparklingly beautiful. People have led to the conclusion she must therefore be good. Both of these books I have been trying to dig deeper and to see what makes it tick, and in "The Lady and the General's," the more recent book, I have actually explain that since 2011, she has basically walked into a trap, persuaded into it, unfortunately, by the Obama administration, desperate for a good news from going.
[Elbagir:] To win.
[Popham:] And therefore win. Foreign policy win, which they got. And perhaps also by the desire to fulfill her destiny and become the head of the country and somehow she has let the courage or she's lost the courage to spell out the simple rights and wrongs to her people.
[Elbagir:] Very quickly I could talk to you all day, but unfortunately our time is limited. What do you think at heart most affect her? Is it power?
[Popham:] It's complicated. I think they the quote that you read out and it certainly motivates. She's never been corrupt him. I think fulfilling her sense of family destiny. Doing what her following on her father's footsteps. He was, of course, the founding father of independent Myanmar. I think that's been very important. And possibly that has clouded her mind to the fact that if she is not actually being effective in power, then the power itself is, it's not worth it.
[Elbagir:] So is there any chance she will stand out?
[Popham:] I think it's unlikely. I mean, she is addressing her country next week. If she were to say I've made a terrible mistake, I'm pulling out, I would be enormously surprised. But I unless she can pull some extraordinary rabbit out of the hat, I can't see what else she can do.
[Elbagir:] Peter, fascinating insights. Thank you so much for joining us. When we come back, a look ahead as world leaders prepare for the U.N. General Assembly, I asked the former head of the CIA and the NSA. What will they make of President Trump and what does it mean for global security. That's next.