Dr Wolfowitz interviewed by Lebanese Broadcasting
Speaking personally and I know speaking for my government I'd like to express our condolences to the Hariri family and to the Lebanese people for this terrible tragedy and express good wishes for the speedy recovery for Minister Basil Fleihan. This was a terrible blow, but maybe out of -- The response to this terrible blow has been really magnificent by the Lebanese people and the support that is coming from the whole international community. Maybe out of this tragedy something really good could happen ...
In a sense to go back before this terrible assassination in fact Resolution 1559 lined the whole world up, and most importantly my country and France leading together in support of free Lebanon, in support of withdrawal of the Syrian occupation from Lebanon. And now the Lebanese people have come out by the tens of thousands in the wake of this assassination, not just to express their sorrow, but to express their demand for that implementation.
I think you saw during President Bush's trip to Europe this week that he was very strong in expressing his support and the European leaders he met with, particularly President Chirac of France, were very strong in expressing their support ...
I think most importantly our response in many ways that we can find is to support the people of Lebanon.
You know, in some ways what happened here reminds me of what happened in the Philippines more than 20 years ago when I was at the State Department, actually, as the Assistant Secretary of State in charge of East Asia. And in a process that actually began with another horrible political murder of Benigno Aquino, the Filipino people took their own fate into their own hands with a lot of support from the United States and from other countries. But the key thing there was the Filipino people and the key thing here is going to be the Lebanese people.
There are many ways we can support them. We can support them with UN Resolutions. We can support them with pressure on the Syrian government. We can support them with helping other countries to come to their aid, but very clearly, France and the United States are committed to the full implementation of Resolution 1559.
I think it's terrible to say anyone's a beneficiary of something terrible like that. I think the important point is even before this assassination the world spoke with a very clear voice at the United Nations on the need for Syria to finally live up to its obligations in Lebanon.
This is about what's good for the people of Lebanon. If the people of Lebanon get what they deserve, then it will be good for the whole region, and I think ultimately it will be good for Syria as well.
It's time to change course in the whole Middle East. It's time to move forward, not to stay stuck in the past, to go backwards.
Regardless of who's responsible for this terrible murder, clearly the era of assassination and murder in Lebanon has to end. The era of Syrian military occupation has to end. The Syrian intelligence presence in Beau Rivage and Anjar has to end. And there have to be free elections this spring.
The most important beneficiaries will be the people of Lebanon, but I think the whole world will benefit when they benefit ...
The Syrian military has to withdraw. And maybe even more important than the troops themselves, the Syrian intelligence presence has to be removed from Lebanon.
Syria needs to stop interfering in the affairs of its neighbors, and that includes Iraq as well. But Syria will be much better off, I believe, when they concentrate on their own affairs and concentrate on moving their own country forward ...
Clearly ending terrorism in general, and that includes the terrorism that's sponsored by Hezbollah is a very important part of moving the whole region forward. It's an important part of the Arab/Israeli peace process. I think the Syrians, it's very much in the power of the Syrians to effect that change and it's important to them to contribute.
It's very much in the power of the Syrians to stop a lot of the terrorism that's going on in Iraq today. You can debate the percentages, but there's no question that a great deal of it comes out of Syrian territory.
But Syria will be much better off in the future if it will stop this policy of trying to destabilize their neighbors and instead concentrate on stabilizing their own society and moving their own society forward. And I believe if they follow that course they will find the world ready to move with them ...
As a rule we don't discuss future military operations for very good reasons of military security. And I will certainly say that the activity of insurgents in Iraq is a matter of obviously the deepest concern to us.
But once again let me appeal to you. People who want to raise the specter of American military action, it seems to me are trying to distract attention from the much more important thing which is taking place in front of our eyes which is hundreds of thousands of Lebanese with a lot of courage, because the assassination of Rafik Hariri demonstrates how dangerous it can be to stand up in Lebanon and stand for the freedom and independence of Lebanon. But tens of thousands of Lebanese are doing it. Just as 8.5 million Iraqis just a few weeks ago stood up and voted in spite of these horrible threats from the terrorists to murder them if they voted, and some of them were murdered.
That's the really powerful force here. It doesn't mean the United States doesn't have military capabilities, but that's not the way change is going to come in Lebanon ...
We don't have intentions against Iran. In fact our concern is that Iran seems to have intentions against us and against its neighbors.
Iran is a great country. They are remarkable people with a great civilization and a great culture and a very important place in the world. They shouldn't be pursuing nuclear weapons. That's bad. They should certainly not be supporting terrorism. They shouldn't be destabilizing their neighbors in Iraq or Afghanistan or trying to destabilize the Arab/Israeli peace process. Those are bad policies of a government that I think most of the Iranian people tried to vote out of office some years ago when 75 percent of them voted for President Khatami who was clearly a kind of opposition candidate.
The Iranian people I think want a better government. They deserve a better government. When they have that better government I don't think there will be any issues between Iran and the rest of the world ...
My impression is that Iran has distinguished itself again, unfortunately, in a bad way. It's the only country that seems to have, in the wake of the horrible assassination of President Hariri stepped up and expressed its support for Syria and affected support for Syria's bad policies in Lebanon. It's a mistake.
I can say the same things about Iran I said about Syria. There's a way forward for Iran, it's a way of progress, it's a way of entering the modern world, it's a way of entering the community of nations. It’s a way of having a peaceful Afghanistan and a peaceful Iraq living in friendship on its borders. But it's going to take some substantial changes in Iranian policy to get there.
So much of the world has changed for the better over the last 20-25 years. You see it in East Asia, you see it in the old Soviet Empire, you see it in Latin America. You're starting to see it in important parts of the Middle East. It's really time for this decaying Iranian dictatorship to get with it. Its people clearly want them to get with those changes.
Read on. (Lebanese Broadcast Corporation, 25 February 2005)
In a sense to go back before this terrible assassination in fact Resolution 1559 lined the whole world up, and most importantly my country and France leading together in support of free Lebanon, in support of withdrawal of the Syrian occupation from Lebanon. And now the Lebanese people have come out by the tens of thousands in the wake of this assassination, not just to express their sorrow, but to express their demand for that implementation.
I think you saw during President Bush's trip to Europe this week that he was very strong in expressing his support and the European leaders he met with, particularly President Chirac of France, were very strong in expressing their support ...
I think most importantly our response in many ways that we can find is to support the people of Lebanon.
You know, in some ways what happened here reminds me of what happened in the Philippines more than 20 years ago when I was at the State Department, actually, as the Assistant Secretary of State in charge of East Asia. And in a process that actually began with another horrible political murder of Benigno Aquino, the Filipino people took their own fate into their own hands with a lot of support from the United States and from other countries. But the key thing there was the Filipino people and the key thing here is going to be the Lebanese people.
There are many ways we can support them. We can support them with UN Resolutions. We can support them with pressure on the Syrian government. We can support them with helping other countries to come to their aid, but very clearly, France and the United States are committed to the full implementation of Resolution 1559.
I think it's terrible to say anyone's a beneficiary of something terrible like that. I think the important point is even before this assassination the world spoke with a very clear voice at the United Nations on the need for Syria to finally live up to its obligations in Lebanon.
This is about what's good for the people of Lebanon. If the people of Lebanon get what they deserve, then it will be good for the whole region, and I think ultimately it will be good for Syria as well.
It's time to change course in the whole Middle East. It's time to move forward, not to stay stuck in the past, to go backwards.
Regardless of who's responsible for this terrible murder, clearly the era of assassination and murder in Lebanon has to end. The era of Syrian military occupation has to end. The Syrian intelligence presence in Beau Rivage and Anjar has to end. And there have to be free elections this spring.
The most important beneficiaries will be the people of Lebanon, but I think the whole world will benefit when they benefit ...
The Syrian military has to withdraw. And maybe even more important than the troops themselves, the Syrian intelligence presence has to be removed from Lebanon.
Syria needs to stop interfering in the affairs of its neighbors, and that includes Iraq as well. But Syria will be much better off, I believe, when they concentrate on their own affairs and concentrate on moving their own country forward ...
Clearly ending terrorism in general, and that includes the terrorism that's sponsored by Hezbollah is a very important part of moving the whole region forward. It's an important part of the Arab/Israeli peace process. I think the Syrians, it's very much in the power of the Syrians to effect that change and it's important to them to contribute.
It's very much in the power of the Syrians to stop a lot of the terrorism that's going on in Iraq today. You can debate the percentages, but there's no question that a great deal of it comes out of Syrian territory.
But Syria will be much better off in the future if it will stop this policy of trying to destabilize their neighbors and instead concentrate on stabilizing their own society and moving their own society forward. And I believe if they follow that course they will find the world ready to move with them ...
As a rule we don't discuss future military operations for very good reasons of military security. And I will certainly say that the activity of insurgents in Iraq is a matter of obviously the deepest concern to us.
But once again let me appeal to you. People who want to raise the specter of American military action, it seems to me are trying to distract attention from the much more important thing which is taking place in front of our eyes which is hundreds of thousands of Lebanese with a lot of courage, because the assassination of Rafik Hariri demonstrates how dangerous it can be to stand up in Lebanon and stand for the freedom and independence of Lebanon. But tens of thousands of Lebanese are doing it. Just as 8.5 million Iraqis just a few weeks ago stood up and voted in spite of these horrible threats from the terrorists to murder them if they voted, and some of them were murdered.
That's the really powerful force here. It doesn't mean the United States doesn't have military capabilities, but that's not the way change is going to come in Lebanon ...
We don't have intentions against Iran. In fact our concern is that Iran seems to have intentions against us and against its neighbors.
Iran is a great country. They are remarkable people with a great civilization and a great culture and a very important place in the world. They shouldn't be pursuing nuclear weapons. That's bad. They should certainly not be supporting terrorism. They shouldn't be destabilizing their neighbors in Iraq or Afghanistan or trying to destabilize the Arab/Israeli peace process. Those are bad policies of a government that I think most of the Iranian people tried to vote out of office some years ago when 75 percent of them voted for President Khatami who was clearly a kind of opposition candidate.
The Iranian people I think want a better government. They deserve a better government. When they have that better government I don't think there will be any issues between Iran and the rest of the world ...
My impression is that Iran has distinguished itself again, unfortunately, in a bad way. It's the only country that seems to have, in the wake of the horrible assassination of President Hariri stepped up and expressed its support for Syria and affected support for Syria's bad policies in Lebanon. It's a mistake.
I can say the same things about Iran I said about Syria. There's a way forward for Iran, it's a way of progress, it's a way of entering the modern world, it's a way of entering the community of nations. It’s a way of having a peaceful Afghanistan and a peaceful Iraq living in friendship on its borders. But it's going to take some substantial changes in Iranian policy to get there.
So much of the world has changed for the better over the last 20-25 years. You see it in East Asia, you see it in the old Soviet Empire, you see it in Latin America. You're starting to see it in important parts of the Middle East. It's really time for this decaying Iranian dictatorship to get with it. Its people clearly want them to get with those changes.
Read on. (Lebanese Broadcast Corporation, 25 February 2005)
posted by Geoffrey at 7:38 AM
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