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American Morning
Interview With Syria's Acting Ambassador to United States
Aired September 25, 2003 - 08:17 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: As the spy probe widens at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Syria is finding itself increasingly on the defensive. So far, two people have been arrested and at least two more are being closely watched. U.S. Airman Ahmad al-Halabi is the only person charged so far. He's accused of sending classified information to contacts in Syria.
Syria's acting ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, joins us now.
Welcome.
IMAD MOUSTAPHA, ACTING SYRIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: What do you know about this man?
MOUSTAPHA: We almost know almost nothing about him. We have tens of thousands of Americans of Syrian descent. Probably he's one of them. If, what I would like to comment on is if he has any problems with the American judiciary system, I'm sure the American judiciary system is a fair system.
COSTELLO: But do you know if he ever went -- did he ever go to the Syrian embassy and talk to the people there?
MOUSTAPHA: No. He never came to the embassy, he never talked to anybody with us, from our embassy. What probably he has done is, like everybody else would do, he has applied for a visa via a fax or an e- mail. He does not have to come to the embassy to apply for a visa. We give...
COSTELLO: Well, he's being accused of much more than that. He's accused of sending classified documents to contacts within Syria.
Is there an investigation going on on your part?
MOUSTAPHA: Definitely not. The only reason for that is the following. We are completely, completely uninterested in anything that goes on in Guantanamo Bay. In Syria, we do not have any sympathy with extremism. And certainly we have had lots of problems with fundamentalists for a while in Syria. Not anymore. We do not encourage our young people to join any fundamentalist movement in Syria.
COSTELLO: But isn't it possible that people within Syria might look upon this as an opportunity? In other words, what I'm trying to say, maybe al-Halabi went to the Syrian contacts himself and Syria took advantage of that opportunity.
Is that possible?
MOUSTAPHA: Definitely not. Let me explain this to you and let the American public opinion hear this. We do not sympathize at all with al Qaeda. It's the opposite. We have helped American security systems against al Qaeda. This is the only thing we are interested in, nothing else. So if this person has had any contacts with somebody in Syria, then it is on an individual basis and we would like to cooperate on this.
COSTELLO: So you're saying no Syrian officials ever met with al- Halabi?
MOUSTAPHA: No, of course not. Definitely.
COSTELLO: But chaplain...
MOUSTAPHA: Why would we meet with him?
COSTELLO: Chaplain Yee, the other man who stands accused, also has ties to Syria. Now there are two.
Is that just a coincidence?
MOUSTAPHA: It is definitely a coincidence for one reason, because we are not interested at all with these fundamentalist movements. We do not care for them. Actually, we have helped the United States uncover two operations that were planned by al Qaeda, and this has actually ended up with Secretary Powell sending a letter of thanks, thanking Syria for helping save American lives. We are not your enemies, Carol.
COSTELLO: But you know that members of the Bush administration criticized Syria...
MOUSTAPHA: I...
COSTELLO: ... for allowing Syrians to cross over the border into Iraq to do whatever.
MOUSTAPHA: In my view...
COSTELLO: They've accused Syria of developing weapons of mass destruction.
MOUSTAPHA: Yes. But, you know what's behind this? Let me remind you of this. Three months ago, they were accusing Syria of harboring all the Saddam Hussein regime. We were saying absolutely categorically not. And look now, every accusation they leveled against Syria evaporated into thin air.
Not every single person in the administration is against Syria. Some people do have their agenda. But others don't and they do communicate with us and they know that those accusations, like Syria's weapons of mass destruction, are ridiculous. COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this final question. So, if anything comes of this investigation, the United States finds hard core evidence that these two people from Guantanamo Bay do have contacts in Syria, it'll be dead wrong?
MOUSTAPHA: Let me tell you this. The probability that they have contacts with some individual in Syria might exist. I'm not privy to the details. But definitely not to the Syrian government. We are not only not interested, but we are vehemently against al Qaeda. Definitely.
COSTELLO: Ambassador Moustapha, thanks for joining us this morning.
We appreciate it.
MOUSTAPHA: Thank you very much.
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 September 25, 2003 - 08:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: As the spy probe widens at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Syria is finding itself increasingly on the defensive. So far, two people have been arrested and at least two more are being closely watched. U.S. Airman Ahmad al-Halabi is the only person charged so far. He's accused of sending classified information to contacts in Syria.
Syria's acting ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, joins us now.
Welcome.
IMAD MOUSTAPHA, ACTING SYRIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: What do you know about this man?
MOUSTAPHA: We almost know almost nothing about him. We have tens of thousands of Americans of Syrian descent. Probably he's one of them. If, what I would like to comment on is if he has any problems with the American judiciary system, I'm sure the American judiciary system is a fair system.
COSTELLO: But do you know if he ever went -- did he ever go to the Syrian embassy and talk to the people there?
MOUSTAPHA: No. He never came to the embassy, he never talked to anybody with us, from our embassy. What probably he has done is, like everybody else would do, he has applied for a visa via a fax or an e- mail. He does not have to come to the embassy to apply for a visa. We give...
COSTELLO: Well, he's being accused of much more than that. He's accused of sending classified documents to contacts within Syria.
Is there an investigation going on on your part?
MOUSTAPHA: Definitely not. The only reason for that is the following. We are completely, completely uninterested in anything that goes on in Guantanamo Bay. In Syria, we do not have any sympathy with extremism. And certainly we have had lots of problems with fundamentalists for a while in Syria. Not anymore. We do not encourage our young people to join any fundamentalist movement in Syria.
COSTELLO: But isn't it possible that people within Syria might look upon this as an opportunity? In other words, what I'm trying to say, maybe al-Halabi went to the Syrian contacts himself and Syria took advantage of that opportunity.
Is that possible?
MOUSTAPHA: Definitely not. Let me explain this to you and let the American public opinion hear this. We do not sympathize at all with al Qaeda. It's the opposite. We have helped American security systems against al Qaeda. This is the only thing we are interested in, nothing else. So if this person has had any contacts with somebody in Syria, then it is on an individual basis and we would like to cooperate on this.
COSTELLO: So you're saying no Syrian officials ever met with al- Halabi?
MOUSTAPHA: No, of course not. Definitely.
COSTELLO: But chaplain...
MOUSTAPHA: Why would we meet with him?
COSTELLO: Chaplain Yee, the other man who stands accused, also has ties to Syria. Now there are two.
Is that just a coincidence?
MOUSTAPHA: It is definitely a coincidence for one reason, because we are not interested at all with these fundamentalist movements. We do not care for them. Actually, we have helped the United States uncover two operations that were planned by al Qaeda, and this has actually ended up with Secretary Powell sending a letter of thanks, thanking Syria for helping save American lives. We are not your enemies, Carol.
COSTELLO: But you know that members of the Bush administration criticized Syria...
MOUSTAPHA: I...
COSTELLO: ... for allowing Syrians to cross over the border into Iraq to do whatever.
MOUSTAPHA: In my view...
COSTELLO: They've accused Syria of developing weapons of mass destruction.
MOUSTAPHA: Yes. But, you know what's behind this? Let me remind you of this. Three months ago, they were accusing Syria of harboring all the Saddam Hussein regime. We were saying absolutely categorically not. And look now, every accusation they leveled against Syria evaporated into thin air.
Not every single person in the administration is against Syria. Some people do have their agenda. But others don't and they do communicate with us and they know that those accusations, like Syria's weapons of mass destruction, are ridiculous. COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this final question. So, if anything comes of this investigation, the United States finds hard core evidence that these two people from Guantanamo Bay do have contacts in Syria, it'll be dead wrong?
MOUSTAPHA: Let me tell you this. The probability that they have contacts with some individual in Syria might exist. I'm not privy to the details. But definitely not to the Syrian government. We are not only not interested, but we are vehemently against al Qaeda. Definitely.
COSTELLO: Ambassador Moustapha, thanks for joining us this morning.
We appreciate it.
MOUSTAPHA: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
