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Interview With Al Rai

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Kuwait City, Kuwait
January 16, 2007

QUESTION: Okay. Dr. Rice is the current "6+2" meeting in Kuwait part of the U.S. attempt to mobilize its allies for an escalation against Syria and Iran?

SECRETARY RICE: The GCC plus Jordan and Egypt and the United States is a positive agenda. It isn't an agenda to escalate anything. In fact, what we'd like to do is to provide support to the Government of Lebanon, provide support for the Palestinian Authority and indeed I will brief our allies on the President's plan for Iraq so that we can all work for a unified Iraq that is capable of defending its territorial integrity. So it's a positive agenda for the Middle East.

QUESTION: So far, Kuwaitis' democratic history has witnesses to (inaudible) I mean, the solutions of the Parliament nowadays many Kuwaitis and politicians think that a third one maybe occur. So just we need what will your reaction especially Kuwait has become as ally of the U.S. so what will your reaction be if it's happened as a third time?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, this is a matter for Kuwaitis to decide. I do think that Kuwait has been making progress in terms of a more pluralistic political system, a more democratic political system. I would note for instance that women now have the right to vote here in Kuwait. I'm going to meet with a group of women tomorrow who are involved in women's empowerment. But I'm quite certain that what ever the challenge is in terms of the parliamentary issues that Kuwait will weather them. But I'm impressed with the fact that things are moving forward.

QUESTION: Dr. Rice, President Bush has recently said that any failure of the U.S. mission in Iraq would create a strategic threat in the survival of the regimes of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and also the GCC countries. So can you explain the conclusion to us, please?

SECRETARY RICE: Yes. The President was referring to the fact that if Iraq is not stable, if Iraq is in chaos, then you're going to have a circumstance in which the problems in Iraq become serious problems for the neighborhood. Obviously an Iraq that can't defend itself against Iranian interference for instance, an Iraq in which al-Qaida has a stronghold -- it has tried to do. The al-Qaida has tried to make Iraq a stronghold and the United States and the coalition allies are fighting there and the Iraqis to prevent that from happening. But if Iraq cannot defeat terrorists, if it becomes a breeding ground for or more importantly a safe haven for terrorists that would be very bad for the interest and for the stability of the countries in the region. And that's what the President meant. So we share a strategic interest in an Iraq that is stable, that is well governed and that is unified.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) Dr. Rice, are you willing to change the regime in Syria?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, we want a change in Syria's behavior. And we've made very clear that Syria, if it can find a way to be a stabilizing force in the region, rather than destabilizing force, of course, then there would be much to talk about. But right now, what is Syria doing? Syria is allowing its territory to be used for the transit of terrorists from Syria to Iraq. They're killing innocent Iraqis. Syria is engaging in activities that are destabilizing to the democratic Government of Lebanon and resisting efforts there to deal with Lebanon's past, the assassination of Rafiq Hariri. Syria is continuing to house the Palestinian and to support the Palestinian rejectionists who don't want a two-state solution for the Palestinian people. So that's the kind of behavior that is destabilizing and that's the kind of behavior that should change.

QUESTION: Dr. Rice, what will your reaction be if the president Emile Lahoud decide to dismiss the Siniora government and call for forming a new government?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I think it would not be just what the U.S. reaction would be. I think there'd be a very, very bad international reaction to that because people support the government of Prime Minister Siniora. Prime Minister Siniora was elected after parliamentary elections there, free and fair parliamentary elections. He has governed through a very difficult war for the Lebanese people, a tragic war for the Lebanese people. He has international support. There's going to be a Paris donor's conference to try to help the Lebanese Government. On the other hand, I think it would be very good if there were -- if Syria had a president that represented the present and the future, not the past. And I think it would not be favorably viewed, not just by the United States, but by the Lebanese people and by the international community.

QUESTION: Dr. Rice, will the Palestinian state be established in the 2008 as forecast by President Bush?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, President Bush would like nothing better than to see the establishment of a Palestinian state in his term. And Americans would like nothing better than to see the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Palestinian people have waited an awful long time to have their own state. They are people who are entrepreneurial. They are people who are talented. They are a society that has long believed in tolerance. And they've suffered a long time and it would be a very good thing to have a state. I think we need to now take the opening that is there. We will have informal talks between President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert. It's something that President Abbas has talked about for a long time, to have a channel that gives the Palestinian people a political horizon, not just to talk about the day to day issues with the Israelis. And so we will work hard and we will certainly hope for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

QUESTION: Well, then, Dr. Rice, thank you for this meeting and especially from our Chairman, Mr. Jassan Budahi (ph), would like to say thank you for you. And we appreciate this.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much. Thank you for the interview.

2007/T1-8


Released on January 16, 2007

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