In the End, 'Iraq Will Succeed'

I do not believe that Iraq will go into civil war or break up. I think the majority of Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis want to save their country. There will be instability, and the insurgency will continue to be a problem.

How do you feel about the Bush administration's push to spread democracy in the Middle East and your own moves toward reform? Is the American effort helpful?

I think it is helpful. President Bush actually triggered reform in that it became a subject for debate, which it wasn't as of two years ago. If you look at the Palestinian and Iraqi elections in January, both of which I think were largely successful, I think that set the tone. Whenever you have successful elections and signs of democracy moving in the right way in the Middle East, it creates a positive energy that makes countries move faster. So what is happening around [us] is a good signal for Jordan that we need to continue the pace of reform if not accelerate it.

So the Palestinian elections encouraged reform in Jordan?

To be quite honest, about a month ago I felt that the pace of reform in Jordan was not moving fast enough, so we went through some government changes to make sure we got back on track--to create the traction we need to be able to move the pace of reform at the level that we wanted. We created a national agenda which is a 10-year vision of what we need to do politically, economically and socially.

. . . In January, I started [a] committee for complete decentralization. We want to create a northern, central and southern region in Jordan. What this will do is create grass-roots support for the political system. We have tried pushing democratic reform from the top down and that is sluggish. By doing it this way, we are now moving from the bottom up.

Were you surprised by the speed at which the Syrians moved out of Lebanon?

I think Lebanon should be for the Lebanese. I am glad the Syrians also believe that they need to give the Lebanese independence.

Does it show weakness on the part of the Syrian regime?

I'd like to think it is a greater understanding by the Syrian leadership that the international community has certain standards and ways of doing things. The world has changed.

How do you see the Israeli-Palestinian situation?

Cautiously optimistic, but I am also concerned that we do have a time issue. We are all concentrating on Palestinian security -- [but] what happens after the withdrawal from Gaza? Do we still have the road map? What we need is more clarity and maybe more directives from the U.S. to articulate what happens the day after. We hope it is the road map but my concern is that we are running out of time on what we consider a viable independent Palestinian state. We look at viability being geographic. If settlements and the wall continue, we might be left on the ground geographically with really no longer a viable independent state. So what happens to the peace process then? Several years from now we may find out that there is no geographic continuity to Palestinian lands that will be able to translate into a Palestinian state.