TRANSCRIPT of Wolf Blitzer interview of Syrian Ambassador to the U.S.:
(scroll almost to the bottom): http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0607/16/le.01.html
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back to our special "Late Edition." We're following this crisis in the Middle East. Both the United States and Israel are pressuring Syria to take a role in defusing the Middle East crisis by exerting influence on Hezbollah. That country has been blamed for fueling instability in Lebanon by both the U.S. and Israel.
Joining us here in Washington is Syria's ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha. Mr. Ambassador, welcome back to "Late Edition."
MOUSTAPHA: Thank you.
BLITZER: First of all, what are you hearing? What's the latest information you're getting from Damascus on this crisis that's unfolding? Because clearly it's having a dramatic impact. We just saw Aneesh Raman on the border between Lebanon and Syria. Thousands of people trying to flee Lebanon into Syria.
MOUSTAPHA: It's a human disaster on a large scale. Lebanese civilians are being killed around the hour. Actually an hour ago the Israeli army bombarded a residential building, five stories. It was totally demolished. Tens of families were totally wiped out. Children, women, men, elderly, no discrimination. We have opened our borders. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese are fleeing into Syria.
BLITZER: Hundreds of thousands?
MOUSTAPHA: Yes, that's true. Add this to the at least 200,000 Iraqi refugees today in Syria, and you can understand the sort of crisis that is taking place today in the Middle East.
BLITZER: So normally, it's very hard to get a visa, if you're not a Syrian citizen, to enter into Syria. But what you're saying is, the Syrian government has basically opened up the doors to everyone, including U.S. citizens?
MOUSTAPHA: Let me refute what you're saying. Usually, we grant a U.S. citizen a visa the day he or she applies for a visa. But this is unimportant today. Because of the crisis, we have opened our borders to all American citizens.
I have been receiving telephone calls from American families throughout the past three days, asking me whether they can cross into Syria. And I was telling them, we are allowing all American citizens, without any exception, to go into Syria, regardless of their visa status.
BLITZER: Earlier this morning, the president of the United States, at the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg had, again, harsh words for your country and Iran. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: One way to help deal in the Middle East is to address the root causes of the problems there. And the root cause of the problem is Hezbollah and Syria and the Iranian connection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: The root cause of the problem, he says, is Hezbollah and Syria and the Iranian connection. The accusation against Syria and Iran is that you're sending military equipment, rockets, missiles, other equipment to Hezbollah, which has this vast array of military rockets, now, in southern Lebanon. And they're firing on towns and villages in the northern part of Israel.
MOUSTAPHA: When I heard President Bush saying we should address the root cause of the problem, I felt happy. I thought, finally, they will address the root cause of the problem, which is the ongoing occupation and humiliation of the Palestinians, the daily infringements on Lebanese sovereignty.
And then, once again, he said it's Damascus; it's Tehran. They do everything -- they talk about everything, but they never address the root cause of the problem. The Middle East needs peace. Peace can only be achieved and attained when the Israelis will end their occupation.
BLITZER: But does Syria provide military equipment, military training to Hezbollah in Lebanon?
MOUSTAPHA: No, Syria does not provide military training or military equipment to Hezbollah in Lebanon. This is not the issue.
It's always trying to ignore the big elephant in the room. The big issue is that, right now, while we are talking, Israel is committing atrocities in Lebanon.
President Bush has repeatedly said that he is a friend of Lebanon. When the Lebanese government rushed to the United Nations Security Council yesterday, asking the Security Council to interfere, to stop the massacre, the United States objected.
This is the time for the United States to prove that they are friends to Lebanon and to stop this bloodshed in Lebanon.
BLITZER: Does Syria allow trans-shipment of military equipment, these missiles, these rockets from Iran through Syria into southern Lebanon for Hezbollah?
MOUSTAPHA: Let us be very clear about this. While the whole world's attention is focused on what is going on on the ground in Lebanon, the massacre, the atrocities, destroying Lebanon for the third time by the Israelis, Israel is trying to change the paradigm.
They are trying to talk about Damascus, Tehran. Stop this. Damascus and Tehran are not the problem. The problem is Israel's aggression on other countries. Today you heard -- you had the vice premier of Israel on your program.
BLITZER: Shimon Peres?
MOUSTAPHA: And he was saying how he wants to be friends and he likes Lebanon and wants to be friends with Lebanon. And then you heard Fouad Siniora talking.
BLITZER: The prime minister of Lebanon? MOUSTAPHA: Yes. This was a big surprise to us to hear what the vice premier of Israel was talking. While a rapist is raping his victim, he is telling her, I want to befriend you; I really like you; and she is supposed to hear his message. He was saying this while his troops were actually burning Lebanon.
BLITZER: Does Syria allow the trans-shipment of military equipment from Iran into Lebanon?
MOUSTAPHA: Hezbollah does not need any logistics from Syria. We have to be very clear about this.
BLITZER: Where do they get these missiles?
There's thousands of them.
MOUSTAPHA: This is something for the military intelligence to decide, not for me to decide. What I'm trying to say is the following. Since these events started, we have been trying to convince the world community to de-escalate. We don't want to escalate the situation in the Middle East. This is so dangerous. What is happening today is concerning us. We in Syria are totally worried about the fate of the Lebanese people. We do not want to escalate the situation. Ask which country is escalating.
BLITZER: All right, listen to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaking out on Syria. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I would just note that we have not had particularly warm relations with Syria for quite a long time.
I don't think it's a surprise to the Syrians that we think that they are a problem here. I think we've sent all kinds of messages in that regard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: They recalled the U.S. ambassador from Damascus because of the accusation that Syria was directly responsible for the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, last year.
MOUSTAPHA: Well, they think so. There is an international investigation that's being conducted. Let this investigation decide who was behind this terrible crime.
It is not a surprise to us that Secretary Rice, with due respect, has said this. In the past year, or a little bit more, this has been the habit of this U.S. administration.
Whenever there is a crisis, regardless of any real causes, immediately they will throw the blame on Damascus. This is not diplomacy. This is not international politics.
BLITZER: I'll read to you from the official State Department Counterterrorism report that was released in April of this year.
"The Syrian government continued to provide political and material support to both Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist groups... Syria continued to permit Iran to use Damascus as a trans-shipment point to resupply Hezbollah in Lebanon."
And you're saying...
MOUSTAPHA: This is as credible as the United States' accusations about Iraq's WMDs and Saddam's relations to Al Qaida. Stop bluffing the American public opinion.
The issue is the occupation. Help, help us end the occupation. You are the closest ally to Israel. You have influence and leverage on Israel. Help the Israelis, convince the Israelis that they need to end their occupation of our territories and peace will be attained in the Middle East. BLITZER: We're almost out of time. But I want to read to you what the Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, said on Saturday.
He said, "Hezbollah's acts are unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible. These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them."
It seems like the Arab world is divided now, in reacting to Hezbollah's crossing the international border into Israel, killing and kidnapping these Israeli soldiers.
MOUSTAPHA: The Arab foreign ministers met yesterday in Cairo. And all of them unanimously agreed on asking the world community to interfere so Israel will stop its aggression on Lebanon.
What I want to remind everybody of is the following. It was not a peaceful, rosy Middle East that suddenly erupted into this latest crisis. Three weeks ago, Israel attacked a Palestinian family while they were picnicking on the coastline of Gaza, and a new round of tension, bloodshed and violence erupted in the Middle East.
We go around, we go around, we go around; we come back to the issue. Why doesn't Israel cease its occupation of our territories and allow us to live in peace, just like they want to live in peace?
BLITZER: We're out of time. But one quick question: We'd like to interview your boss, the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad.
Do you think he's ready to sit down with us and talk to us about Syria's role in this crisis?
MOUSTAPHA: I think this is possible; this can be arranged. It's always good to talk to each other and to engage and to explain the other viewpoint.
BLITZER: You'll let us know when he's ready and we'll fly over to Damascus and interview the Syrian president.
Imad Moustapha, thanks for coming in. MOUSTAPHA: Thank you.
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