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29 September 2004

Powell Says United States Will Achieve Its Goals in Iraq

Secretary says U.S. supports reforms in Broader Middle East, North Africa

Secretary of State Colin Powell says the United States will not be deterred from achieving its goal of helping the Iraqi people establish a democracy, despite a fierce insurgency.

"[W]e are not going to be deterred from achieving the goal that we set out for ourselves to eliminate a terrible dictatorship and put in place a democracy," Powell said in an interview with Al Jazeera television September 29.

Powell said elections in Iraq should take place in January 2005 despite poor security because the Iraqi Interim Government and the United Nations have said that elections should be held then.

Commenting on the Broader Middle East and North Africa Program's efforts to pursue political and economic reforms in the region, Powell said the United States looks forward to working with its G8 partners (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and Russia) to help the countries in the region achieve the beneficial changes they themselves want.

Powell said the key to improving the lives of the people in the broader Middle East and North Africa is to create jobs.

With regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Powell said that Israel's disengagement from Gaza creates an opportunity to advance President Bush's road map toward the creation of a Palestinian state that exists in peace alongside Israel. Powell said it is time for the Palestinians to end the Intifadah, or uprising, against Israel, saying that it has spawned terrorism and not achieved anything positive.

Regarding U.S. relations with Syria, Powell said he recently held "very good, direct conversations" with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara, and he wants to "move forward, if we can continue those conversations."

The secretary said the United States believes that the issue of Iran's nuclear program should be referred to the U.N. Security Council if Iran has not satisfied the legitimate concerns of the international community by November.

Powell said the United States does not hate Muslims or Christians or anybody, but the U.S. government must take precautions to protect its national security. He said the United States is going to triple the number of Muslim students and Muslim visitors. He added that the U.S. government is improving the procedures for people to obtain visas to the United States and he urged people to "come visit America."

Following is the transcript of Powell's interview with Al Jazeera:

(begin transcript)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
September 29, 2004

INTERVIEW

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell On Al Jazeera with Mohammed Alami

September 29, 2004
Washington, D.C.

(10:10 a.m. EDT)

MR. ALAMI: Well, Mr. Secretary, thank you so much. We really appreciate it. So let's start with this story in The Post today, growing pessimism on Iraq and the official story made by public officials is different from what's going on, according to the paper. What's your take on that?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we know that we have a tough situation, but there is no pessimism because we know we will defeat this insurgency and we know that we will drive forward to have elections, elections not just that the United States wants to have, but the Iraqi people want to have. And we are not going to be deterred from achieving the goal that we set out for ourselves to eliminate a terrible dictatorship and put in place a democracy.

But there are those who are causing the trouble who don't want the Iraqi people to be free. They don't want the Iraqi people to vote. They don't want the Iraqi people to decide on their own leaders. They want the Iraqi people to have a totalitarian regime again, and this has to be resisted not just by the coalition but by the whole civilized world, by the Arab world.

And the important point here is that there are Iraqi leaders, Prime Minister Allawi, so many others, who are in the Government of Iraq, and there are Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi policemen who are coming out every day to try to take their country back from these terrorists and from these individuals who want to go back to the past. And so, but even though we have some hard times and we have to fight these battles, we will defeat these insurgents and we will succeed in giving the Iraqi people the democracy they deserve and want.

MR. ALAMI: That makes all this rosy picture. Is it coming because of political season in this country, or because that's the spinning, or what's your take on that?

SECRETARY POWELL: No, you're the one who's spinning. No, I'm not spinning. The President and I and Mr. Rumsfeld, all of my colleagues, have been candid. We are saying that we know we have some difficulties here. We know that this insurgency is there. We cannot deny that. Everybody can see it. Every day we see these bombs going off with innocent people being murdered by people who are using car bombs and these other means of attacking folks.

So we've been very candid. We want to be just as candid to let the world know that we stand alongside Prime Minister Allawi. And we have every confidence that we will use multinational force, but more importantly, to build up Iraqi security forces to defeat these insurgents, to defeat these terrorists, and to allow the Iraqi people to do what? To have an election. Why? So they can choose their own leaders. This is a correct cause. This is a cause that all the people of the world should applaud.

MR. ALAMI: Mr. Secretary, a lot of people are expressing concern about the dates of the elections, the latest the King of Jordan, King Abdullah, to Le Figaro, a French paper. If the Iraqi people wants to vote, they can't. There is a major security problem. Why not move this date? I mean, is it something special about January?

SECRETARY POWELL: It's the date that was set out by the Iraqi Interim Government. It's the date that the United Nations resolution calls for. And so, why should we abandon this date? Let's come together. Let's do everything we can to improve the security situation so that all Iraqis have the chance to vote. That is their goal and that's what we're going to try to do.

The UN is committed to it. We are committed to it. And we hope that the security situation will be a lot better in a few months before we get to the election, but let's not start now deciding, no, we can't have an election at the end of January. And what His Majesty King Abdullah was saying, as I heard his remark, was that he is concerned about the security situation. We all are. But if the security situation is improved so that the population can come out freely and vote, I'm sure His Majesty would want that as well.

MR. ALAMI: Mr. Secretary, to what extent the security situation affected the grandiose goals in the Middle East, Iraq being a model to the rest of the Arab world? To what extent that affected that goal?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I think that we have a lot of initiatives underway in the Middle East. Iraq, when it has its election and when it ratifies its constitution next year and then has another election, it seems to me that will be a good example for the Middle East about what reform and modernization is all about and what you can achieve through the democratic process.

But we're doing other things. Last Friday, in New York City, we had the first meeting, the beginning of the Forum for the Future. Twenty-eight nations came together, nations of the broader Middle East and North Africa and the G-8 nations came together and said, "How can we work together as partners to help the nations of the broader Middle East and North Africa modernize themselves, reform themselves?"

Everybody came and talked and now we've already scheduled future meetings where we can come together and talk. And so, the goal, not of the United States, but the goal of the people of the broader Middle East and North Africa, of the people of the Arab world, is for there to be improvement in their lives, improvement in their political life and in their social and economic life, so they can give their children a better opportunity and a better life.

One of the most important statements that was made in this conference on Friday in New York was a business leader who said, "The biggest time bomb facing the Arab world is unemployment -- unemployment. We have to create jobs for young Arab boys and girls who are growing up and entering the workplace and we have to educate them for those jobs and we have to give them a belief in the economic system."

So all of these things the United States and our other industrial nation partners in the G-8 want to help the Middle East nations achieve: better political development, as they choose; better economic development, as they see fit; and see what we can do to help them modernize and reform their countries and at the pace they choose. We're not imposing. They select.

We also hope that in the near future, if we can get the Palestinian Authority to organize itself so that they are ready to take over Gaza and the four West Bank settlements when Mr. Sharon has gotten approval to move forward, then we can get the Roadmap process started again. So the United States believes that stability in Iraq, the end of terrorism and the end of these old regime elements fighting to the death will produce a democracy that rests on free elections in Iraq.

We believe that with the disengagement from Gaza, we have an opportunity to get the roadmap moving forward. And with our efforts to help the Arab world reform, as the Arab world wishes to reform, we are showing that our interest is in the people of the Broader Middle East, to give them a better life, to give their children a better life.

MR. ALAMI: Mr. Secretary, I know it's very tough, you know, the topics in the Middle East. This week the Intifadah, they're going through to its fifth year. Over 4,000 people lost their lives. Three-quarters of them are Palestinians. And the people are in the position in the Middle East because of domestic -- particular consideration in this country, you just blame the victims and, you know, brave the occupier and just put the whole topic in the backburner.

SECRETARY POWELL: That's just not accurate. You say we blame the victims. Who are the victims? The victims are those who are being blown up by bombs. And then there is the response on the part of the Israelis, who have tried to protect themselves from these bombs by going after individuals who they believe are responsible. And so, there are victims on all sides of this question. But what is the Intifadah in its five years of existence? What has it accomplished to the Palestinian people? Has it produced progress toward a Palestinian state? Has it defeated Israel on the battlefield?

So it is time to end this process. It is time to end the Intifadah. I mean, we want a Palestinian state. The President so desperately wants to help create a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people that will live side by side in peace with Israel. And this will only come about when terror is ended. And the Intifadah has spawned terrorism and it has not achieved anything in these years, except the economy of the Palestinian communities has deteriorated, life in general has deteriorated, the Israelis have built fences to deal with this question, It has stopped us from being able to move forward with the many peace plans that we have put forward.

MR. ALAMI: But Mr. Secretary, what are you doing concretely to help the Palestinians now? And how do you explain the total absence of the topic from the U.S. elections?

SECRETARY POWELL: It will be discussed, I think, in the course of the U.S. election campaign, but the fact of the matter is that we need to see some movement. The President of the United States went to Aqaba and Sharm el-Sheikh last June and committed the United States and got commitments from Israel and a new Palestinian Prime Minister, who we needed to give authority, authority that has to come from Mr. Arafat. but Mr. Arafat did not yield authority to Mr. Abu Mazen and he has not yielded authority to Mr. Abu Alaa so that the Prime Minister of the Palestinian people can bring order to the security organizations of the Palestinian Authority, so that the terrorism can be brought to an end, and has not done what we believe should be done in the way of reform.

We also, as the President has noted, have concerns about actions that the Israelis have taken with respect to settlement activity, with respect to not destroying all of the outposts that were supposed to be destroyed.

So both sides have commitments and obligations in the Roadmap and we are anxious to move forward. The Quartet met last week in New York at the UN, reaffirmed our commitment to the Roadmap, and called on both parties to do everything they could, just as the President did in his speech to the UN before.

MR. ALAMI: Mr. Secretary, as you know, Israel targeted a political Hamas activist in Damascus earlier. Do you consider that part of the Israeli self-defense to go to another Arab capital and target somebody?

SECRETARY POWELL: I have not had confirmation of what happened. Israel has --

MR. ALAMI: (Inaudible)

SECRETARY POWELL: I cannot comment on this particular because I really am not sure what happened.

MR. ALAMI: And the Syrians, talking about the meeting last week in New York, the Syrians were excluded; who are to talk about the summit in Egypt about Iraq and Syrians and Iranians will be included. And how about the selectivity in the invitation? These countries are included sometimes and excluded others.

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, in the case of the Broader Middle East initiative, we didn't think it was appropriate this time. But in the case of Iraq, as we move forward, it is a meeting that Prime Minister Allawi wants to have with all of the neighbors, to include Syria, to include Iran. And I look forward to participating in that meeting and being at a table with Syria and Iran to discuss regional matters.

With respect to Syria, also, we have American delegations that are in Damascus now discussing with Syrian authorities what we can do together to stop infiltrations and going across the border, and how we can work to improve relations between the Syrians and the Iraqis and between the Syrians and the United States.

I had very good, direct conversations with my Syrian colleague, Foreign Minister Farouk Shara, in New York last week, and I want to move forward, if we can continue those conversations.

MR. ALAMI: Are you satisfied with the moves by Syria so far in Beirut, in Lebanon?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we are still watching Syrian reaction to the UN resolution. I have received reports and I've seen statements from Damascus that some of the Syrian troops are being withdrawn, but I can't confirm that they actually have gone back to Syria or how many may have gone back to Syria. We hope that Syria will do everything that is asked of it under the resolution.

MR. ALAMI: And the Iranians, if you have a chance to talk to them during this conference, what will you be telling them?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I can't say yet. The conference is still some way off, but if we were all together in a room, talking about the region and talking about how we can bring stability to that part of the world, beginning with Iraq, stability in Iraq and free elections in Iraq. And if the Iranians are in the meeting and wish to talk in a responsible manner about this problem, I will be in the room, too.

MR. ALAMI: I mean, is there anything specific about the nuclear program, the Iranian program?

SECRETARY POWELL: As everyone knows, there is a great deal of concern about the Iranian nuclear program. The IAEA in their resolution a week or so ago made it clear that Iran has to do more to satisfy the international community, that they do not have a program that will lead to the development of a nuclear weapon. We believe they do.

We believe it should be referred to the Security Council, but is not yet the consensus view of the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors. But I think when November comes around, if Iran has not satisfied legitimate concerns, not unreasonable concerns, legitimate concerns of the international community about what they are doing, then I think it would be appropriate to refer the matter to the Security Council in accordance with UN procedures.

MR. ALAMI: Sir, you raised the issue earlier about the anti-U.S. sentiment in the Muslim and the Arab world. What are you doing specifically, and are you concerned the incident like the Cat Stevens incidence, Professor Tariq Ramadan, that is seen all over the Arab Islamic world and, you know, deepens the perception the U.S. hates us as well?

SECRETARY POWELL: The U.S. does not hate anyone. We don't hate Muslims. We don't hate Christians. We don't hate anybody. What we are trying to do is to make sure that our nation is secure. We were attacked in a way we never expected on 9/11 and it is not unreasonable for us to know who is coming into our country and we have put in place controls.

We have to review these cases such as the Cat Stevens case or the Professor Ramadan case to make sure that we have done the correct thing. We want to encourage people to come to the United States. We have improved our visa processing system over the last two years. It's easier now to get a visa. I want to make it easier.

We are going to triple the number of Muslim students and Muslim visitors that we bring to our country and expose them to the United States. We are increasing our outreach to the Muslim world with our radio station activity, with our television activity. We want the world to know that America is a country of enormous diversity. Every race on Earth, every religion on Earth, every culture on Earth is represented here in America. It enriches us.

The Muslim world has enriched America and we don't want to cut ourselves off, and so I encourage all of your viewers to give us the time necessary to improve our procedures and to get these procedures down and in place so that we can be confident that we are protecting ourselves, as is reasonable, but just as confident that we are open to people who want to come here to study, to go to our entertainment facilities, to come to our hospitals. Please, come visit America. We are making it easier and easier, even though there are still some difficulties that we have to work our way through.

MR. ALAMI: Thank you so much, Mr. Secretary. Always great talking to you, sir.

(end transcript)

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