16 October 2001
Transcript: Rice Says This War is Against Terrorism, Not Against Islam
(National Security Advisor Rice on Al Jazeera TV, October 15, 2001)
(3080)
U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told viewers
throughout the Arab world, "Our war on terrorism is not a war against
Islam." Interviewed October 15 by the Al Jazeera satellite broadcast
network, she also underscored that this "is not a war against the Arab
people."
"It is a war against evil people who would hijack the Palestinian
cause. As Yasser Arafat said today, there is no connection between
what al Qaida does and the Palestinian cause," Rice said.
Addressing the Middle East Peace negotiations, Rice emphasized the
need for all parties to reduce violence and "get back to the Mitchell
Process they have agreed to use as the blueprint for going forward."
"Chairman Arafat, in recent days has made some important steps in that
direction," Rice said. "It is very important that the Israelis work to
open closures, to relieve the financial and economic pressures on the
Palestinian people."
Rice reaffirmed the administration's support for a Palestinian state.
President Bush "does imagine a Palestinian state as a part of his
vision for the future," she told Al Jazeera.
Asked about possible U.S. military action against Iraq, Rice said
President Bush has made very clear that the war on terrorism is a
broad war, but "for now... his goal is to watch and monitor Iraq."
Following is the transcript of Rice's interview with Al-Jazeera TV:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release October 15, 2001
INTERVIEW OF NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE BY AL JAZEERA
TV
Q: (Introduction in Arabic.) Dr. Rice, we would like to thank you very
much for this opportunity that you give to Al Jazeera and to our
audience in the Arab and Muslim world. And since we have a limited
time, let me start first with the latest developments.
British Prime Minister Blair met with Chairman Arafat. They both
emphasized the importance of reviving the peace process. Chairman
Arafat called on the Israeli government to start immediately the
permanent status negotiations. Would you second him in that appeal?
DR. RICE: Thank you very much for the opportunity to be with you.
Indeed, we took note of the very fruitful discussions between Prime
Minister Blair and Chairman Arafat. The United States fully agrees
that as soon as possible we should get into the Mitchell Process,
which lays out a road map toward meaningful political negotiations
toward a final status.
The President has been very active in asking both sides to do what
they can to make certain that we get into the Mitchell Process. He has
asked Chairman Arafat to make 100 percent effort to arrest and deal
with terrorism and violence toward Israel. He has asked Prime Minister
Sharon to do nothing to make the situation worse and, indeed, to --
the Israelis pulled out of Hebron. We take note of that.
There have been security talks between the two sides that are
sponsored by the United States. And so we are hopeful that the two
sides will be able to get into the Mitchell Process. We think that
that's the way to get back to discussions of a final status.
Q: But you know that Prime Minister Sharon imposed a seven-day truce
that he wanted to be done before we get into the Mitchell plan. And if
the Mitchell plan -- or the main goal of the Mitchell plan is for the
cease-fire and the stopping of violence, how come, if we have the
stopping of violence before we started, why do we wait for it? Why
don't we implement the Mitchell plan now, instead of waiting seven
days that is not going to come?
DR. RICE: Well, we would like to implement the Mitchell plan as soon
as possible. And we work every day with both parties to get to
conditions under which we can implement the Mitchell plan.
It is very important that the level of violence be brought down. And
again, Chairman Arafat, in recent days, has made some important steps
in that direction. It is very important that the Israelis work to open
closures, to relieve the financial and economic pressures on the
Palestinian people. We think there are some hopeful signs, and we're
going to try to nourish those hopeful signs along so that we can begin
the Mitchell Process.
Q: Are these hopeful signs enough for President Bush to meet Chairman
Arafat?
DR. RICE: We have been in touch with Chairman Arafat. In fact,
Secretary Powell talked with him just last week. And the President has
made very clear that he intends to have meetings when he thinks that
meetings can contribute to the process. And so while there's nothing
planned, we continue to consider the question.
Q: President Bush mentioning of a Palestinian state as part of the
U.S. vision of the peace settlement has been received very positively
in the Arab world. However, nothing has been materialized, or at least
U.S. position has not put publicly to recognize and to support such a
Palestinian state. Why should we leave that to the parties while one
is supposed to be the occupier and one the occupied?
DR. RICE: Well, he President stated very clearly and very publicly
that he believed that in the Middle East that there had to be a
Palestinian state and it had to be a state that recognized the
existence of Israel; there had to be security for all parties. But
he's been very clear that he believes that that is an important part
of the end state.
We do need to work step-by-step to get back into a process that will
lead us to final status negotiations. We believe that that begins with
the lessening of the violence, as Mitchell envisions. It then should
go to confidence-building measures that both sides might take.
Our goal in the United States has been to make certain that we make
steady progress toward getting back into the Mitchell plan. It is a
very active administration on this front -- Secretary Powell, the
President, himself. It is also important that we work with other Arab
leaders. The President is in constant contact with President Mubarak
of Egypt, a longtime proponent and active person in the peace process.
So we're doing what we can. But, yes, the President does imagine a
Palestinian state as a part of his vision for the future.
Q: Would Jerusalem be also the capital -- East Jerusalem the capital
of such a state?
DR. RICE: Well, we understand the importance of Jerusalem to the great
religions of the world, and we believe that this is something that
must be settled in final status negotiations.
Q: Dr. Rice, should people in the Arab world look forward for the
middle of November as something -- a U.S. plan for the Middle East
would be announced then, something similar to the Madrid Conference
after immediately the Gulf War of '91?
DR. RICE: Well, we are constantly evaluating how we can best push the
process of Middle East peace forward. I wouldn't put any time line on
what the United States might do next. We really do believe right now
that our best strategy is to work with the parties to get into the
Mitchell Process.
After all, the Mitchell Process is unique in that both sides have
agreed that that is the blueprint going forward. And we do think that
we can make progress; we work at it every day. We know that the
progress is not coming as fast as most would like, certainly not as
fast as we would like. But we think that it's going to be a more
stable and, ultimately, fruitful process if we can work steadily
toward getting back to Mitchell.
Q: If we move to the current crisis that started September 11th and,
of course, the military actions since last Sunday. We see from polls
and from demonstrations in the street that while governments support
the U.S., the public or the streets in the Arab and Muslim world do
not do that. Do you think that there is a problem of, is it
misunderstanding, or because the U.S. only rely on government support,
regardless of the people?
DR. RICE: We, of course, have very good relations with a number of
governments in the Middle East. But we care very much also about the
people of the Middle East, the Arab populations. And the United States
is a place to which many Arabs have looked as a place -- we have a
number of Arab immigrants in the United States.
I was a professor at Stanford University; the largest growing
population of Stanford University was the Muslim student population.
We think that the United States is a place in which religious
tolerance and a belief that all people should live together in peace
is a message that would resonate with populations in the region. And
so we're trying to do a better job in getting that message out to
people. We want it to be very clear that the war on terrorism is not a
war against Islam. Islam is a peaceful religion. Islam is a religion
that respects innocent human life.
So we cannot believe that Islam would countenance the kind of
destruction of innocence that we saw on September 11th. Many Muslims
in the United States lost their lives in those bombings.
So our view is that the populations -- we believe that there is still
a reservoir of goodwill for the United States that we can tap into. We
are concerned about the economic prosperity and opportunity for people
in the Middle East. And that's a message that we will continue to
carry.
Q: So is it a problem of perception, an image of the U.S. only, or is
it policies that are perceived to be double standards and we need to
review the U.S. policies in the Middle East? Are we reviewing it or
things going to stay the same only -- in public relation arena will be
more active?
DR. RICE: No, we believe that the policies that the United States is
pursuing are ones that are good for the Middle East as a whole --
populations that are Arab populations, as well as the population of
Israel.
A viable peace process that leads to the kind of world that the
President has talked about -- with a Palestinian state and an Israeli
state that live together in peace, where Israel can live in peace with
her neighbors -- this would be good for the whole region. And it's
been the policy of the United States now for years to pursue that.
We have pursued economic development with close partners in the
region. We just signed a free trade agreement with Jordan that we
believe will bring jobs and opportunity to the population of Jordan.
We have a healthy economic dialogue with Egypt. We think that our
policies are policies that are healthy for the region. And as so, we
look forward to talking more about the policies. This is not just a
matter of perception; it is a matter of policies that we think are
healthy for the region.
Q: Aside from the Arab-Israeli conflict that you talked about -- and
that seems that the U.S. policy is not going to change in that regard
-- Iraq, as you might have heard in many of the tapes of bin Laden or
others, or even other people aren't friends of the U.S., is one of the
sources of friction or problems for people in the Middle East toward
U.S. policy. However, you are personally perceived as one of the few
people in the administration who would like to enlarge the war in
terrorism to include Iraq. Correct me, please.
DR. RICE: Iraq has been a problem not just for U.S. policy, but for
policy in the region, as well. This is a country that could not even
acknowledge the right to exist of Kuwait. This is a country that has
threatened its neighbors, that has been harmful to its own people.
And we believe that our policies toward Iraq simply are to protect the
region and to protect Iraq's people and neighbors.
Now, we understood when we came to power here in Washington several
months ago that we had a problem, for instance, on Iraqi sanctions;
that people believed, or that Saddam Hussein was claiming that the
sanctions that were in place were somehow harming the Iraqi people. We
do not believe that they were harming the Iraqi people because in the
north, where the U.N. administers the oil-for-food program, Iraqi
people are doing well. It's only where Saddam Hussein administers
oil-for-food that there is a problem with the Iraqi people.
But that said, we want to change the sanctions. We want to change the
sanctions so that they are aimed at the regime, which is a danger to
its neighbors, not at the people.
Q: Other than that, there is no military action awaiting Iraq after
all the military mobilization in the area as a second stage of this
war on terrorism?
DR. RICE: The President has made very clear that the war on terrorism
is a broad war on terrorism. You can't be for terrorism in one part of
the world and against it in another part of the world. We worry about
Saddam Hussein. We worry about his weapons of mass destruction that
he's trying to achieve.
There's a reason he doesn't want U.N. inspectors -- it's because he
intends to acquire weapons of mass destruction. But for now, the
President has said that his goal is to watch and monitor Iraq; and,
certainly, the United States will act if Iraq threatens its interests.
Q: How about Syria?
DR. RICE: With Syria, we've been very clear that we do not believe
that Syria can be against al Qaida, but in favor of other terrorist
groups. But we have had some discussions with Syria. The President, in
his speech to the Joint Session, said: those who continue to harbor
terrorists. That's an invitation to countries to stop the practice of
harboring terrorism.
Q: So if Syria does not cooperate against people who are from Jihad or
Hamas, they should be targeted also?
DR. RICE: We have ruled out at this point issues that concern making
-- that draw distinctions between types of terrorism. We just don't
think that's the right thing to do. You can't say there are good
terrorists and there are bad terrorists. But the means that we use
with different countries to get them to stop harboring terrorists may
be very broad. And there are many means at our disposal.
Right now, our discussions with Syria, which are not -- there are not
a lot of discussions with Syria, but we have had discussions with
Syria that suggest: get out of the business of sponsoring terrorism.
We're asking that of every state of the world. You cannot be neutral
in this fight; you either are for terrorism or against it.
Q: Dr. Rice, you met recently with executives, or at least in a
conference call with executives of U.S. networks not to tape, not to
broadcast, or at least review bin Laden's tapes or anything coming
from Kabul. It has been perceived in the Arab world as censorship.
What is your answer to that?
DR. RICE: My answer to that is that the discussions with the network
executives were very fruitful, and I think they have been very
responsible, because they understood that having a 15-minute or
20-minute tape that was pre-taped, prerecorded, that sat there and did
nothing but incite hatred and, ultimately, attacks against innocent
Americans was not a matter of news, it was a matter of propaganda, and
it was inciting attacks against Americans.
Now, I understand that Al Jazeera has guidelines of its own on how to
handle a tape like this, and we applaud that you would have guidelines
of this kind, because what we do not need is to have a kind of free
rein to sit and use the airwaves to incite attacks on innocent people.
Q: Overall, how do you perceive Al Jazeera as a credible or
independent media? And should U.S. government officials encourage
that, or try to influence government of Qatar in order to crack down
in the only -- what are perceived to be the only independent media in
the region?
DR. RICE: Well, if I did not have respect for Al Jazeera, I would not
be doing this interview.
Q: Thank you.
DR. RICE: I think it's important that there be a network that reaches
broad Arab audiences. And the United States believes in freedom of the
press. We believe that the press is one of the most fundamental bases
for democracy and for individuals to have the kind of dignity that
human beings should have. And so I'm delighted to be here on Al
Jazeera. I know that you're going to have many of my colleagues on in
the future, and I look forward to being back with you.
Q: Thank you. And I leave you at the end just with a statement from
you without my interference, to our audience in the Arab and Muslim
world, whatever you would like to tell them.
DR. RICE: I would like to say to the Arab and Muslim world the
following. I would like to say that America is a country that respects
religious difference. America is a country that has many people of
different religions within it. The fastest-growing religion in America
is the Muslim faith.
The President of the United States has said that our war on terrorism
is not a war against Islam. It is not a war against the Arab people.
It is a war against evil people who would hijack the Palestinian
cause.
As Yasser Arafat said today, there is no connection between what al
Qaida does and the Palestinian cause. It is a war against people who
take the lives of innocents willingly in terrorist attacks against
office buildings or against the Pentagon.
This is a war against the evil of terrorism. The President of the
United States understands Islam to be a faith of peace, a faith that
protects innocents, and the policy of the United States is to do the
same.
Thank you very much.
Q: Thank you, Dr. Rice.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
