E-mail a friendAmbassador Imad Moustapha
airdate August 2, 2006
Dr. Imad Moustapha has been Syria's ambassador to the U.S. since '04. He was previously Dean of the University of Damascus' Faculty of Information Technology and Secretary General of the Arab School on Science and Technology. He also co-founded the Network of Syrian Scientists, Technologists and Innovators Abroad and co-authored the U.N.-sponsored Arab Human Development Report, which was widely quoted throughout the world. Moustapha holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Surrey, UK.
Ambassador Imad Moustapha
Tavis: Imad Moustapha is the Syrian ambassador to the United States, and a former dean at the University of Damascus. He is also a scientist who served as secretary general of the Arab School on Science and Technology. He joins us tonight from Washington. Mr. Ambassador, nice to have you on this program, sir.
Ambassador Imad Moustapha: Good evening.
Tavis: I mentioned earlier that those in the Bush administration have refused to talk to your government, at least at the moment. We'll talk about that in a moment. Let me start, though, speaking with our government, with a quote from our State Department, headed, of course, by Secretary Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State. The quote says, and I quote, Iran and Syria routinely provide unique safe haven, substantial resources, and guidance to terrorist organizations, close quote. That's what our State Department says about your country. To that, you say?
Moustapha: This is a stereotypical cliché of this administration. Whoever dares to oppose Israeli policies of occupation, aggression, and mass murder in the Middle East is immediately labeled as a terrorist, or a sponsor of terrorism, end of the conversation.
Tavis: It's not just the United States, though, as you well know, that has concerns about Syria and who it's supporting with regard to terrorism around the world.
Moustapha: Well, look, in the Middle East, for the past 30 years, Israel has occupied our territories, has killed our civilian population. It has done this to the Palestinian; it has done this to the Lebanese; it is doing this to the Lebanese right now. It occupies the Syrian Golan. Having said this, we have called, time and again, on Israel to resume peace talks with us and try to achieve a comprehensive peaceful resolution to the Middle East conflict. However, while this is happening, they claim that we are a terrorist state. While they refuse even to engage in peace talks.
Tavis: Let me ask you, then, why it is - I heard your earlier response that it's because any nation that dares to agree with the U.S. on Israeli policy can be labeled a terrorist organization. But you and I both know that Syria is not the only country that disagrees with the U.S. on its Israel policy, and yet for some reason, Syria has been labeled a state that supports terrorists. So why not these other countries be labeled likewise, if, in fact, they're not supporting terrorist organizations as well?
Moustapha: Because we are in that region. It's so easy for a country far away to say that it is unfair for the Israelis to occupy the Arabian territories, and to do what they are doing to the Lebanese, to the Palestinians, and to the Syrians. But because we are there, because our part of Syria is occupied, because we are actively opposing the Israeli occupation policies, we end up being labeled as a terrorist state. This is totally untrue. The only terrorist state in the world is Israel, that is continuously killing Lebanese civilians and bombarding and destroying the infrastructure in Lebanon.
Tavis: Do you really believe that? You believe that Israel is a terrorist state?
Moustapha: Actually, if you would allow the American people to actually see the images in Lebanon today, and see what they have done to children and to the civilians in Lebanon, then the American public opinion would exactly know which state is a terrorist state in the Middle East. Israel has implemented a policy of terrorizing the Arabs for the past 30 years.
While the Arabs, time and again, have invited Israel to end its occupation, allow the Palestinians to have their independent, free, sovereign state, give us back our occupied territories, and live in peace with us.
Tavis: I wanna go back to that one more time, respectfully, Mr. Ambassador. It's one thing to have a difference of opinion about where Israel is on this war, and whether or not they've moved too far on the issue of proportionality. Whether or not they need to change their strategy. It's one thing to have that viewpoint. It is quite another, it seems to me, to call the nation of Israel, the state of Israel, a terrorist state. You meant to say that.
Moustapha: I totally, totally disagree with you when you say misproportionality. The word that the Israeli reaction is disproportionate is a misnomer. Israel is actually massacring the Lebanese people. For God's sake, look. Look at what's happening in Lebanon. Look at the children that are being killed. Look at the total death and destruction in Lebanon.
And you claim that Syria is the terrorist state? The only thing we did as of day one of these events is to call for an immediate cease fire, and to offer humanitarian aid to the Lebanese. While Israel is actually killing the Lebanese, here comes, with due respect, people like you who say, Syria is the terrorist state, and guess what? Israel is the angel of peace in the Middle East.
It's the Lamb of God. This is so unfair. Israel has done this to the Lebanese; it has done the same to the Palestinians for the past 30 years. Israel has occupied our Golan in Syria. We have 250,000 Syrian refugees dreaming of the day they can go back to their homes, villages, and towns in the Golan. And yet, we are the terrorist state, and Israel is the peace-loving country. Israel is actually terrorizing the Arab world. This is what it actually happening. Go and look at the plight of the Lebanese people.
Tavis: Before I go further, Mr. Ambassador, let me just take a second here right quick to set the record straight, 'cause I don't want you to be misinformed here. One, just for the record, I am not calling Syria a terrorist state. That quote came from the State Department, number one. Number two, I invited you on the program so you'd have a platform nationally and internationally to express your point of view. So I'm asking questions because I wanna be clear on what your point of view is. But I am not the State Department.
Moustapha: Thank you for clarifying this.
Tavis: All right.
Moustapha: Because you are speaking about the State Department, may I remind you that the same State Department used to claim that Iraq has a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction?
Tavis: Yes.
Moustapha: And it used it as a pretext to invade, occupy Iraq. Look at the mess today in Iraq. The Iraqi people are being killed. American soldiers are losing their lives in Iraq. Iraq is totally destroyed because of a heap of lies in the State Department's reports about other countries.
Tavis: Okay, if you were, now again, now back to your point of view, which I wanna hear. If you were the prime minister of Israel, and some of your countrymen had been kidnapped by Hezbollah, they came across your border, kidnapped some of your people, how would you have handled that border skirmish?
Moustapha: If I were the prime minister of Israel, I would remember that the history of the Middle East didn't start two weeks ago. I would remember that Israel is continuously occupying Arab territories and refusing, rejecting, all Arab peace initiatives, particularly that of King Abdullah that was adopted by all Arab leaders, all Arab states, without any single exception.
We offered Israel peace, comprehensive peace, and absolute normalization and relations in return for our occupied territories, and for allowing the Palestinians to have their own, independent, sovereign state. We think this is a very fair deal, if the Israelis really want their grandchildren to live in peace with our grandchildren. They have to understand that they cannot continue forever to depend on their sheer military superiority to impose their occupation on us. Enough is enough with occupation.
Tavis: What'd you make of the fact that our government, as I mentioned earlier, at the moment is not engaging Syria in talks. Is that a misguided strategy?
Moustapha: I absolutely believe so. I have to remind you that every single American administration before this one used to talk with Syria, to engage Syria. Whenever there would be a problem in the Middle East, the U.S. government would immediately dispatch an envoy to Damascus, where they will talk to us, brainstorm with us, discuss the situation with us, and reach with us a creative solution to a crisis.
Not with this administration. This administration has adopted the so-called (unintelligible) doctrine. We do not talk to Syria. Syria knows what it has to do. End of the matter.
Tavis: What did you make of - we've heard everybody else in America comment on it, I've not heard your take on it. What did you make of President Bush caught on that tape, talking about Syria to British Prime Minister Tony Blair?
Moustapha: It tells a lot. With due respect, President Bush thinks that the whole issue can be resolved by Secretary Annan of the United Nations calling President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, telling him hey, why don't you tell the guys of Hezbollah to stop what's going on, and everything would be resolved. This is not a realistic understanding of how the world is going on. Please do remember that the Arabs have a fair cause. We are under occupation.
Our people are being killed. Right now, while you are talking to me, the Lebanese are being slaughtered. Lebanon is being totally destroyed. And then President Bush thinks that all it takes is a telephone call.
Tavis: Let me ask you, then, before I let you go, what your sense is of what needs to happen right now to get to that point of a serious and legitimate cease fire.
Moustapha: We believe that an immediate cease fire should take place right now. Because of the disastrous toll on human lives in Lebanon first. So, an immediate ceasefire. Second, Hezbollah has said, as of day one, the moment they captured the two Israeli military soldiers, they said they are willing to exchange these soldiers immediately with the thousands of civilian Arabs imprisoned by Israel, particularly women and children imprisoned illegally by Israel.
Including elected Palestinian representatives of the parliament. Democratically elected by their own people. Including civilian cabinet ministers. Hezbollah has offered this. Now, this is on the short term. On the long term, Syria is willing to engage with the United States and all other parties towards a comprehensive solution to the Middle East crisis.
We really need to end this ongoing state of occupation and of despair on our side, and we really want Israel to accept the fact that if it wants to be accepted by its neighbors, it has to stop its intransigent policies against us.
Tavis: Imad Moustapha, the Syrian ambassador to the United States. Mr. Ambassador, nice to have you on the program. Thanks for your insight.
Moustapha: Thank you. Thank you.
Tavis: Thank you, sir. Up next on this program, 'C.S.I. Miami' star Emily Procter. Stay with us.
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