01 July 2003
Results in Iraq Will Give Hope, Marginalize Extremists, Burns Says
(Assistant secretary thanks Kuwait for its support, post-war aid to Iraq) (4350) The United States is determined to produce tangible results in Iraq's reconstruction that the Iraqi people "can see and feel" in order to give them hope for the future and to marginalize remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime that might engage in violence, said Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns. Burns was speaking at a press conference held at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait June 25. He said the U.S. Special Envoy in Iraq, Ambassador Paul Bremer, was working to establish a council of Iraqi leaders in July that will appoint a group to begin work on a new constitution and will ensure the presence of senior Iraqis in each of the government ministries. "It's not going to be easy, and it is going to take time and it will take a lot of effort from Iraqis themselves, but also many other countries from around the world. But we're going to keep at it, because I think it is very important to create that sense of hope right now for the people of Iraq," said Burns. Kuwaitis, he said, "understand better than anyone, the nature of Iraq's recent history, and about Iraqis struggling to come out from under the burden of 30 years of misrule, 30 years of mismanagement of the economy, a brutal tyrannical regime which has left a lot of damage in its wake." The assistant secretary thanked the Kuwaiti leaders for their support during the military conflict with Iraq. "It is a simple truth that the coalition could not have succeeded in Iraq's liberation without Kuwait's efforts. I am also sure that history will show that Kuwait is one of the best allies that the people of Iraq have ever had." He said Kuwaitis had already taken "impressive steps" by contributing to help Iraq's humanitarian issues, and said both the United States and the Iraqi people were appreciative. For its part, the United States has appropriated "a considerable amount of money as an indication of our determination to help Iraqis rebuild." Other countries and institutions around the world are doing the same, he said. Turning to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Burns warned of "a huge reservoir right now of mistrust, anger and frustration on both sides." "Nobody had any illusions at Aqaba," he said, "[b]ut the United States is determined, and President Bush is personally determined, to use the full weight of his presidency to try and help the parties to climb back to a better position and move back to a political process. That's really what the Road Map is all about." Burns said the process required the two parties themselves "to have to want to move and make some very difficult choices," in order to make the Road Map something more than "just seven pieces of paper." The United States, he said, will "do everything we can to help." Following is a transcript of Burns' comments: (begin transcript) Public Affairs Office Embassy of the United States of America Kuwait City, State of Kuwait City, Kuwait Transcript of Press Conference held by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William J. Burns Embassy of the United States of America Kuwait City, Kuwait June 25, 2003 AMBASSADOR BURNS: Thank you very much, John. I am very pleased to be back in Kuwait. I look forward to conveying to the Kuwaiti leadership a message from President Bush expressing our deep appreciation for the extraordinary support provided by Kuwait for the liberation of Iraq and our continuing commitment to partnership and friendship between the United States and Kuwait in the months and years ahead. It is a simple truth that the coalition could not have succeeded in Iraq's liberation without Kuwait's efforts. I am also sure that history will show that Kuwait is one of the best allies that the people of Iraq have ever had. I look forward very much to conversations in Kuwait on the full range of regional and bilateral issues. I will have an opportunity to stress President Bush's personal determination to seize the moment of opportunity on the Palestinian issue opened up at Sharm El-Sheikh and at the Aqaba summit, the opportunity to implement fully the Road Map and to make a reality of the President's vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace, security, and dignity. Now is the time for parties not just to talk about their commitment, but to act, and the President is determined that the United States will do its part. We want to work with Kuwait and with their other friends in the region to help in every way that we can. I will also have an opportunity to stress America's determination to do all that we can, as quickly as we can, to help Iraqis put Iraq back on its feet, to help Iraqis rebuild their economy and regain control of their political destiny, to help them to establish a new democratic government which is committed to living in peace with Kuwait and with all of its neighbors. And as we proceed, the United States will be very mindful of Kuwaiti concerns, in particular, the issue of missing persons and Kuwaiti POWs. And finally, I will have an opportunity to talk about the American partnership and trade initiatives in the region which President Bush addressed in his speech on the 9th of May at the University of South Carolina, and which Secretary Powell and Ambassador Zoelick, the U.S. trade representative, spoke about at length at the recent World Economic Forum meeting in Jordan. And again, what I will stress is that we mean what we say when we talk about a partnership. This needs to be a two-way street so that it is not just a question of the United States offering ideas about what we can do to help open up economic opportunities in the region, but we're also listening so that we get a sense from our friends, from peoples and leaderships in the region, about what works best and how we can help most. So again, I am delighted to be here and I look forward to your questions. QUESTION: (Inaudible) to discuss something about Palestine or about Iraq? What subjects are you going to discuss with the Kuwaiti people? AMBASSADOR BURNS: Both is the easy answer. I am here to talk about a full range of issues. As I said, first to stress our commitment, President Bush's commitment, to our bilateral partnership with Kuwait, our appreciation for everything that Kuwait has done in support of our partnership, in support of our mutual interests. I'll also discuss the Palestinian issue, as I said, as well as Iraq, and the full range of regional and bilateral issues. QUESTION:How do you see Kuwait participating in Iraq's reconstruction as a third partner between the US, Iraq, and Kuwait because we are hearing in the business community that there is a kind of lull or lag or kind of an empty space there? AMBASSADOR BURNS: Well, there have already been some impressive steps taken by Kuwaitis to contribute on humanitarian issues in Iraq, for which we're not only appreciative, but Iraqis are as well. Second, we're looking as we move ahead in terms of the contracting and sub-contracting process to work closely, not just with Kuwait and Kuwaiti companies, but with other companies in the region to make sure that the sub-contracting process is an open and transparent one -- one of the points that Ambassador Brenner made when he appeared at the World Economic Forum meeting a couple of days ago in Jordan, too. We look forward to work closely with Kuwaiti companies as we move ahead. QUESTION:(Inaudible) the Corps of Engineers and the Bechtel USAID, are those the only two channels available where Kuwaitis have to check, you know, how they can participate because so far we only see these two channels open: the Corps of Engineers and the USAID? AMBASSADOR BURNS: This is a process ... it's very much in motion now, and I think there are a number of opportunities that are going to open up over time, and as I said we are very mindful of the importance and the interests of Iraqis, first and foremost, in making this an open and transparent process, taking advantage of what governments and companies around the region have to offer, and particularly as we look at the sub-contracting process, it's going to be very important to keep that in mind. QUESTION:Saudi officials have said that Iran is holding 40 Al-Qaeda militants. Are you encouraged by that news? AMBASSADOR BURNS: I am not familiar with the particular comments or the particular report. We certainly made clear in the past, both publicly and privately, our deep concern about Al-Qaeda and our concern that countries, and in particular Iran, do everything that they can to fight against Al-Qaeda and to take action against any Al-Qaeda members who may be in Iran. But I don't have a particular comment on that report because I haven't seen it. QUESTION: What about... Are you heading for the Middle East right now from here? AMBASSADOR BURNS: I was just in Egypt earlier today, and I will be in Kuwait for the next day, and then I will work my way back in the direction of Jerusalem and Ramallah, where I will be joining Dr. Rice for her visit to the region in the next few days. QUESTION: There have been some attacks, especially yesterday, and there have been mass arrests of Palestinians from Hamas. Do you think that this is in harmony with the Road Map, now that you are trying to calm the situation, especially since Hamas is talking to the Prime Minister of Palestine? AMBASSADOR BURNS: At both Sharm El-Sheikh and Aqaba, one of the things the President stressed most is the importance of everybody following through on their commitments. Both sides, Palestinians and Israelis, have some important obligations here, if they are going to make progress in the interest of their own peoples. And that's why each party must look very carefully at the consequences of their actions, and follow through on the commitments they made at Aqaba. That's why we're trying very hard, through the visit of Secretary Powell a few days ago, through Dr. Rice's upcoming visit, through the presence of a full-time coordination and monitoring mission on the ground now, to push both parties to live up to their commitments, to encourage them to talk to one another to make practical arrangements to transfer security responsibilities to the P.A. in Gaza and Bethlehem. The parties are making some progress in that direction. Nobody had any illusions at Aqaba. Certainly anyone who has dealt with this issue in recent years couldn't have any illusions about the difficulties before us. There is a huge reservoir right now of mistrust, anger and frustration on both sides. But the United States is determined, and President Bush is personally determined, to use the full weight of his presidency to try and help the parties to climb back to a better position and move back to a political process. That's really what the Road Map is all about. Without the commitment of the parties and help of interested outsiders like the United States, it's just seven pieces of paper. What we need to do is translate that into tangible results that people on the ground, Palestinians living under occupation, as well as Israelis, can begin to see and feel, and that's what we are going to work hard to do. QUESTION:Sorry to interrupt you, there are some contradictions. On the one hand you're trying to do this sort of thing and then there are reports that the United States is asking the European Union to sideline Hamas' political wing. If Hamas is so important that Mr. Abu-Mazen has to talk to him to encourage him or to coax him from, you know, launching attacks in Israel, then why do you try to sideline the political wing of Hamas? AMBASSADOR BURNS: The point here is a very straightforward one. Sir, I think Prime Minister Abbas said some important things at Aqaba, and he said them earlier to the Palestinian Legislative Council, about the absolute importance for Palestinians in their own self-interest, not as a favor to us or anyone else, of establishing one authority, of establishing law and order for Palestinians. That's what the Road Map lays out as well. And so what's extremely important to do, I think, is to see every step along the way as moving in the direction of restoring that one, that single authority for Palestinians that is going to move along a political track to establish the real state that Palestinians need and that they deserve and that is also essential to Israel's long term security interest. Groups that are opposed to this kind of process, whose behavior undermines the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians, deserve to be opposed by all of us. QUESTION: Diana Elias from the Associated Press. My question is about Iraq. When do you think an Iraqi government will be in place, and why is it taking so long? AMBASSADOR BURNS: Ambassador Bremer has made clear publicly his determination, and I think that this determination is shared by the U.N. and by other coalition partners, to work during the course of the month of July to put in place a council of Iraqis, a council that in turn can then begin work, or establish a group to begin work on a constitution to lay the basis for a fully sovereign Iraqi government and that can also ensure that there are senior Iraqis in each of the ministries who will be able to exercise authority there, so that Iraqis are moving in the direction of regaining control of their own affairs. That is our objective, and the objective of the international community. It is a complicated process, and Kuwaitis understand better than anyone, the nature of Iraq's recent history, and about Iraqis struggling to come out from under the burden of 30 years of misrule, 30 years of mismanagement of the economy, a brutal tyrannical regime which has left a lot of damage in its wake. It's not going to be easy to reconstruct and to rebuild, but we want to move just as fast as we can, again, not the United States in isolation, but working closely with the U.N., with our other partners and our friends in the region. QUESTION: Have British administered areas in Iraq proves to be more efficient than American administered areas? The second part of the question is: why are we still hearing about Iraqi resistance resulting in the death of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens despite the fact that we know that the Americans have full control over Iraq? AMBASSADOR BURNS: On the first question, we obviously work closely with our British coalition partners in an effort to help Iraqis rebuild and gain control, as I said, and we'll continue to work very closely together, so I am not sure I distinguish between patterns in one region or the another. It is true that Iraq remains a dangerous place, and we were reminded of that in the tragic loss of life by our British partners yesterday, as well as the continuing loss of life of American soldiers. There are remnants of the former regime that are still active, are going to have to be rooted out, but I think alongside that process, which is going to be a difficult and dangerous one for some time to come, it's very important to renew a sense of hope for Iraqis, because, it seems to me, the best way to marginalize those groups who are going to engage in violence is to show the efforts of the United States and of others in support of Iraqis themselves are beginning to produce results. So that again is what we are very mindful of. QUESTION: Mr. Bums, where is Saddam Hussein now? AMBASSADOR BURNS: I don't know. QUESTION: How can you explain the accidents that happen to American troops in Iraq? Is it a kind of rejection for the presence of American troops there? AMBASSADOR BURNS: I think as I said before, certainly Iraq remains a dangerous place, even though major combat operations have stopped. There are remnants of the former regime which are armed and dangerous and have carried out some reprehensible acts. And we and our coalition partners will continue to fight back against them decisively, but at the same time what we're determined to do is produce tangible results that Iraqis can see and feel so that they can have a real sense of hope about the future of their country, and that is an important way of marginalizing remnants of the former regime who might engage in violence, because their actions are undermining the process which is so much in the interest of Iraqis and Iraq as a society. QUESTION: Have you spoken to our government about Kuwaiti prisoners in Guantanamo? AMBASSADOR BURNS: I've actually just arrived so I haven't begun my meetings yet. QUESTION: Oh, you have just arrived here. So do you have any message for Kuwaiti leaders about the Kuwaitis in Guantanamo? AMBASSADOR BURNS: Well, I look forward to any subjects that my Kuwaiti counterparts will be raising. So I will certainly be prepared to address that as well. QUESTION: Who are you meeting while you are here, and are you meeting the Amir? AMBASSADOR BURNS: At this stage I will be seeing Sheikh Sabah and Dr. Mohammed, and my schedule is still kind of in flux I think, but I look forward to a full schedule of meetings. QUESTION:Are you going to visit Iraq? AMBASSADOR BURNS: I don't have plans to on this trip. No, sir. QUESTION: Is the U.S. Department [State Department] satisfied with the recent Saudi Arabian procedures to fight terrorism? AMBASSADOR BURNS: I was with Secretary Powell in Riyadh within a day after the most recent tragic bombings which took place there, and I think since that time certainly we've seen significant cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia, building on our previous cooperation. Certainly the Saudi government takes very seriously the threat posed by violent extremist groups. We want to work as hard as we can in the United States government to support those efforts across the whole range of areas: law enforcement cooperation, intelligence sharing, drying up the financing of terrorist groups, whether it's groups that have carried out acts in Saudi Arabia or any place else in the region or around the world. And I think what we've seen is a renewed effort and a stepped-up effort on the part of the United States and Saudi Arabia to cooperate on those issues, and again we work with lots of other partners in the region as well. QUESTION: (Inaudible) military fighting in Afghanistan and also in Iraq, but the civilian lives in both countries, especially Afghanistan, is not growing and is still very weak and the same is the case in Iraq. Do you think that you will stay in Iraq for a long time to help the civilian life there to grow? AMBASSADOR BURNS: It's a very good question. I'll make a couple of points. First, I think its obvious that Iraq had been suffering for decades, again as Kuwaitis know as well as anyone or better than anyone in the region, under terrible misrule. That had economic consequences, it had political consequences, and it had terrible consequences in terms of human rights and human abuses. It's going to take time and it's going to take a lot of effort to overcome all of those difficulties, but I am convinced that it's possible to help Iraqis recover economically. Iraq is a wealthy society in many respects, and I don't mean just in terms of its energy resources; in terms of the skill and talent of its people, in terms of its history, in terms of its ability in the future to play an important, responsible, prosperous role in this region and to be a good neighbor for Kuwait as well as for its other neighbors. So I think that's a goal to which we've dedicated ourselves. It's not going to be easy, and it is going to take time and it will take a lot of effort from Iraqis themselves, but also many other countries from around the world. But we're going to keep at it, because I think it is very important to create that sense of hope right now for the people of Iraq. QUESTION: The rebuilding of Iraq, will it be from Iraqi money or money from other governments or countries? AMBASSADOR BURNS: As I said, Iraq is wealthy country, a potentially wealthy country, because of the richness of its energy resources and I think that gives Iraq a significant capacity as it rebuilds, but that's going to require investment as well to improve the energy infrastructure in Iraq. The U.S. government and the U.S. Congress have already appropriated a considerable amount of money as an indication of our determination to help Iraqis rebuild. There are other countries and other international institutions around the world which are doing that as well, particularly in this immediate period, as Iraqis try to rebuild their energy infrastructure, restore oil exports, take advantage of the wealth they have, but there is going to be an immediate period where they're going to need help from the outside world, and that's what the United States for its part is trying to do. QUESTION: Mr. Bums, I think that a question that is important to us as Kuwaiti journalists... Could you please try to explain the U.S. position towards a certain Kuwaiti editor-in-chief that has been referred to prosecution? AMBASSADOR BURNS: Sure. It's an issue we follow very closely. I've spent a lot of time over the years working and traveling in this region, and over that time I have always been struck by the tradition of openness in Kuwaiti society, a tradition that Kuwaitis should be very proud of, and that's deeply in their self-interest. And so as a friend, the U.S. would certainly be concerned about any action that might undermine that tradition of openness. So it's something that we have followed and are following very closely. QUESTION: Do you believe that the Road Map will bring peace to the Middle East? AMBASSADOR BURNS: I certainly do believe, as President Bush said at Sharm El-Sheikh and Aqaba, that the Road Map offers a practical pathway to realize the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, that he talked about almost exactly a year ago in his speech of June 2002. Visions as he laid out in that speech don't implement themselves. You need to have a practical set of steps, and you need to have a political will, and you need to have lots of different parties fulfilling their obligations and helping, and so that's what we have tried to do in the Road Map. But again, the challenge really is to make it something more than just pieces of paper, because words don't implement themselves. It requires a real commitment, and what President Bush has made clear, especially over the last month, since he came to the region, is America's determination to do everything it can. That's an important part for any chances of success, but it's not enough. The parties themselves are going to have to want to move and make some very difficult choices, but we will do everything we can to help. QUESTION: How do you expect the Palestinian Prime Minster to tame Hamas without a proper police force, and why doesn't the U.S. allow neutral U.N. observers to supervise the area? AMBASSADOR BURNS: Well, it is true that Prime Minister Abbas faces a very significant challenge in rebuilding the capacity of the Palestinian security services. He has a clear sense of direction, as has his Minister for Security Affairs, Mr. Dahlan, and that is to restore one authority for the Palestinians; to rebuild the capacity for the Palestinian Authority to enforce law and order. That's not going to happen overnight, it's not going to be easy. It's going to require lots of help. The United States has expressed its willingness, in practical terms, to help; so has Egypt, so has Jordan, so have others. It is also going to require the Israelis to do certain things and not do certain things to help provide the space within which that can occur. What we have seen from Prime Minister Abbas is a real determination to move ahead in that direction, and it is not going to be easy for him to do that, it's going to require some difficult choices along the way, but again the essence of the Road Map is to provide a practical pathway forward. We want to move just as quickly as is possible in the direction of a decisive return to a political process, an end to the terror and violence which more than anything else undermined legitimate Palestinian aspirations for a real state. That's what's at stake here and it's going to require them to take some very tough security measures over time, but we're going to do everything we can in support of their efforts to rebuild their capacity. QUESTION: What is the possibility of... rather, any plans to release any of the Kuwaiti detainees in Guantanamo Bay? Will you be discussing that while you are here? Any developments on that front at all? AMBASSADOR BURNS: It's an issue we discussed before, and I will certainly be prepared to address it here as well. Thank you. (end transcript) (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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