United States Middle East envoy William Burns denied Washington has drawn up a list of Arab leaders to be overthrown after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in an interview published in Cairo Tuesday.
"There is no 'targeted persons listed,'" he told Al-Ahram, in reply to Arab concerns that Washington's threatened war against Baghdad could herald a campaign to alter the region's political landscape.
Burns said the US could not pursue a policy of changing the Middle East's leadership from outside.
However, he pointed to "challenges raised by the behavior of certain states, certain other challenges arising from difficult problems concerning civil society, and thirdly created by the problem of terrorism."
"It is our duty to face up to these problems," he explained.
"It is clear that once the problem of Iraq is over ... we should jointly tackle these problems," he said, adding that the United States would also turn its focus on the opportunities raised by a new regional climate.
"A settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the problem of development, and economic and political opportunities" will form the core of the new agenda, Burns said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
