In an interview published Thursday in the Arabic daily al-Hayat, U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that the Lebanese Hizbollah should stop its “terrorist activities” in order to gain its “legitimacy”. She added that the U.S. administration would pressure the Syrian and Lebanese governments to halt their support for this pro-Iranian group.
According to Rice, the Iranian support for terrorism led to the killing of Americans, referring to the allegations that Iran was involved in the al-Khobar bombing about five years ago, near an American military base in Saudi Arabia. Rice contended that Hizbollah provided “help and expertise” to the perpetrators of this act. “Hizbollah kidnapped and executed American citizens during the 1980s,” she conveyed.
Condoleezza Rice was recently quoted as saying, “We are not going to declare that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists. … If you sponsor terrorism, you are hostile to the United States.”
Hizbollah, according to the U.S. State Department’s Patterns of Global Terrorism report, has set up cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America and Asia. This worldwide network has allowed the group to kill hundreds of Americans in a series of attacks in the Middle East as well as conduct deadly bombings as far away as Argentina, according to the U.S. report.
On the topic of Iraq, Rice told al Hayat, “There can be no co-existence with Saddam Hussein in power and there is no need to have a dialog with this regime.” She stated “President Bush has yet to take a decision regarding Iraq,” adding that the U.S. and Russia are currently focusing on the issue of “smart sanctions” against Baghdad.
She also reiterated Bush’s commitment to see an independent Palestinian state.
Russian View Regarding Iraq
Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Ministry called Wednesday for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iraq. In a statement, the Ministry noted that the U.N. human program for Iraq is merely a temporary measure and could never replace social and economic progress needed for development in Iraq. Earlier, consultations between Russia and the U.S. initiated discussions on the practical implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution No. 1382 on Iraq. This resolution aims to simplify the current system of importing commodities into Iraq. (Albawaba.com)
