26 October 2001

U.S. Wants to Work with Moderate Majorities in Mideast

Meeting with Fulbright scholars from the U.S. and Arab countries at the University of Maryland on October 26, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns said the U.S. wants to work with moderate majorities in the Middle East to develop a positive agenda for cooperation.

"It's not enough," Burns said, "for the United States government to make clear what we stand against.... What we have to do is make clear what we stand for, working with all of our friends in the region."

Burns said the U.S. was committed to working hard diplomatically "to bring about a fair solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the broader Arab-Israeli conflict" through negotiations.

He also said the U.S. has to work to address economic issues in the Middle East, "to work harder to help peoples in the region expand opportunities and promote economic growth, but to do it in a way that, over time, narrows the gap between the haves and the have-nots."

Politically, Burns said, the U.S. has to be "mindful of the fact that there are pressure building and interests building, quite naturally, for broader public participation" in the region. "We have to encourage people to find ways to improve respect for tolerance and the rule of law," he said.

In response to a question from a Palestinian student on UN Resolutions, Burns said resolutions like 242 and 338 "have to be translated into things that people like you and your families can see on the ground. They have to be translated into realities."

Following is the transcript of Burns' remarks and of the question and answer session.

Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, I have the honor and privilege to introduce to you the Assistant Secretary of State for the United States, Mr. William Burns. Ambassador Burns is the highest ranking American career officer to make policy in the Middle East, and as you can imagine, he's extremely busy these days. But he has agreed to come out, all the way out here, and talk to you for a few minutes, and maybe take a question or two. So we're delighted to have him with us. Ambassador Burns has served as ambassador to Jordan. He has served in the embassies in Jordan and in Moscow. He has been the Deputy Policy Planning Director in the Department of State. He has been the senior person on the Middle East in the White House and the NSC. He's done other senior jobs in the Department of State. He's a diplomat's diplomat in the foreign service, which I was privileged to serve in sometime ago. He is regarded as one of the best and the brightest, and the most effective diplomats, but he also has the full confidence of President Bush, Secretary Powell, and governments who know him from his service abroad. So I am delighted that he has agreed to take the time and come and say a few words to you today.

(Applause.)

Amb. Burns: Thank you all very much, and I really want to thank you for inviting me to come and spend a little bit of time with you this morning. And it's no great hardship. It's much nicer coming here than sitting in meetings at the State Department. I think this is a wonderful opportunity.

I am a great admirer of the Fulbright Program, which has helped to explain the United States to the rest of the world, and the rest of the world to the United States for more than half a century now. And I think that's extraordinarily important. I don't think there's ever been a more important time to do that than the present. And I also don't think that there are any two places that can benefit more from better understanding right now than the Middle East and the United States.

As all of you know, this is a difficult time to be studying in this country. After the eleventh of September, I think there's a great deal of national purpose, which I'm sure you've seen. But there's also a lot of anger and frustration and anxiety. And it's deeply unfortunate that some of that has translated itself in isolated instances into intimidation and acts of hostility against Arabs or Muslims.

One of the first things that President Bush did after the tragedy on the eleventh of September was to make absolutely clear that those kind of acts run against our values as a people. I think the United States has always prided itself on drawing strength from our diversity, and I hope that's what you'll see about this society and about us during your time as students here. This is also a difficult time in the Middle East.

It's a time of a great deal of anger and frustration and anxiety, which my friends from the Arab world can explain to you much more clearly than I can. But in my twenty years of living and serving in the Middle East, including the last three years as ambassador in Jordan, I've seen lots of reasons for that kind of anxiety and frustration, and some of it has to do with unresolved political conflicts, especially the Palestinian issue.

Some of it has to do with economic expectations and stagnation, and the difficulty in finding meaningful jobs. Some of it has to do with demographic pressures. This is, as all of you know far better than I do, one of the fastest growing populations in the world.

When I was in Jordan, King Abdullah, who was then 38, used to say that 80% of the population of his country was younger than he was. That creates pressure for jobs. It also creates expectations about public participation and political life as well, which peoples in the area and leaderships are going to have to respond to.

And all of this, I think, is magnified by the information revolution because, whether it's through Al-Jazeera or other satellite television stations, people throughout the region now see the images, whether it's of Palestinian-Israeli violence, or whether it's about the rest of the world, or economic stagnation, or anything else.

I think it's obvious to all of us that there are violent extremists and militant minorities in the Arab world and in the Middle East who want to take advantage of that bitterness and anger and frustration. The truth, I think, is that in their attempt to hijack issues like the Arab-Israeli conflict, they expose the deeply negative nature of their agenda.

Of course, the truth is that many of those groups, such as those who carried out the terrible attacks on the eleventh of September, don't have real answers for the problems that I described before. They don't have a constructive agenda.

Many people talk about a clash of civilizations. I don't believe in that. I think that what we see in the region, much as we see in the rest of the world, as my friend, Shibley Telhami has put it very eloquently, is a kind of war of ideas. It pits the moderate majority of people in the Middle East, as in many other parts of the world, against militant minorities.

And it seems to me that the most important foundation for American policy, any kind of sensible American policy in the Middle East, is to understand that and to try to make common cause with those moderate majorities.

And I don't think the vision of most people, at least most of the people I know in the Arab world and the region, is a very complicated one. I'm sure it's the same as many of you have. You want to find meaningful jobs and meaningful roles in your societies. You want to be able to educate your children and worship God. You want to be able to live in peace and dignity.

And it seems to me that we need to build on that kind of a shared vision and develop a positive agenda in the Middle East. Because it's not enough really for the United States government to make clear what we stand against. Since the eleventh of September, I think that's been pretty clear to all of us. We stand against terrorism and against those who would use violence against innocent civilians for political ends. I think that's very clear.

But it's not enough just to talk about that, or to talk about the reality that groups like Al-Qaeda don't have any constructive answers for all the real problems in the region. What we have to do is make clear what we stand for, working with all of our friends in the region and to develop a more positive agenda.

And I won't bore you with the usual kind of government or bureaucratic litany of issues, but it seems to me that there are some categories where we have to work harder. And that doesn't mean reinventing our policy because these are issues we've worked hard on, long before the eleventh of September.

It includes: diplomatically, working very hard to bring about a fair solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the broader Arab-Israeli conflict. President Bush has talked about a longer term vision, where, through negotiations, a Palestinian state emerges, living alongside a safe and secure Israel. And we've also tried to make clear that there's only one pathway for achieving that, and that's through negotiations. We have to make clear that violence and terror aren't going to bring about that kind of a solution, but we also have to make clear that negotiations can bring about that kind of a solution.

Economically, it seems to me we have to work harder to help peoples in the region expand opportunities and promote economic growth, but to do it in a way that, over time, narrows the gap between the haves and the have-nots, between rich and poor, so that everybody has an opportunity. And where countries and peoples are willing to roll up their sleeves and work hard toward those ends, we have to show that we'll provide support.

When I was in Jordan, for example, a number of serious steps were taken toward economic reform. The United States has responded with only the fourth bilateral free trade agreement in the world, and a generous assistance program. And that's in our self-interest as Americans.

I think politically also, we have to be very mindful of the fact that there are pressures building and interest building, quite naturally, for broader public participation in the decisions which affect all of your lives. And so we have to encourage people to find ways to improve respect for tolerance and the rule of law.

It's a very complicated process. We don't have a perfect system in the United States, as all of us know very well. But we do have to help people where we can and try and provide the best kind of model that we can, bearing in mind that there's no perfect, one-size fits all approach. In many countries in the region, leaderships and peoples are going to have to be able to work out political systems which are consistent with their own cultures and traditions, but which do open up opportunities for people over time.

And there are a lot of security threats in the region, which affect the peoples of the region at least as much as they affect Americans, whether it's the spread of weapons of mass destruction, or other kinds of security threats. And we need to work together to find regional solutions to those problems.

So, all of those things are a lot easier to say than they are to do. It involves a great deal of hard work, and it also involves, it seems to me, something that we, as Americans, or maybe I should just speak for myself, aren't always very good at, and that's listening. Because to be effective partners, we also have to be willing to listen to people in the region. I've always thought that a little humility goes a long way in applying American leadership and power. We have a lot to learn about the Middle East. We have a lot to learn from you. I hope that you'll learn something during your stay in the United States from all of us.

You've seen a society that's under strain after the eleventh of September, but I also hope that you've already seen, and that you'll continue to see what's good about American society. And that through your studies here, through dialogues like the terrific one that you're having today, I hope we can build a better understanding which will provide a basis for better and more sensible policies in the future. So, thank you all very much.

I'm delighted to have a chance to meet with you, and I'd be glad to take a question or two, if you still have time. Yes, sir?

Question: First, I want to thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for coming and having the chance to talk to us. I am a Palestinian from Gaza, and I think that you visited Gaza.

Amb. Burns: Yes, sir.

Question: I think that you have a special mission there with the President Arafat and other political leaders in the area. I want to you ask you a question. Is the, I mean, the Department of State, or the administration, is thinking to go deeper in the Palestinian-Israeli issue. I mean, before the September 11th, the administration have an attitude. I heard President Bush saying that, I mean, he will not, or the United States will not interfere strongly there, unless the two parties say that, "Okay, we want the United States to come and do something together." Is this changing now, after the September 11th? I mean, is the United States going to have more force there, and to bring about a fair solution of the Palestinian cause?

Amb. Burns: Well, sir, it's a very good question. The truth is the United States has been working hard on this issue for a very long time, since long before I ever became a diplomat, and we're going to keep working very hard at it, as President Bush has made clear. And I believe what that involves is active leadership from the United States, working with the Europeans and the Russians, and our friends in the Arab world, and working very closely with Israel. All of those are critical ingredients. But I don't think there's any question that we're determined to play our role. And what that means, I think, is reminding people of what a fair, long term vision has to involve, but it is also essential to remind people about how you get from here to there, and what kind of actions make it more difficult to get from here to there. And that's what we're determined to continue to do.

Question: Another question from me, is my family there, my father, my brother and my sister are there, and the Israelis are now increasing their pressure against the Palestinians in the last, since the eleventh of September. About 60 persons have been killed in the last, since one month, I mean. Are the Americans trying to, I mean, to do something, to stop this aggression against the Palestinians? Because we think, as Palestinians are, the Israelis are, they're trying to use, what is going on, I mean, to bring about, or to present their own agenda on the ground there. Is the American administration exerting some pressure to stop that killing of the Palestinians?

Amb. Burns: Well sir, I think we've tried not only to speak very plainly, but also to act decisively in encouraging both sides to resume security cooperation, and to stop taking actions which are only going to make it more difficult to ever get back to the negotiating table. Because the truth is both peoples, Palestinians and Israelis -- and you know it, sir, from your own experience, and all of you do -- have suffered as a result of what's happened over the last year. And it's time for leaderships to act. It's time for the United States to do everything that it can to bring people back to a political process and move away from violence.

Question: Sir, two questions from the American group.

Amb. Burns: Sure. Yes, ma'am.

Question: As an American, I felt many Americans are sort of unclear about the politics that (inaudible) as are perceived by the administration. I think many Americans are unclear about the policy objectives of the terrorist organizations, as they're perceived, at least in the administration. As Americans, I think we just feel, well, they don't like us. They want us to die. But are you perceiving, is it the Iraq issue? Is it sanctions? Is that the issue? Is it the Palestine issue? Is it oil issues? I think many Americans are unclear about what policy reactions you're having, at your level.

Amb. Burns: That's a very good question. I don't mean to speak for people in the region because you can explain it much more clearly than I ever could. But I think the truth, as I was saying before, is that the groups that carried out the horrible acts on the eleventh of September didn't do it because they're trying to promote the Palestinian cause. I mean, I don't think it occurred to Usama bin Laden before the eleventh of September that Palestinians have legitimate grievances and that terrorist attacks can somehow promote them.

I think it's nonsense to think that those kinds of very real frustrations and sources of anger and anxiety in the region offer an excuse, let alone a justification, for terrorism. But it is also important to remind ourselves that for a very long time, we as a country have been committed, both because of our interests in the Middle East, but also because of our values -- what we stand for as a people -- to try and promote fair solutions to problems like the Palestinian issue, like the Arab-Israeli conflict, and to do what we can to broaden economic opportunities, and other kinds of things I talked about before.

So it seems to me that it, in a sense, the best answer to that kind of challenge, and the very negative and destructive agenda of the people who carried out those horrible acts, is not just to continue to do what we've been doing for a long time, but to renew our efforts, to work with what, I'm convinced, are moderate majorities in the region, to produce a positive agenda to deal with the very real problems of the region.

Question: Can I ask Ambassador Burns a question that we heard this morning that I think he might have wanted to speak about, which is that, many of his colleagues of Fulbright scholars say they're not convinced that Usama bin Laden and his organization are, in fact, behind these terror attacks. There was a difference of opinion in our group about that. I think I can say that most of the Americans are convinced, even though some of them are not. But most of our Fulbright scholars are not. And I wondered if you would speak to that point.

Amb. Burns: Well, I'd be glad to. I mean, I won't go through the whole catalogue of evidence, but there's an enormous amount of very concrete evidence that makes clear that the Al-Qaeda network, run by Usama bin Laden, was responsible for those acts. But I think it's also equally clear, even in the interviews and the public statements that bin Laden himself has made, that he has made no pretense of avoiding his responsibility for these kind of actions. So, I think the evidence itself is quite compelling. It's been made public in a variety of different ways, and I'd urge any of you who quite legitimately may have questions about that, to read through it, because it's quite detailed.

But also, I'd urge you to pay attention to what bin Laden and those of his closest associates have said publicly, because they've made no effort to disguise their responsibility. Yes, sir?

Question: Where am I going to look through this evidence?

Amb. Burns: Prime Minister Blair laid out a lot of this publicly in the U.K., and it's available on the web. I'd be glad to provide the web or Internet citations for you, so that you can see them, both the things that we've put out, as well as evidence that has been put out by other governments.

Moderator: Mr. Secretary, you've been very generous with your time. Do you have a minute for two more questions? Or, it's up to you.

Amb. Burns: Sure. No, no. I'll stay away from the State Department as long as I can (laughter). Maybe if I could I'll just take one, one from each side. Yes, sir?

Question: I'm a Palestinian from Gaza. I would like to ask you a question that goes in the minds of every Moslem, of every Arab, and every Palestinian in specific, which is the question of the double-standard, the U.S. double-standard policy in the Middle East and the Palestinian cause, in specific. We have many UN resolutions, 242, 338, 194, which are binding, according to the UN General Assembly and international law, but we find that the U.S. administration is the only vetoer in the UN that refuses, that rejects to implement these UN resolutions. And we have also the Oslo Accords, and Sharm-el-Sheikh, and you know, these Hebron Protocols, and these accords, but why doesn't the U.S. administration exert further efforts, further pressures on the Israelis to comply with these agreements?

Amb. Burns: I think you'll find that this administration, as I was saying before sir, is deeply committed to making a reality of those resolutions, resolutions like 242 and 338. And they have to be more than just words. They have to be translated into things that people like you and your families can see on the ground. They have to be translated into realities, so that you don't have the daily humiliation of checkpoints, which I've seen, and which all of you have seen. But at the same time, they have to be translated in a way that Israelis can go about their business in Israeli cities and not be worried about suicide bombers, or anything else.

Now, that's a very complicated diplomatic task, but we're determined to work as hard as we can, with our friends in the region, with leaderships in the region, to try and bring that about. Because I don't think there's ever been any greater sense of urgency than there is now. That's what the violence of the last year, which many of you have experienced personally, should tell us: that that kind of an approach is a dead end. But it's a mark of people's frustration and anger, and we have to find a way back to a political process, and that's what we're determined to do.

And it's a political process that has to be based on those resolutions, 242, 338, and the initiatives which, ten years ago, President Bush Sr. launched, and Secretary Baker launched, at the Madrid peace conference. Ten years later, we ought to remind ourselves about what's important and what's possible, and we ought to reenergize ourselves in the pursuit of those kind of goals.

Maybe I'll just take one more question, please. Yes, ma'am?

Question: There's been a lot of talk in the media lately finger pointing to American foreign policy, that American foreign policy caused this to happen, which I think is a very simplistic point of view. I think that it's a two-way street, so, and I was wondering, can you tell me what your Arab colleagues, is there similar scrutiny in the Middle East towards their policies, and, you know, what their contribution to this incident was as well?

Amb. Burns: Well, that's a very good question. I'll just make two comments. The first is, as I said before, I don't think there's any excuse for the actions which occurred on the eleventh of September. I imagine we all agree about that, that the violent extremists who carried out those actions have no positive agenda. They're not trying to make the Middle East better for most people in the region.

Having said that, we also have to have our eyes open. The Middle East, like many other parts of the world, has a lot of challenges to deal with. And to the extent we have interests in the region, to the extent our values drive our policy, which they must, we need to role up our sleeves and help in working on many of those issues. Of course, Arab leaderships and Arab citizens also have a responsibility to tackle these challenges, whether they're political or economic ones, because there is a problem between haves and have-nots in the Middle East.

There is a problem of political structures that need to be opened up. It's not easy to do that. It's much easier for an outsider to talk about it than it is to do it in those societies. There are challenges with regard to political participation that sometimes does breed frustration amongst people. But those have to be addressed, and they have to be addressed by the citizens and leaderships of those countries, and we have to help where we can.

We do have a role to play diplomatically, as I was saying before, to do everything that we can. And the United States, in many ways, does have a unique diplomatic role to play in the Middle East, to do everything that we can to help find a fair solution to problems which have been sources of frustration for a long time. That's not an answer to bin Laden, or to terrorists, because there's no excuse or justification for what they did. But it's in our interest, it's in your interest, and it's something that I think together we actually can make progress toward. So, thank you all very much. I appreciate it very much. (Applause.)