Interview with His Majesty King Abdullah II

ABC: But first, we -do turn to His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan. He just met with President Bush, as we said, about so many issues vital to America and the world in the Middle East. And we are grateful to have a chance to talk with him this morning from Washington. Your Majesty, thank you for being with us.

King Abdullah: Good morning, Diane. How are you?

ABC: So many issues to cover with you. Let me start with news this morning.

There is a new Osama Bin Laden tape, once more warning of terrorist acts. What's more, talking about scenes of September 11th. A couple of questions. Do you have any news of Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts now? And also, do you feel the world is safer from him than it was a year ago, or not?

King Abdullah: Well, as to his whereabouts, again, it's a lot of speculation whether he's in northern Pakistan up in the mountain areas close to the Afghan border. I don't think anybody can really know where his whereabouts are at the moment. As for security, internationally, it's, it's an ongoing battle against extremism. It's difficult to say if it's, I think it's a bit better. I mean, I know that we were probably sidetracked in the international community due to what happened in Iraq. But all countries in the world have been working very closely together to put Al Qaeda down.

ABC: You mentioned Iraq and, as we said, you did meet with President Bush yesterday. The president has said that civil power in Iraq should be turned over to the Iraqis, some kind of council, by next June. And yet, Senator Hillary Clinton, who went to Iraq said, in fact, that is artificial, too soon, and not realistic. Who's right?

King Abdullah: Well, again, I think we have to look, that the president has always been very sincere on, on having Iraq for the Iraqis, and trying to hand over authority to the Iraqis as quickly as possible. There are some practicalities on the ground that would make, make, or take from all of us a tremendous effort to make sure that we can have that deadline by July.

ABC: So, in the end, you think the deadline is, is a possible one?

King Abdullah: It's a possible one, but again, we have to see how well the next couple of months go. It's not only the handing over of governmental powers, but also the security issue, as you well know, on the ground. And so, that's a, a 2-pronged approach that needs to be really articulated and coordinated extremely well.

ABC: Of course, you have taken up so much of the leadership in trying to bring peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the ongoing difficulty. Even you said it's a tough road ahead. If there's one thing you would like the US to do, right now, to make that more possible, what would it be?

King Abdullah: Well, at the, at the present moment, there is no alternative but the roadmap that articulates what is needed from the Arabs, from the Israelis, from the Palestinians to achieve a peace. Unfortunately - we do have issues and difficulties on the ground at the moment. What can be done at the moment is to make sure that the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Abu Alaa, has the opportunity to be able to coordinate with his Israeli counterparts, to be able to establish some understanding on the security issues which will then lead us back to the roadmap. So, we're talking baby steps at the moment.

ABC: Did you get what you wanted from President Bush yesterday?

King Abdullah: Well, again, I think all exchanges that I have with the president is, is really constructive exchanges on, as we've discussed, Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian issues. We're all in agreement, but it, it takes a lot of effort from all of us to be able to coordinate together, to be able to achieve what's needed on the ground. I can't go into the specifics, but we came away from the meeting thinking that it was very successful and we identified some avenues on, on how to tackle both issues.

ABC: You made a, a historic speech in Jordan recently about the need to make Jordan a model democracy, which you pledged that you were going to do. Is it, is it going to be possible for Jordan to lead the way in the Middle East and why has it been so difficult until now to establish democracies?

King Abdullah: Well, again, I think this, the core issue in the Middle East, as all of us know in the region, is the Israeli-Palestinian one. And as I've said many times before, that's always been an excuse not to allow civil liberties, not to be able to create social, economic, and political reforms in our area. And this is why we keep saying, unless we solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem, the chances of, of our whole region being able to move forward, including the Israelis, is going to be somewhat limited. In Jordan, we're not waiting around for excuses. We've identified where we want to go, we've set up our, our targets, and we're going to pursue the reforms that I think are necessary for the whole region.

ABC: And once again, in this Christmas season, when everyone thinks of Christians and Muslims coexisting in this world, the question becomes, again, whether we can afford to be optimistic about the ability of the two cultures ever to speak each other's language in a united way. What is, I guess, what's the level of your hope this morning?

King Abdullah: Always tremendous hope. I mean, there's always been interaction for centuries between the two cultures. Obviously, I think the extremists, and please, when I hear that you may sound pessimistic in the way you've asked the question, that, that worries me because it means that the extremists are getting the upper hand. They want a clash between civilisations. They want people to be suspicious. They want to, to instil hatred. So, are we going to allow a small minority of extremists around the world to hijack and instil fear in the majority? The future is all of us together. We wouldn't be fighting for peace if we didn't believe it, and always, we have to be optimistic. Let's look at the Israeli-Palestinian issue. If we are pessimistic, that means that we've given up. What is the alternative? Well, the alternative is what we've seen in the past two or three years, violence and destruction, hatred. Everybody suffers, everybody loses. The only way that we're going to be able to go forward as an international community is to take the challenges by the, the bull by the horns, so to speak, and move forward.

ABC: Your Majesty, once again, we thank you for joining us. And I'll put any pessimism on hold, okay?

King Abdullah: Thank you.

ABC: All right. We're so grateful.

King Abdullah: Merry Christmas.

ABC: And to -thank you very much. And glad to have you with us in this holiday season here.

King Abdullah: Thank you very much, Diane.