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- <text id=91TT1643>
- <title>
- July 22, 1991: Interview:King Hussein
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- July 22, 1991 The Colorado
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 42
- JORDAN
- The Great Survivor
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p>Ostracized for not joining the anti-Saddam coalition, KING HUSSEIN
- of Jordan looks back in exasperation, but refuses to lose hope
- that peace will come to the Middle East
- </p>
- <p>By John Stacks and Dean Fischer/Amman and King Hussein
- </p>
- <p> Q. Your neighbors in the gulf are angry at you, the U.S.
- Congress is angry at you, and Jordan faces very difficult
- economic problems because of the gulf crisis. Do you have any
- regrets about your refusal to join the coalition?
- </p>
- <p> A. None whatsoever. Not in the sense that Jordan's
- objective was to avoid war and to reverse the occupation of
- Kuwait peacefully. We were never for the Iraqi invasion, never
- a party to it and never aware it was going to happen. But a
- majority of the world, including the U.S., adopted an attitude
- that you are either with us or against us. Let me be very, very
- clear: we were against Iraq's action, and we were against Iraq's
- intransigence in not taking any of the opportunities to resolve
- this question peacefully. We never conspired against anybody.
- When people realize this, maybe they are going to feel what any
- decent people would: that they have wronged a country and
- wronged the people and wronged the leader of those people, a
- friend of theirs for many years.
- </p>
- <p> Q. You were publicly critical of the U.S. during the
- crisis, but you sent a very tough letter to Saddam Hussein in
- September that has never been disclosed. Would you share it?
- </p>
- <p> A. In a very short time, a white paper will be published.
- </p>
- <p> Q. Doesn't this letter suggest that you were a good deal
- tougher on Saddam than is widely known?
- </p>
- <p> A. I was frank and honest, right from the word go. If I
- didn't succeed, it is to my sadness and regret.
- </p>
- <p> Q. Have you had any communication with Saddam recently?
- </p>
- <p> A. We haven't talked even on the telephone since the first
- few days of his occupation of Kuwait. From time to time, an
- Iraqi official passes by. I am very frank in expressing my
- views.
- </p>
- <p> Q. What course would you now recommend regarding Iraq?
- </p>
- <p> A. It is very difficult to see what advice I might give
- that would make any difference. It seems to me that lines are
- set. But I would like to do everything I can to ensure Iraq's
- integrity and to see that Iraq's future in terms of the rights
- of its people is given a chance. I think they should resolve
- their own problems internally within the context of a dialogue.
- But I don't believe the situation in Iraq is going along these
- lines; in fact, it is the opposite.
- </p>
- <p> Q. Do you think the sanctions should be lifted?
- </p>
- <p> A. Whatever I say won't make much difference. But I really
- think that when we have reports that 100,000, maybe 150,000
- children under the age of five will die within two months
- because of malnutrition, sickness and disease, it is a shame to
- all of us not to do something about it. There are ways and means
- by which to ensure that help gets to the people.
- </p>
- <p> Q. Can the situation in Iraq possibly improve as long as
- Saddam remains the leader?
- </p>
- <p> A. Let me put it another way. Throughout this crisis, I
- have suggested time and again that if I ever felt I was a
- hindrance or a burden to my country, I wouldn't stay another
- minute. This is what I believe should happen. It is no great
- achievement to last, because nobody lasts forever.
- </p>
- <p> Q. Do you see any hope of improvement in your relations
- with the gulf states?
- </p>
- <p> A. Our relations have deteriorated with a number of gulf
- states, with the exception of Oman. We had excellent relations
- with Oman throughout. As far as the rest are concerned, I think
- they were charged up with a lot of wrong information. Our view
- is that sooner or later the truth will come out, and things
- will change. And they will. There is no doubt about that.
- Because whatever premise they base their relations with us on,
- we are still one Arab family. During this terrible period--it
- is hard to believe it's only a year; it seems like 10 or 20
- years--it has been difficult to find out exactly who did what
- or hurt whom. What happened? I can't understand it.
- </p>
- <p> Q. You have had some communication with President Mubarak
- lately. Does this signal an improvement in your relations with
- Egypt?
- </p>
- <p> A. We are in normal contact from time to time. I believe
- personally that it is vital for our people to be in touch with
- each other. Somehow the opportunity will arise at some point for
- leaders of this region to sit face to face. I am not afraid of
- that. In fact, I welcome it. And I have sought it so that the
- air can be cleared.
- </p>
- <p> Q. Jordan is moving toward greater democratization. Was
- the timing dictated at all by the gulf war, or is this
- something you had planned to do all along?
- </p>
- <p> A. I think we beat the Soviet Union on starting this
- process. We are proud of the changes. We have a new national
- political charter here. It took nine months. We had people from
- the extreme right and the extreme left getting to know each
- other, discussing and debating. What they produced has put us
- on the threshold of having political parties. Experiences [like
- the war] illustrate the need to create democratic institutions
- in this region. I hope our example might show the way--a
- country where people share power, express their opinions,
- discuss and debate, where there is respect for human rights,
- where there is democracy. Because that is the only guarantee
- that things don't go haywire and that demigods are not created
- of leaders.
- </p>
- <p> Q. President Bush hoped that once Saddam was defeated, the
- Arab-U.S. alliance would somehow unlock the peace process. Is
- it your judgment that things are going nowhere?
- </p>
- <p> A. I don't think that things are nowhere. I think there is
- a bit more knowledge of what the difficulties are. I hope there
- is a determination to continue to try to resolve them. I
- believe the chances won't be with us very long before there will
- be an acceleration toward extremism as a result of the gulf war
- and the suffering of people.
- </p>
- <p> We have been as positive as we could be. Essentially we
- are agreed that there should be two tracks--one a
- Palestinian-Israeli track, the other an Arab-Israeli track--and that they should meet at the end. We certainly favor a
- Palestinian delegation chosen by the Palestinian people, because
- you can't have people representing them except those of their
- own choice. However, if there is a problem there and it can be
- overcome only by providing an umbrella of a joint
- Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, then we will do that based on
- talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization and with the
- Palestinians. A real Palestinian nationalist in my book is
- somebody who is hanging on to his land, and has been enduring
- hardship for years and years, much more so than somebody who is
- sitting outside the occupied territories pontificating about
- nationalist matters from a position of comfort.
- </p>
- <p> Q. But can negotiations really work this time?
- </p>
- <p> A. I don't know whether a shock every now and then is what
- is needed. We also need Europe to act. We need people who have
- access to every party to this conflict. We are ready, willing
- and hopeful. We believe in a comprehensive settlement. It can't
- be just between Jordan and Israel, and Jordan cannot be
- Palestine.
- </p>
- <p> Q. Can the process go forward without Syria?
- </p>
- <p> A. It could, if out of the blue Syria were insistent on
- not being a party to the solution. This question has been put
- to us time and again: Are you tied to Syria's position? We are
- not tied to anybody's position.
- </p>
- <p> Q. Some people feel that this is the last chance for
- peace. Do you agree?
- </p>
- <p> A. I believe it is our last chance. We don't have much
- time. According to some estimates, the Israelis now occupy 65%
- of the West Bank and Gaza.
- </p>
- <p> Q. What is the alternative? Is another war inevitable?
- </p>
- <p> A. If there is no peace, things cannot remain the way they
- are. You can't tackle some of the really serious problems we
- face except in a context of peace--things that affect people,
- such as water, the economy, progress, people settling down. You
- can't tackle extremism. This madness will bring about eventual
- disaster.
- </p>
- <p> Q. After 38 years on the throne, you have been running
- your country longer than anyone else in the world.
- </p>
- <p> A. In earlier years there was an expectation of ending it
- within weeks or days or whatever. Somehow time passes. But the
- important thing is the regret that after all these years we
- haven't been able to achieve peace that generations after us can
- accept.
- </p>
- <p> Q. You sound exasperated and discouraged.
- </p>
- <p> A. Not discouraged. The world has changed in many
- respects, and I hope that will soon have a positive impact on
- this region. After all, it is important to the world.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
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