ASSAD/ NEW YORK TIMES EXCERPTS (December 1, 2003)
EXCERPTS
Key Passages From Interview With Syria's President
DAMASCUS, Syria, Nov. 30 — Following are key passages from an interview on
Sunday with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The president's office
transcribed and translated the interview, in which Mr. Assad spoke in English
and Arabic.
About the Golan Heights
Some people say there are Syrian conditions, and my answer is no; we don't have
Syrian conditions. What Syria says is this: negotiations should be resumed from
the point at which they had stopped simply because we have achieved a great deal
in these negotiations. If we don't say this, it means we want to go back to
point zero in the peace process. This would also mean wasting a lot more time,
and every day we waste more people are being killed and more violence erupts in
the region.
On the Situation in Iraq
The first point I'd like to stress is that all what I said to Americans, whether
the American officials or through our statements before and during the war,
turned out now to be true. In fact things are even going worse than Syria
expected.
So, what we fear is already there, and now there is an escalating trend of
terrorism that neither our neighbors nor we are able to control. There is also
an armament smuggling among countries. There is also no side in Iraq with whom
you can agree on any procedures or measures. Therefore, I think the solution in
Iraq is to allow the Iraqis to write their own constitution and to elect their
own government. What we hear from the Iraqis is that they want elections at the
level of people, while the American point of view is that the interim government
should draw the constitution; whether it's an interim or permanent constitution
I don't know, but this is what the Americans are calling for. And I think that
if this is done, it's going to be one of the reasons for chaos in the future in
Iraq. That's why we believe that those who are going to draft the constitution
should be elected by the Iraqi people, and this is an Iraqi proposal and not a
Syrian one.
On a Syrian Role in Iraq
We asked the Iraqis who visited us about this point. They said to us
categorically and absolutely clearly that we do not want any military role for
any country in the world, and any forces that will enter into Iraq whether they
are foreign or Arab forces will be treated as the enemy.
On Iraq as a Model
I hope we can make better steps toward democracy in our country, but that takes
time. But no one in Syria, or may be in the region if I want to exaggerate a
little bit, asks for help from any country to have his own democracy.
I think before the war on Iraq some thought about this, but after the war they
changed their minds. Only a little percentage of people used to think before the
war that the war on Iraq would help democracy in the region. Most of them now
think this is a bad example of bringing democracy.
On Israel's Influence
As I said Syrian-American relations for some reason fluctuate in different
periods of time. Whenever the Syrian relations deteriorated with United States,
invariably, it was the Israeli factor that caused that deterioration. What do I
mean by the Israeli factor? It could be Israeli influence or effect in the
United States through the lobby, or it could be the complete biased attitude of
the Americans toward the Israeli government.
In fact if you take the Israeli element out of the picture, I cannot see the
difference between Syria and the U.S.; there are no differences between Syria
and the United States about what we want to achieve in the region.
On Powell's visit, the President said: There are differences in priorities between us and the U.S.... When Secretary Powell talked about the Palestinian offices, we asked him to talk about all the issues concerning our two countries in a package.... Our priority is to restore our territory, the Golan.
Concerning the closure of offices, the President replied: You use the word "closed." I talked with Mr. Powell about stopping "activities," not closures.... But doing something about the groups is related to the Golan, to resuming the peace talks on the Syrian track.
As for the stories in the Israeli press about recent meetings between a Syrian official and an Israeli about starting up peace negotiations, President al-Assad said: This is the Israeli way -- to make it appear as if Syria is working in secrecy.... Why should we create back channels? This does not give you popular support... which is very important in a peace process. Neither now nor in the future will Syria engage in secret negotiations.
Syria is for talks on the basis of U.N. resolutions, the 1991 Madrid conference and the Beirut summit initiative, the president underlined.
If you want to negotiate, you need a basis. So the basis is the Madrid conference, he added: As for war against Iraq and Syria's position towards this war, the president said: We were not close to Saddam and did not have an embassy in Baghdad. I never met him or talked with him on the phone. What you said about the oil is true. We had economic relations with Iraq. What you said about the Syrian government allowing armaments to go to Iraq is not correct. Arms were smuggled by individuals. The government had nothing to do with it....
We allowed families to come to Syria, women and children. But we were suspicious of some of the relatives -- that they had positions in the past and were responsible for killings in Syria in the '80s, the president said.
On Hizbollah, al-Assad said: We did not supply Hizbollah with weapons. They do not get arms via Syria. We give them political support because they want to get back their lands.
They have not killed anyone outside of Lebanon where their land is occupied.
Concerning the Road Map, the President said: I can talk about the concept. For the last two years, they (the Palestinians) talked about security before a political solution. But if you get a political solution that doesn't satisfy all parties, you won't have security. You should first have the political solution. We won't interfere. Our concern is the Golan.
In 1990, we took the decision for peace, the President added, saying: The Israelis do not want peace. It was not that we changed our mind about peace.
About a U.S. military action, the President said: Powell said there are no plans for U.S. military actions against Syria. Powell is the rational wing of the administration, he added.
We are working for better cooperation. Combating terrorism is evidence. We helped save the lives of Americans last year.
On pulling out of Lebanon, the President replied: This is related to a peace treaty, to a complete Israeli withdrawal. The Israelis didn't withdraw completely. They still occupy Shebaa Farms.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in an interview with The
New York Times on Monday, appealed to the United States to use its influence to
revive talks between his country and Israel. The Syrian president called the
absence of diplomacy a gaping hole in President Bush's strategy for the Middle
East, according to the report. He said details of returning the Golan Heights to
Syria in return for security guarantees to Israel were 80 percent complete a few
months before he succeeded his late father as Syria's president, according to
the paper. But he told The Times that the White House, focused on Iraq and the
Palestinians, has shown little interest in this diplomatic area and that
neglecting the Syrian-Israel dispute showed how the U.S. preaches about
visionary change in the region but fails to adopt practical measures to attain
it. "You cannot just keep talking about this vision; you have to put a mechanism
in order to achieve that vision," he said, speaking to the Times in Damascus.
The Syrian president talked with a generally conciliatory tone toward the United
States, stressing that the poor U.S. image in the Arab world could be overcome,
and that Syria did not regard the United States as an adversary, the newspaper
said.
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