His Majesty King Abdullah II’s interview with Jane Arraf on CNN
CNN: In the wake of these London bombings, where there seems to be links to Al Qaeda. It does seem that every Muslim by extrapolation perhaps, even every Arab might be suspect in Britain and the United States. What does this mean for the Muslim world's relations with the West?
King Abdullah: Well, this is what I find so terrible that really turns my stomach is that every time you turn on the television it's a bombing or an assassination or you know schoolchildren taken hostage. You feel this pain in your stomach that oh my god there's going to be somebody that's going to come up and say in the name of Islam we're perpetrating these crimes that are directed against innocent people. And, I mean, I think all of us were devastated and shocked at what has happened in London. I've always had a very warm place in my heart for the British people, Londoners in particular. We feel for the families of the victims and those who have suffered from this tragedy. And what makes it so painful is as a Muslim myself is that this is a crime carried out in the name of Islam. And obviously this does create tension. But I was very heartened to hear the Muslim community in the U.K. and the United States come up very strongly from the beginning to condemn these attacks. At the end of the day they are proud Americans and proud Britains.
CNN: As a moderate Muslim country, how will you deal with what certainly will be a backlash against perhaps even your country?
King Abdullah: Well it will be a backlash because of families that have suffered. We have all suffered in this region from terrorism. We all feel the pain of what terrorists and extremists have brought against innocent people. And here comes the opportunity where the overwhelming majority of this world, Muslims, Christians, Jews and other faiths need to stand up to come together, to unify. It's not just bringing these people to justice but also defeating them. That is the objective. And we have just come recently from an Islamic conference that we had two days a go in Amman where for the first time in Islamic history, Muslim scholars and religious figures from the whole Islamic world came to Jordan, to say that we as Muslims identify with each other. The mainstream sects of Islam's Madaheb. And fatwa's were passed by these religious leaders to say that we do not condone any extremists or terrorists taking the lives of innocent people, which we call takfir. And also these people have no jurisdiction or right to pass these fatwa's. Unfortunately, with every terrorist incident there is a fatwa behind it by these people, who have nothing to do with Islam trying to justify their actions, hiding behind religion. So we've started the battle against them but we can't do it by ourselves.
CNN: One of the things that you've referred to frequently as a destabilizing factor, is the Arab-Israeli conflict. Is that still underpinning, do you think? The violence that we're seeing, in any sense.
King Abdullah: There is tremendous frustration through the Middle East on the perceived injustice, which is the Israeli-Palestinian one. That is the first that these extremists use to raise the level of tension inside of the frustrated community. The second one is obviously Iraq. So that when we deal with these core issues it does allow us to bring the level of tension down. It does allow us to corner the extremists. But at the same time, we do have to improve the lives of Arabs. Fifty per cent of the Middle East is, as you all know, is under the age of 18. They want jobs, they want a future. So improving their lot in life is also the responsibility of Arab states. And that will, I think, also have a tremendous impact on extremism and allow the moderate Islam to gain ground.
CNN: In Jordan itself, I mean one of the most moderate countries in this region, but yet it has produced someone like Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. How do you counter the conditions here that could lead to someone like that?
King Abdullah: Well again these are isolated individuals. They have obviously, this particular individual, has created tremendous devastation for the future of Iraq. And you deal with that by dealing with the root causes where there is poverty, unemployment. So that there is not the frustration that these people can then use religion and politics to move people, to excite the injustices maybe, the perceived injustices, which is for us is the Israeli-Palestinian issue on one side. And the freedom of Palestinians and the freedom of Iraqi's is what is used as a recruiting ground. And so it is our responsibility to improve the lot of Jordanians. But it is also the responsibility of the international community to work with us to be able to deal with the core issues.
CNN: And just on Iraq, Jordan has been one of the first countries to propose sending an Ambassador there in fact has named one. After the killing of the Egyptian Ambassador-designate when will Jordan send its own ambassador?
King Abdullah: Sooner rather than later. We are not going to allow again these limited extremists that are trying to destabilise the future of Iraq to have any effect. We are obviously in close coordination with the Iraqi government and with them we are working on sending our Ambassador. And our ambassador will be in Baghdad, I hope, in the very, very near future.
