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Interview With Iraqi Foreign Minister
Aired October 09, 2003 - 14:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Six months and counting since the regime change came to Baghdad. Uncertainty reigns, deadly violence, political tensions, diplomatic dithering, all regular occurrences, yet none has undermined the optimism of Hoshyar Zubari. Mr. Zubari is the son of a Kurdish tribal chief, and he's now the Iraqi foreign minister. He joins us this hour from London.
Mr. Zubari, good to have you with us.
HOSHYAR ZUBARI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER:: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: All right, let me ask you, first of all, if six months ago you would have predicted the outcome that you see today in your country of Iraq?
ZUBARI: Yes, in fact I think nothing compares to the first test of freedom that the people of Iraq are enjoying nowadays. Yes, it's true we are going through difficult times, and we have many challenges ahead. Security problem is the top of everybody's mind. But at the same time, there has been a great deal of improvement of progress on the ground. And we think this is a temporary period. Together we, the Iraqis, with the coalition, we will be able to contain the security challenge and get the country back to normalcy.
O'BRIEN: So you see progress?
ZUBARI: We do. In fact, we do see progress in many fields, and public services and the democratic freedoms now that Iraqis are enjoying. and the freedom to -- of association, of expression, of expression, of expressing their views. There are no fears for the student, let's say, to go every day to school and sing Saddam's songs, or glorify the dictator, or for the students who will go to military camps for training. Women are not afraid anymore, you see, to walk in the streets with makeup or so on, to be abducted by the cronies of the regime.
And also the whole sense of fear that the people of Iraq were in prison, in fact, is gone, now that they have access to satellite, they have access to Internet, they are seeing the world we see at large; and also in fact there is progress on many fields. Iraqi pensioners used to get during Saddam's era between $5 to $10 U.S. dollars. Now they are getting between $100 to $150. Iraqi government employees get five, six times more than they used to have.
And there is progress, in fact, on the economic level, on the cultural level, on the basic freedoms that people are seeing, on the public services. Power supplies have been -- returned to prewar levels.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Zubari?
ZUBARI: Yes.
O'BRIEN: May I ask you -- I'm sorry, our time is short. I would like to ask you on the security issue, last month one of your colleagues was assassinated, Akilla Al Hashimi (ph).
ZUBARI: Yes. That's true, yes, yes.
O'BRIEN: How concerned are you and other members of the Governing Council? How concerned are you about your safety?
ZUBARI: Well, there are concerns. In fact, two days ago there was bomb explosions in the foreign ministry. I was the target. But when we decided to take up this challenge and serve our country, we knew that many of us would be the target of those defeated Baathists and those terrorist elements who want to stop the progress, to stop the Iraqis from rebuilding their country. We are aware, we are conscious of these security threats, and we are trying our best to minimize, you know, their threat against us.
O'BRIEN: We just saw within the past few days, the announcement that the country of Turkey will be joining the coalition, sending troops into Iraq, and I know this is a very sticky issue among Iraqi Kurds. You yourself are a Kurd. Do you object to having Turkish troops on Iraqi soil, participating in this occupying force?
ZUBARI: Well, let's say, first of all, that the ultimate security responsibility lies with the coalition authorities. And with the U.S. military command, in fact, on all matters related to operational security.
At the same time, the Governing Council and many Iraqis have expressed their views that it would be much better not to involve and engage any of Iraq's neighboring countries, and the peacekeeping missions or multinational forces that they want to help.
At the same time, we do understand the need to internationalize the force. There are many casualties taking place against U.S. GIs, and here is next door, there is Turkey, was trying to be helpful. So we understand that, but the point here is really that the location of these forces, the distribution should be agree. Also...
O'BRIEN: And do you think. It is important...
(CROSSTALK)
ZUBARI: ... any presence of Turkish troops in the northern region, in order not to create any sensitivities. At the moment, Mr. Bremer is trying his best with the Governing Council to find an acceptable settlement to this sticky problem, as you said.
O'BRIEN: So, Mr. Zubari, Just to clarify then, if those troops are limited to the so-called Sunni Triangle, which is sort of centered around Baghdad, you have no problem with Turkish troops on Iraqi soil?
ZUBARI: Well, yes, I think as long as they would not be based in the northern Kurdish region, where there are many sensitivities, and the access or the supply lines of these troops would be under the command and the direct supervision of the coalition forces and the local forces, yes I think there is a possibility that we will find an acceptable solution.
But generally, it would have been better, really, I must make this point very clear, that to leave out all Iraq's neighboring countries from taking up this peacekeeping mission because of the sensitivities, because their participation may lead to the stabilization. We hope that would not be the case, and we will find an acceptable solution to Turkey, to the Governing Council, to the needs of the coalition forces.
O'BRIEN: Hoshyar Zubari is the Iraqi foreign minister. He joins us from London.
Thank you for your time, sir.
ZUBARI: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 9, 2003 - 14:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Six months and counting since the regime change came to Baghdad. Uncertainty reigns, deadly violence, political tensions, diplomatic dithering, all regular occurrences, yet none has undermined the optimism of Hoshyar Zubari. Mr. Zubari is the son of a Kurdish tribal chief, and he's now the Iraqi foreign minister. He joins us this hour from London.
Mr. Zubari, good to have you with us.
HOSHYAR ZUBARI, IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER:: You're welcome.
O'BRIEN: All right, let me ask you, first of all, if six months ago you would have predicted the outcome that you see today in your country of Iraq?
ZUBARI: Yes, in fact I think nothing compares to the first test of freedom that the people of Iraq are enjoying nowadays. Yes, it's true we are going through difficult times, and we have many challenges ahead. Security problem is the top of everybody's mind. But at the same time, there has been a great deal of improvement of progress on the ground. And we think this is a temporary period. Together we, the Iraqis, with the coalition, we will be able to contain the security challenge and get the country back to normalcy.
O'BRIEN: So you see progress?
ZUBARI: We do. In fact, we do see progress in many fields, and public services and the democratic freedoms now that Iraqis are enjoying. and the freedom to -- of association, of expression, of expression, of expressing their views. There are no fears for the student, let's say, to go every day to school and sing Saddam's songs, or glorify the dictator, or for the students who will go to military camps for training. Women are not afraid anymore, you see, to walk in the streets with makeup or so on, to be abducted by the cronies of the regime.
And also the whole sense of fear that the people of Iraq were in prison, in fact, is gone, now that they have access to satellite, they have access to Internet, they are seeing the world we see at large; and also in fact there is progress on many fields. Iraqi pensioners used to get during Saddam's era between $5 to $10 U.S. dollars. Now they are getting between $100 to $150. Iraqi government employees get five, six times more than they used to have.
And there is progress, in fact, on the economic level, on the cultural level, on the basic freedoms that people are seeing, on the public services. Power supplies have been -- returned to prewar levels.
O'BRIEN: Mr. Zubari?
ZUBARI: Yes.
O'BRIEN: May I ask you -- I'm sorry, our time is short. I would like to ask you on the security issue, last month one of your colleagues was assassinated, Akilla Al Hashimi (ph).
ZUBARI: Yes. That's true, yes, yes.
O'BRIEN: How concerned are you and other members of the Governing Council? How concerned are you about your safety?
ZUBARI: Well, there are concerns. In fact, two days ago there was bomb explosions in the foreign ministry. I was the target. But when we decided to take up this challenge and serve our country, we knew that many of us would be the target of those defeated Baathists and those terrorist elements who want to stop the progress, to stop the Iraqis from rebuilding their country. We are aware, we are conscious of these security threats, and we are trying our best to minimize, you know, their threat against us.
O'BRIEN: We just saw within the past few days, the announcement that the country of Turkey will be joining the coalition, sending troops into Iraq, and I know this is a very sticky issue among Iraqi Kurds. You yourself are a Kurd. Do you object to having Turkish troops on Iraqi soil, participating in this occupying force?
ZUBARI: Well, let's say, first of all, that the ultimate security responsibility lies with the coalition authorities. And with the U.S. military command, in fact, on all matters related to operational security.
At the same time, the Governing Council and many Iraqis have expressed their views that it would be much better not to involve and engage any of Iraq's neighboring countries, and the peacekeeping missions or multinational forces that they want to help.
At the same time, we do understand the need to internationalize the force. There are many casualties taking place against U.S. GIs, and here is next door, there is Turkey, was trying to be helpful. So we understand that, but the point here is really that the location of these forces, the distribution should be agree. Also...
O'BRIEN: And do you think. It is important...
(CROSSTALK)
ZUBARI: ... any presence of Turkish troops in the northern region, in order not to create any sensitivities. At the moment, Mr. Bremer is trying his best with the Governing Council to find an acceptable settlement to this sticky problem, as you said.
O'BRIEN: So, Mr. Zubari, Just to clarify then, if those troops are limited to the so-called Sunni Triangle, which is sort of centered around Baghdad, you have no problem with Turkish troops on Iraqi soil?
ZUBARI: Well, yes, I think as long as they would not be based in the northern Kurdish region, where there are many sensitivities, and the access or the supply lines of these troops would be under the command and the direct supervision of the coalition forces and the local forces, yes I think there is a possibility that we will find an acceptable solution.
But generally, it would have been better, really, I must make this point very clear, that to leave out all Iraq's neighboring countries from taking up this peacekeeping mission because of the sensitivities, because their participation may lead to the stabilization. We hope that would not be the case, and we will find an acceptable solution to Turkey, to the Governing Council, to the needs of the coalition forces.
O'BRIEN: Hoshyar Zubari is the Iraqi foreign minister. He joins us from London.
Thank you for your time, sir.
ZUBARI: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
