Secretary
Condoleezza Rice
Manama, Bahrain
November 12, 2005
QUESTION:
Madame Secretary, thanks for joining us on Al Arabiya
News Channel. First, we are going to start with the Syrian
issue. The 1636 resolution reminded the Arabs, actually,
in this situation, of Iraq before the invasion. Is Syria
now going in the same path of Iraq before the invasion?
SECRETARY
RICE: Syria has an opportunity to put forward
the path that it wishes to put forward. The UN Security
Council demanded only one thing, and that is cooperation,
full cooperation, with the Mehlis investigation, because
the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has got
to be solved and justice has got to be done for that.
The Lebanese people are acting bravely in seeking their
political freedom after years of occupation and I think
everybody has been inspired by the Cedar Revolution. But
in order for Lebanon to have closure and reconciliation
and to move forward, the Hariri assassination really must
be solved and those who are responsible must be punished.
So that is the road for Syria and it needs to be taken,
and taken immediately.
QUESTION:
And if Syria doesn't cooperate?
SECRETARY
RICE: Well, the UN Security Council has said
that it will come back to determine what further steps
or measures might be necessary. But the key here is that
cooperation is in the hands of the Syrians. The entire
community, international community, is united in demanding
that this cooperation be offered. The vote was 15 to nothing.
And so Syria needs to take the message.
And it's not helpful for the Syrians to make accusations
about the nature of the investigation or to rant and rave
against those who are against Syria. You know, the people
of Syria also deserve to know what has happened here and
we stand with people all over the Middle East who are
trying to make a better future, a better and more prosperous
and more democratic future.
QUESTION:
There is public opinion in the Arab world saying that
America is going to military action against Syria whatever
the Syrian opinion is, if it's cooperation or not.
SECRETARY
RICE: America is united with the members of the
UN Security Council in demanding cooperation on the Mehlis
investigation. That's what this is about.
Obviously, we also want to insist that Syria live up to
the terms of Resolution 1559 because Lebanon should be
free from foreign interference, Lebanon should not be
threatened and intimidated by what is being said by assassinations
that go well beyond what happened to Rafik Hariri.
And of course, yes, we have concerns that the Palestinian
camps in Lebanon, that the Palestinian rejectionists not
use those camps or their offices in Syria to frustrate
the hopes of the Palestinian people. And yes, it is important
that Syria cut off the infiltration and penetration of
the terrorists into Iraq who are killing innocent Iraqis.
So this is a matter of innocent Iraqis that are being
killed because Syria will not control its territory, innocent
Palestinians who are trying to create a state and a better
future who are being frustrated by Palestinian rejectionists,
Palestinian Islamic Jihad operating out of Syria, and
the Lebanese who want a free future, free of foreign interference,
they want to know what happened to their prime minister,
and Syria frustrates that.
So this is not the United States and Syria. This is Syria
and the people of Lebanon, the Palestinian territories
and of Iraq.
QUESTION:
Yes, let us stay in Lebanon, about Hezbollah exactly.
Could the Lebanese Government, the former opposition parties,
convince the United States that negotiations with Hezbollah
can really end in disarming Hezbollah?
SECRETARY
RICE: Well, Resolution 1559 is very clear that
there needs to be disarmament of militias and there's
a reason for that, which is that no democratic state can
operate when groups within it want both to be able to
participate in politics and to keep an option for violence.
Any military means, any option for the use of force, has
to be the preserve only of the state. And that is what
Resolution 1559 is saying.
So this is a Lebanese process and I think people can see
that the United States has been very considerate of this
Lebanese process of how these issues are resolved after
long years of occupation. But ultimately Resolution 1559
speaks to the need to disarm militias and that has to
be done.
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