For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 16, 2001
National Security Advisor Interview with AL Jazeera TV
Old Executive Office Building
2:34 P.M. EDT
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 mid 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
Qaeda, 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 Qaeda 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 2:50
P.M. EDT
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