First of all, I want to ask you for your reaction to
what the U.S. president has said, essentially
saying airstrikes in Syria are a real possibility.
What happens if America sends fighter jets in Syria
without coordination with your government? What
would then the response be from the government
of the president there
BOUTHAINA SHAABAN, POLITICAL AND MEDIA
ADVISER TO SYRIAN PRESIDENT: Well, our foreign
minister has said in a press conference that, A, we
are ready to be part of any coalition against
terrorism. B, any strike on Syria without
coordination with the Syrian government is
considered an aggression against Syria. And
today, also, Moscow has said exactly the same
thing and China. And I think, you know, if we have
time, I will say to you how important this is for
fighting terrorism to coordinate with people who
have been fighting terrorism for the last 40 years,
not only ISIL, by the way, but those who are called
opposition or moderate opposition.
They did exactly the same crimes as ISIL and
therefore President Obama would be very much ill-
advised…
GORANI: Yes.
SHAABAN: — to carry on with what he…
GORANI: I think…
SHAABAN: — said this morning.
GORANI: — and Bouthaina Shaaban, people will
really disagree with you on sort of putting together
in the same group ISIS and other — the FSA, for
instance.
But let me ask you a precise question and I would
like a precise answer, if it's at all possible here.
SHAABAN: Please.
GORANI: Let's assume a U.S. fighter jet flies into
Syrian air space without approval from the Syrian
government.
Would the Syrian government then, if it considers
this an aggression, shoot it down?
SHAABAN: You know, I will — I honestly don't
know what the Syrian government would do at that
time. It's not my decision, it's the decision of the
Syrian government.
But I'm saying, if the objective of President Obama
is to fight terrorism, not only ISIL and not to
contain ISIL and not just to reduce ISIL, but to fight
terrorism, he have to coordinate his efforts with all
Security Council members who voted for 2170 and
with people on the ground and with people who
have been victims of terrorism for the last four
years and not just to coordinate with people who
have been financing, arming and facilitating
terrorism into Syria.
GORANI: So there — is it that you don't know how
the government would react?
It does have anti-aircraft weaponry, after all?
Or is it that no decision has been made with
regards to a possible U.S. air strike campaign in
Syrian air space?
SHAABAN: Well, as I said, our foreign minister has
made it very clear that we are ready to cooperate,
but if any strike is done without our cooperation,
we will consider it an aggression.
But, you know, Hala, we should talk about politics,
not only about media. So, therefore, I — you know,
they're acting probably in political channels. This
will be discussed in political channels rather than
on television screen what — what will happen and
what the Syrian government would do.
GORANI: So you anticipate discussions at perhaps
lower levels between members of the Syrian
government and members of the United States
government?
SHAABAN: I'm — I don't know. I think — I'm — I'm
talking about our government. But I'm saying that
our government will decide at the time what it's
going to do.
But the natural thing, the normal thing in fighting
terrorism and if the U.S. wants to benefit from the
mistakes of the past in Afghanistan and in Iraq, it
not only should announce no boots on the ground,
but it should review the ways to address terrorism
in these countries and, you know, the strategy that
I read by Obama really has many loopholes and
it's — it leaves a lot to be desired.
And he will benefit a lot from cooperating with the
Syrian government against terrorism, because we
have been truly fighting terrorism for the last four
years.
GORANI: So have there been any discussions at all
on any level, to your knowledge, on any kind of
coordination with regards to mounting the…
SHAABAN: (INAUDIBLE).
GORANI: — campaign against ISIS targets in Syria?
SHAABAN: Not to my knowledge.
GORANI: And…
SHAABAN: Not to my knowledge.
GORANI: — and to your knowledge, a response
from the Syrian government is — is not known at —
at this current stage if, indeed, U.S. fighter jets fly
into Syrian air space?
SHAABAN: I — as I said, I am not a military person,
I am a political (INAUDIBLE), the adviser. Even if
there is a decision or discussion, I wouldn't be part
of it, so I can't answer that question, unfortunately.
GORANI: Well, you are a political and media
adviser to the president, who, for years now, has
been accused of bombing his own people. We're
seeing video that's barely three days old from
Duma, where you have regime bombs fall on
civilian neighborhoods and children and civilians
killed and injured.
Why is this still, Bouthaina Shaaban, being done by
the Syrian regime against civilians?
SHAABAN: Well, Hala, you must have read the —
the reports that have been published after that and
you would know that the Syrian government didn't
do anything against its civilians and citizens. What
the Syrian government and what the Syrian Army
is doing is trying to protect all of us from horrid
terrorism.
And what is circulated in the Western media is
very, very far removed from the truth,
unfortunately..
GORANI: But you (INAUDIBLE)…
SHAABAN: — (INAUDIBLE)…
GORANI: — that video within Ashavan (ph). You see
these children. You see these bombs come from
the air and all this video that's been circulating.
SHAABAN: Yes, I know. I saw that.
GORANI: And you deny that this…
SHAABAN: I — I…
GORANI: — comes from the regime still, to this
day?
SHAABAN: Of course. You know, not only I deny,
an American think-tank has conducted an
investigation and it published a paper saying this
was not done by the Syrian regime. Unfortunately,
the Western media only takes what, again, is the
Syrian government, but it does not follow up on the
attacks to correct the mistakes that it has been
doing.
Of course, the Syrian government would not attack
its civilians, would not attack its citizens.
GORANI: And what…
SHAABAN: Of course.
GORANI: — what — what blame, then, does the
Syrian government have in all of this, the — the
hundreds of thousands of killed, the millions
displaced and made refugees?
Is it blameless?
SHAABAN: Well, I think you should think of Turkey,
of Qatar and of Saudi Arabia and of the American
support for these countries with whom they have
been meeting in Jeddah, all the Muslim fatwas
have been announced to kill people, to kill people,
to kill the Christians, to kill anybody who doesn't
share their ideology.
So I think the West, you know, should take its
responsibility for encouraging and allowing these
people to exercise terrorism on the Syrian people
for the last four years. I think Western
governments should get real, should come to
Syria, should see the truth and then should
address the issues.
GORANI: Well, look, you mentioned Moscow saying
that any U.S. air strikes would be considered an
act of aggression.
Do you know if there have been conversations
between the president, his leadership, and
Moscow regarding what the U.S. intends to do in
Syria against ISIS?
And if so, what has been discussed?
SHAABAN: You know, you know, most — the
Russian Federation is a friendly country and we
have many channels of communication with Russia
— with Russia. So we — we — we are in touch with
the Russians. We speak to the Russians. We talk to
them about many issues. And so it's not the place
here to say how and who is talking to whom.
GORANI: Lastly, Bouthaina Shaaban, you're on CNN
right now. Many Americans, potentially some
members of the U.S. government, are watching
right now.
Can you send a message directly from Bashar al-
Assad to the U.S. government, to the U.S.
president, what would it be?
SHAABAN: Well, I — I will send a message saying
that the four points he outlined as a strategy will
not work simply because they are not based on the
reality. You know, I will give you one example. He
said we should not allow these communities of
minorities to be driven out of their homes.
And I would like to remind President Obama that
the three million Christians, Iraqi Christians, have
been driven out of their homes, more than one
million Syrian Christians have been driven out of
their homes. We — I mean we — we — we like the
way he said that we should pursue political solution
in Syria and the Syrian government is very serious
in pursuing a political solution for the Syrian crisis.
So we would like to discuss how — how we — we
can reach a political solution for the entire region
and how we can all defeat terrorism, truly defeat
terrorism.
GORANI: Bouthaina Shaaban, an adviser to the
Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, joining us from
Damascus.
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