Transcript: Syrian president Bashar Assad

CURRY: Did Nancy Pelosi's visit with you last month help pave the way for this meeting last week between Condoleezza Rice and your foreign minister, your first high level meeting between the two countries in more than two years?

BASHAR ASSAD: I think from the American side, the one who can ask also is the one who can answer this question is Rice herself.  I don't know what made them ask to meet with our minister.  But from our side, we were always asking for dialogue with United States publicly.

And we always say the dialogue is very important to solve our problems because the role of the United States, whether we like it or not, is essential in solving most of our problems, especially the recent problem in Iraq. But as I read in your media and your magazines, there was pressure from the Democrats against - on this administration - to implement a vote and start making dialogue with Syria and Iran.  So I don't know what the facts are that made Rice meet with our minister.

CURRY: You don't know — you're saying it would be up to Condoleezza Rice to answer that question.

BASHAR ASSAD: Exactly.

CURRY: But you're also saying that you do notice a bit of pressure.

BASHAR ASSAD: I notice from the media.  But-- I'm not part of the American politics.

CURRY: Nor do you want to be.

BASHAR ASSAD: That's what-- what I say. (LAUGHTER) We have enough problems.  But because she asked our minister to meet with her so she can answer this question.

CURRY: How did this meeting suddenly happen?  Was it something that had been planned for a long time?  I know that the Sharm el-Sheik conference was planned for a long time.

BASHAR ASSAD: Yes, yes.

CURRY: But this meeting between the foreign minister and your nation and Condoleezza Rice, how long has this been planned?  Was this a sudden meeting?

BASHAR ASSAD: I think it's about the last two months through our embassy - the dialogue between our embassy and some congressman. But the meeting itself –  now I’m talking about the dialogue itself and the visit of Pelosi and this delegation coming from the Congress.

CURRY: Right.

BASHAR ASSAD: But for this visit, it has been planned I think for the last few weeks -- through a meeting between Satterfield one of our officials in the previous meeting of the surrounding countries of Iraq that had been held in Baghdad.  So then that's how it started.

CURRY: What did it accomplish?

BASHAR ASSAD: As I said, too early to —

CURRY: No, no, no.  Your meeting with Pelosi.

BASHAR ASSAD: For the first.

CURRY:So the meeting with House Speaker Pelosi you were just talking about — what did the meeting with Pelosi, your meeting with Pelosi accomplish?

BASHAR ASSAD: As I said, because she wanted to know the reality of our region. I explained to her the reality from our point of view. And we talked about the facts without talking about the point of view.  This is the fact in our area, in our region — about cooperation between the United States and Syria.

Normally as an official I talk about my interest, you talk about your interests. We put them on the table. We see what's in common.

CURRY: Did you talk about the possibility of a change in leadership in 2008 in the United States and how that might affect --

BASHAR ASSAD: No, we don't bet on that, because we only bet on of policies. We don't care if it's Democrat or Republicans. It's American issue. For us what's important is what's your vision toward my problem.  What's your role, if you are in power someday, towards our issues? That's what you talk about.  And, again, we concentrated on the problem in Iraq now because it's the issue for Iraq, for the region, and for United States.

CURRY: Because of the controversy over Nancy Pelosi's visit in the United States, the American people did not hear what she said about this meeting very much about what she said about this meeting.  But she said, quote, we came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace.

BASHAR ASSAD: Yeah.

CURRY: Is it?

BASHAR ASSAD: Exactly.

CURRY: It is?

BASHAR ASSAD: This is the cause, the meeting.  And she was very honest in-- what she mentioned because this is the first meeting.  And we are not going to solve all the problem and to-- to see eye to eye-- for the first-- two hours.  We have problems that have been accumulated for decades.

So you need more dialogue to form a picture, a panoramic picture and to forge a plan – an executive plan. This is our second.  Now they are in the position, they are not in power now.  Who’s in power now? The Republicans.  They take the decision.  So the scope of this cooperation is limited by this reality now.

CURRY: The road to peace.  So if Damascus is a road to peace, if you can speak politically to all the parties inside Iraq and in its neighboring countries, what's stopping you?

BASHAR ASSAD: About?

CURRY: Having this conversation?

BASHAR ASSAD: With?

CURRY: What is stopping you from leading the effort to--

BASHAR ASSAD: To achieve peace.

CURRY: --achieve peace, to end this chaos? Have the violence stop in Iraq?

BASHAR ASSAD: That's what we are doing. That's why we have dialogue maybe on a daily basis with different Iraqi factions — to find something in common and then to talk about this peace.  But we cannot do it while this administration doesn't work for this peace.  At the end, the United States is controlling Iraq.  So who are we going to work with?  Only working with Iraqis -- that will help only up to a certain extent.

CURRY: The US president wants the fighting, the violence to end in Iraq.

BASHAR ASSAD: They only talk about what they have done.  That what action have they taken to do achieve these goals?  We've been hearing about the war against terror.  What about the terror?  I mean-- again, I'll say what actions have they taken to have real political process?

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