Back to Ambassadorial Speeches - Ambassador Moshe Arad

Interview with Ambassador Arad on CNN's "Newsmaker Sunday" Interviewer: Bob Franken August 19, 1990

BOB FRANKEN: Welcome to Newsmaker Sunday. I'm Bob Franken in Washington. The Mideast crisis shapes up as a confrontation between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and virtually the rest of the world. And with each passing hour, the rest of the world is tightening the screws. And so far, Hussein has shown little sign of backing down. Joining us today, Israeli Ambassador Moshe Arad. And later in the program, Ambassador Clovis Maksoud of the League of Arab States and Geoffrey Kemp, the Middle East expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Digging in on the brink of war, next on Newsmaker Sunday.

[voice-over] Was the so-called initiative announced today by Saddam Hussein defiance or desperation?

IRAQI SPOKESMAN: [on Iraqi television] If the war were to enflame in the area and the area would burn, a lot people and would burn a lot of nations in the battlefield.

FRANKEN: [voice-over] So, this was Saddam Hussein's initiative. He would negotiate Iraq's continued military presence in Kuwait if Israel withdraws from occupied territories, if Syria withdraws from Lebanon, if American troops withdraw from Saudi Arabia to be replaced by an all-Arab peace-keeping [unit] from countries Iraq helped select and if the worldwide economic boycott against Iraq is ended.

The initiative did not inspire President Bush to rush back to Washington from Kennebunkport. In fact, with the U.S. naval presence in the area growing, the United States plans to begin what is carefully termed a quarantine of Iraq.

Secretary of State Baker says the ousted Kuwaiti government asked for enforcement of U.N. economic sanctions.

JAMES A. BAKER III, United States Secretary of State: The legitimate government of Kuwait would like to see these sanctions enforced, as indeed would most of the rest of the world, so that this aggression can be reversed and further aggression can be deterred.

FRANKEN: [voice-over] At the same time, the massive U.S. military buildup continues in Saudi Arabia. The first wave is expected to number about 50,000 troops. It looks like they soon will be facing about 200,000 Iraqis across the border in Kuwait.

But in an unprecedented action, other Arab countries are sending their own forces to line up against their fellow Arabs from Iraq.

Saddam Hussein does hold some cards, several thousand, actually: the Americans and other foreign nationals now stranded in Kuwait or Iraq. So, many initiatives are being handled with some delicacy.

There is the matter, for instance, of overthrowing Hussein.

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH: No, we're not prepared to support the overthrow, but I hope that these actions that have been taken result in an Iraq that is prepared to live peacefully in the community of nations. And if that means Saddam Hussein changes his spots, so be it. And if he doesn't, I hope the Iraqi people do something about it.

FRANKEN: So, now Saddam Hussein is playing the Israel card, so to speak. And with me is the ambassador to the United States from Israel. What participation in all of this is Israel taking? What is Israel doing?

MOSHE ARAD, Israeli Ambassador to the United States: Well, first let me clarify that the statement coming out from Cairo, the transparent effort or attempt, rather, by President Saddam Hussein to distract the attention of the world from the aggression of Iraq and the occupation of Kuwait and to distract the attention towards the so-called Israeli-Arab conflict. The blur -- He's trying to blur the distinction between invasion, between aggression and between the fact that Israel has taken control of these territories that he is referring to in 1967 as the result of a war of aggression against Israel.

FRANKEN: But Israel has a tremendous interest here. What role is Israel playing in this current crisis?

AMB. ARAD: I think, up to now, we are on the sidelines, but the administration knows extremely well that it has in Israel a very faithful and determined ally in the Middle East upon which it can rely. It's clear to me that the administration until now, for its own consideration, has preferred to deal, up to now, with Israel not publicly, but rather to accentuate the Arab connection in this conflict

FRANKEN: You are saying a couple of things that are quite intriguing. First of all, up to now Israel is on the sidelines. Are you suggesting that Israel might soon become active in this military conflict?

AMB. ARAD: No, it's already a few days ago that President Saddam Hussein suggested that Israeli planes are being painted with American insignia and this was taken in Israel very seriously as a curtain-raiser or maybe to prepare public opinion of action or of an invasion or aggression against Israel. Therefore, we have to be extremely careful and extremely alert to whatever moves or to whatever statements emanates or originates from Baghdad.

FRANKEN: Do you foresee the possibility, the close possibility, that Israel might, in fact, assert itself militarily in this situation?

AMB. ARAD: I do not see an Israeli interest and Israeli policy aiming at getting involved in a conflict with Iraq. But we have to understand that we are part of the area, that our interests are at stake, that any military presence of Iraq in Jordan would cause us to react. And therefore, I think we are following events very carefully.

FRANKEN: What would you expect that the United States might seek from Israel?

AMB. ARAD: I don't think that's for me now to explore publicly what kind of cooperation. But I think the United States knows that there's a strategic relationship between Israel and the United States, which has grown and developed in the last 10 years, is strong, is -- Israel is a reliable ally. And if the crunch will come, Israel will be on the right side and available.

FRANKEN: But which is the right side here? Here you have a situation where your enemies are fighting your enemies.

AMB. ARAD: Well, the right side is, of course, to oppose aggression, to oppose any attempt to take by force a territory and to make sure that Iraq cannot enjoy the fruits of aggression.

FRANKEN: So, the bad guys, from the Israeli point of view, right now, are the Iraqis.

AMB. ARAD: Oh, that's clear and so -- also are supporting Iraq. Iraq is not alone, as you know. Libya is supporting Iran [sic], the PLO is supporting Iraq and we, of course, see now a development in which President Saddam Hussein is trying to reach out to the masses, so- called, in the Middle East, over the heads of the legitimate leaders of those countries, which are opposing the Iraqi aggression.

FRANKEN: But then implicitly that puts you on the side of Saudi Arabia.

AMB. ARAD: It puts us, first of all, on the side of those who are opposing aggression. And if that puts on the side of Saudi Arabia, so be it. But we --

FRANKEN: But isn't that -- Doesn't that cause difficulty for Saudi Arabia?

AMB. ARAD: We are not doing anything publicly that would have embarrassed Saudi Arabia, but we have made it clear that we -- our own security interests are at stake and we are not going to watch constantly if self-interest will be affected.

FRANKEN: Let's continue in a moment, but we'll pick up where we're leaving off. But first, let's take a break.

[Commercial break]

FRANKEN: For our discussions on the confrontation with Iraq, we're speaking with the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Moshe Arad. When I have asked you about Israeli participation, you repeatedly have said -- intriguingly, have said that there is no public involvement of Israel, suggesting, of course, that there are private contact going on. Can you give us some idea of what you're talking about there?

AMB. ARAD: Well, the beauty of this statement is that private contacts would remain private.

FRANKEN: But there are private contacts.

AMB. ARAD: There are exchanges of information and contacts, of course there are. It would have been rather strange if they wouldn't have occurred.

FRANKEN: But when Saddam Hussein says that his adversaries here, including the other Arab states, are really acting as agents of Israel, and you say that Israel, in fact, is supporting the opponents of Saddam Hussein, aren't you, in effect, agreeing with what he's saying?

AMB. ARAD: Well, we are saying that we have a principled position against aggression. We support negotiations. Israel thinks that the Israeli-Arab conflict should be negotiated by peaceful means. Indeed, it has presented a peace initiative. And therefore, the comparison which Saddam Hussein is trying to make here between Israel's control of the territories and the fact that Iraq is grabbing territory of Kuwait and trying to control it and declares it as south of Iraq, when Israel has time and again repeated its position that it's willing to negotiate, it's willing to reach an understanding with the Palestinians. And let's not forget the basic difference. That the territory that Israel controls is under our control because the Arab countries have waged a war of aggression in -- against Israel in 1967.

FRANKEN: Thank you very much for joining us. We'll continue our program. We'll be talking to Clovis Maksoud of the League of Arab States and Geoffrey Kemp, a Middle East expert when we return in a moment.