30 October 2003
U.S. to Help U.N., Red Cross Continue Work In Iraq
Rice says terrorism will not deter U.S. from completing its goals in Iraq
By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File White House Correspondent
Washington -- The United States understands the security considerations that have led the United Nations and the International Red Cross to temporarily withdraw staff from Iraq, and it will work with them so they can continue to do their essential work there in some form, Condoleezza Rice said October 30.
"And we certainly hope that they will be able to return in full strength ... in the very near future. And we will work with them to try and achieve that," Rice said.
Rice, President Bush's national security advisor, spoke at the State Department's Foreign Press Center in New York City, following a surge of terrorist attacks in Iraq in previous days.
"It is unfortunate in the extreme that the terrorists decided to go after innocent aid workers and people who were just trying to help the Iraqi people," she said.
"[I]t may not be completely unprecedented, but it's pretty unusual that a target would be the United Nations or the Red Cross," she said. "I think it may be the first major attack on the Red Cross. And it shows the nature of the people we're dealing with."
The United States, Rice said, will remain in Iraq until it achieves three fundamental goals: "to improve security by aggressively hunting down the terrorists and individuals who are attempting to undermine progress for the Iraqi people; to work with the international community and the Iraqi people to rebuild Iraq, restore basic services, jump-start the Iraqi economy; and third, to accelerate the orderly transfer of sovereignty and authority to the Iraqi people."
"Along with our international partners and the Iraqi people, we are accelerating the process by which Iraqis will assume full responsibility for the future of their country," she said.
The terrorists want "to sow fear and chaos," she said. "They hope that we will leave before the job is done. But the United States and our allies and friends in Iraq and around the world will not."
"The world has a responsibility and a historic opportunity to help the Iraqi people build a just and decent and modern and democratic state in the heart of the Middle East. We are determined to meet our responsibilities and to seize that opportunity," she said.
Asked if Turkey will send troops to Iraq, Rice said "we appreciated what the Turkish government has signalled its willingness to do and believe that this is a matter in which the parties need to continue to discuss to see what the best way forward is.
"It's obviously a delicate situation, and everybody knows that it's delicate. It's not a matter of surprise to anyone. And so it's not surprising that there needs to be further discussion and consultation about it."
Turkey, Rice said, "is a very, very good friend" of the United States has been for 50 years. It is "also extremely important to the future of Europe and to the future of the Middle East," she said, "because, as a country that embodies both the principles of democracy and an Islamic Muslim population and shows that those two can live in the same body, same political body, it is an extremely important example to the rest of the world that those who think that Islam and democracy are somehow incompatible are just wrong."
Regarding the situation between the Palestinians and the Israelis, Rice said the U.S.-backed "road map is the most reliable guide" to realizing a vision that President Bush "cares a great deal about, and that is two states living side by side where Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace and where the Palestinian people will finally realize their ambition for a free and independent Palestinian state."
Israel and the Palestinians and the United States have responsibilities, she said, "but so do Arab states have responsibilities as well to improve the atmosphere, to end incitement that, on the one hand, says we want a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and on the other hand puts out statements and television shows that really do demonize a party, the Israelis, as a party to this agreement.
"That just can't continue. And so there are responsibilities on all sides. People need to exercise those responsibilities," she said.
Rice also discussed U.S. policy toward Iran, Syria, China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, and counterterrorism measures among the U.S., Canada and countries in Latin America
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=October&x=20031030190442ssorw0.3279535&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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