Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah

Excerpts from HM Queen Rania's interview
with CNN's Reim Brahimi

April 23, 2003

QUEEN RANIA, JORDAN: We will accept whatever government the Iraqi people recognizes. They're the ones who have lived under the previous regime. They're the ones who have suffered for 23 years during three wars and for 12 years under economic sanctions. They're the best people who can judge what kind of government that they would want. And, you know, one of the main, the main important elements that need to be established now is establish trust with the Iraqi people. And in order to establish this trust, there need to be clear lines of communication with the people, to try to give them some visibility into their future.

Don't forget that the Iraqi people have experienced a massive upheaval. You know, there's a great deal of uncertainty and disarray in the country. And they need to be able to know where they're heading.

BRAHIMI: There's a lot of doubt among Arabs inside and outside of Iraq about the motivations of the coalition when it comes to this war.

HM QUEEN RANIA: There are very high expectations from the Iraqi people from America because they view America as a powerful country with many resources at its disposal and therefore the ability to bring about swift changes is really, if it really puts its mind to it. So therefore you have to manage expectations, as well.

It is going to take a long time to build this trust, but it is very important for the coalition forces to make it their top priority to build this trust with the Iraqi people.

BRAHIMI: What does the coalition and the U.S. in particular have to do to gain some measure of trust from the Arab people?

HM QUEEN RANIA: I think one of the most crucial things that need to be done is trying to make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian track. The lack of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has left a deep undercurrent of cynicism in the Arab world and has allowed wounds to fester for far too long. And this has resulted in a lot of anger, a lot of frustration, and therefore a rise in extremism and terrorism, in many cases.

All of the world needs this peace process to move forward. And I think giving up on a peace process will be giving up on the futures of millions of people in our good night.


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