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CNN Saturday Morning News

Interview With Saad al-Ajami

Aired February 15, 2003 - 09:43   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: For months, Kuwait has been preparing for a U.S.-led war against Iraq. The government is cutting back oil- field operations near its northern border with Iraq, and the northern half of the nation is being sealed off to civilians, declared a closed military zone.
For the latest, we turn now to Saad al-Ajami. He is a former Kuwaiti information minister.

Good to have you with us, sir.

SAAD AL-AJAMI, FORMER KUWAITI INFORMATION MINISTER: Glad to be with you.

O'BRIEN: It seems like drastic measures, perhaps, for drastic times. What is the feeling there in Kuwait about closing off such a huge portion of the country to civilians?

AL-AJAMI: Well, fortunately, it's uninhabited. So yes, it is 60 percent, and I -- in my view, I think that that is the least we can do for the United States, our ally, and to provide the logistics that we can.

And on the other hand, we as human beings do have this humane feelings to the Iraqi people. We are in some sort of an awkward position, because we cannot sit idle, and it would be immoral and selfish of us to agree for the United States to have led the coalition, international coalition, to liberate Kuwait from Saddam 11 years ago, and to deny that to the Iraqi people.

So we are in a unique and awkward position, but I think that we are taking the stand that we should take as human beings for the sake and the welfare of the Iraqi people, hopefully.

O'BRIEN: I'm a little confused here. You're expressing sympathy and concern for the Iraqi people?

AL-AJAMI: Absolutely, yes.

O'BRIEN: Given the history with Iraq vis-a-vis Kuwait, I'm a bit surprised. Isn't there a lot of feeling in Kuwait that Iraq is an aggressor, after all?

AL-AJAMI: Well, the Iraqi regime is, but not the Iraqi people, because the Iraqi people have all along been hijacked, actually, by a regime that is beyond classification and categorization of all regimes that humanity has known since time immemorial.

But we have no quarrel with the Iraqi people. There are thousands of Iraqis living in Kuwait. There are many Kuwaitis who have relatives in Iraq. There is a strong historical bond between the two peoples, and we think that once this regime is gone, then things will have -- will go slowly back to normal between the two peoples.

We are next to Iraq. It is our neighbor. And we will, you know, have definitely a good benefit in having Iraq without Saddam, because that is the best for the region and Kuwait and the Iraqi people as well.

O'BRIEN: And I assume an Iraq without Saddam is the goal of many people in Kuwait. Today as we speak there are protests literally all over the world against the prospect of a war to ultimately disarm Saddam Hussein and perhaps unseat him from power.

How do you feel about that protest? And do you feel that the U.S. administration is correct in saying, Now is the time to take some military action?

AL-AJAMI: Well, nobody's actually calling for any military action. Nobody is for the war, neither the Kuwaitis nor the Iraqis. But we are, as I said, in Kuwait in an awkward position. I, for instance, as a peace activist, would -- do not want to have any war at all. But there is a segregation between war and the elimination of the Saddam regime.

As I said, it is a dichotomal, you know, line that we are following here. We want to have peace, yet we cannot foresee or envisage any peace for as long as Saddam is in power. Therefore, we don't want to have war, but we want to see the overthrow of Saddam. Hopefully that will happen by the Iraqi people as soon as possible.

But if it doesn't, then I think that Saddam is leaving the world with no choice but to have some sort of military action against him.

O'BRIEN: So I guess it then boils down to not a question of -- well, perhaps it boils down to a question of timing for you, which is what we've been hearing repeatedly all throughout the day. Do you feel that the inspection program needs to be given a little more time?

AL-AJAMI: Well, I don't know about these technicalities, and I think that the Iraqi people don't want the inspectors to have any time at all, because they are the ones who know their regime best. They are the ones who have actually suffered and been subjected -- the only people who've been subjected to weapons of mass destruction by its own regime are the Iraqi people.

And I try to put myself in the shoes of the Iraqi people, who have not actually been demonstrated... demonstrating against the war. We are talking about a very unique, unprecedented sort of situation for a whole nation, which is the Iraqi people, that history has not witnessed...

O'BRIEN: All right. AL-AJAMI: ... before. And therefore, I don't want to go through the details of inspectors and the technicalities...

O'BRIEN: Well, can I...

AL-AJAMI: ... of it, I want to see...

O'BRIEN: Let me just ask you briefly before we get away. I'm sorry, we -- our time is expiring, and I apologizing for interrupting Mr. al-Ajami. But when will the time be right, from the Kuwaiti perspective, then? At what point will it be necessary, do you feel, to take military action?

AL-AJAMI: Again, I don't think that anybody here would speak for any military action. But when is the time to get rid of Saddam? In my view, it was yesterday.

O'BRIEN: All right. Saad al-Ajami, who joins us from Kuwait, a former Kuwaiti information minister. Thank you very much for being with us on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We appreciate it.

AL-AJAMI: Thank you for having me.

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 February 15, 2003 - 09:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: For months, Kuwait has been preparing for a U.S.-led war against Iraq. The government is cutting back oil- field operations near its northern border with Iraq, and the northern half of the nation is being sealed off to civilians, declared a closed military zone.
For the latest, we turn now to Saad al-Ajami. He is a former Kuwaiti information minister.

Good to have you with us, sir.

SAAD AL-AJAMI, FORMER KUWAITI INFORMATION MINISTER: Glad to be with you.

O'BRIEN: It seems like drastic measures, perhaps, for drastic times. What is the feeling there in Kuwait about closing off such a huge portion of the country to civilians?

AL-AJAMI: Well, fortunately, it's uninhabited. So yes, it is 60 percent, and I -- in my view, I think that that is the least we can do for the United States, our ally, and to provide the logistics that we can.

And on the other hand, we as human beings do have this humane feelings to the Iraqi people. We are in some sort of an awkward position, because we cannot sit idle, and it would be immoral and selfish of us to agree for the United States to have led the coalition, international coalition, to liberate Kuwait from Saddam 11 years ago, and to deny that to the Iraqi people.

So we are in a unique and awkward position, but I think that we are taking the stand that we should take as human beings for the sake and the welfare of the Iraqi people, hopefully.

O'BRIEN: I'm a little confused here. You're expressing sympathy and concern for the Iraqi people?

AL-AJAMI: Absolutely, yes.

O'BRIEN: Given the history with Iraq vis-a-vis Kuwait, I'm a bit surprised. Isn't there a lot of feeling in Kuwait that Iraq is an aggressor, after all?

AL-AJAMI: Well, the Iraqi regime is, but not the Iraqi people, because the Iraqi people have all along been hijacked, actually, by a regime that is beyond classification and categorization of all regimes that humanity has known since time immemorial.

But we have no quarrel with the Iraqi people. There are thousands of Iraqis living in Kuwait. There are many Kuwaitis who have relatives in Iraq. There is a strong historical bond between the two peoples, and we think that once this regime is gone, then things will have -- will go slowly back to normal between the two peoples.

We are next to Iraq. It is our neighbor. And we will, you know, have definitely a good benefit in having Iraq without Saddam, because that is the best for the region and Kuwait and the Iraqi people as well.

O'BRIEN: And I assume an Iraq without Saddam is the goal of many people in Kuwait. Today as we speak there are protests literally all over the world against the prospect of a war to ultimately disarm Saddam Hussein and perhaps unseat him from power.

How do you feel about that protest? And do you feel that the U.S. administration is correct in saying, Now is the time to take some military action?

AL-AJAMI: Well, nobody's actually calling for any military action. Nobody is for the war, neither the Kuwaitis nor the Iraqis. But we are, as I said, in Kuwait in an awkward position. I, for instance, as a peace activist, would -- do not want to have any war at all. But there is a segregation between war and the elimination of the Saddam regime.

As I said, it is a dichotomal, you know, line that we are following here. We want to have peace, yet we cannot foresee or envisage any peace for as long as Saddam is in power. Therefore, we don't want to have war, but we want to see the overthrow of Saddam. Hopefully that will happen by the Iraqi people as soon as possible.

But if it doesn't, then I think that Saddam is leaving the world with no choice but to have some sort of military action against him.

O'BRIEN: So I guess it then boils down to not a question of -- well, perhaps it boils down to a question of timing for you, which is what we've been hearing repeatedly all throughout the day. Do you feel that the inspection program needs to be given a little more time?

AL-AJAMI: Well, I don't know about these technicalities, and I think that the Iraqi people don't want the inspectors to have any time at all, because they are the ones who know their regime best. They are the ones who have actually suffered and been subjected -- the only people who've been subjected to weapons of mass destruction by its own regime are the Iraqi people.

And I try to put myself in the shoes of the Iraqi people, who have not actually been demonstrated... demonstrating against the war. We are talking about a very unique, unprecedented sort of situation for a whole nation, which is the Iraqi people, that history has not witnessed...

O'BRIEN: All right. AL-AJAMI: ... before. And therefore, I don't want to go through the details of inspectors and the technicalities...

O'BRIEN: Well, can I...

AL-AJAMI: ... of it, I want to see...

O'BRIEN: Let me just ask you briefly before we get away. I'm sorry, we -- our time is expiring, and I apologizing for interrupting Mr. al-Ajami. But when will the time be right, from the Kuwaiti perspective, then? At what point will it be necessary, do you feel, to take military action?

AL-AJAMI: Again, I don't think that anybody here would speak for any military action. But when is the time to get rid of Saddam? In my view, it was yesterday.

O'BRIEN: All right. Saad al-Ajami, who joins us from Kuwait, a former Kuwaiti information minister. Thank you very much for being with us on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We appreciate it.

AL-AJAMI: Thank you for having me.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com