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Rania: US must build trust to heal Iraq's wounds

 
Jordanian Queen stresses Iraqi people need to be given great degree of visibility into their future.

 
WASHINGTON - Queen Rania of Jordan said Wednesday that the key to rebuilding Iraq lies in US-led forces building a strong foundation of trust with Iraq's citizens.

"I think the most important thing is for the coalition forces to establish trust with the Iraqi people," the queen told NBC television.

"The Iraqi people need to know where they're heading. There's been a lot of confusion, a great deal of uncertainty. And let's not forget the challenges in Iraq," she said, noting that Iraq "has suffered for 23 years, has endured three wars and has lived under economic sanctions for 12 years, which has left the country in a very bad situation."

She said schools, hospitals and other public services are "in very bad shape."

"At the same time, the Iraqi population views the coalition with a great deal of suspicion. At the end of the day, you have armed strangers in your house, and it's only natural to feel wary of their intentions."

Queen Rania also noted that the Iraqis have high expectations for the United States after the war to oust President Saddam Hussein.

"They view the United States as a very powerful nation with a lot of resources at its disposal, and therefore, the ability to bring about swift changes if they really wanted to."

As a result, "it is crucial to build trust with the Iraqi people," she urged, suggesting that this could be achieved in part by restoring essential services.

"Equally important is to make sure that the Iraqi people have a sincere and solid say in the rebuilding of their nation, and to establish very clear lines of communication with the Iraqi people, to give them a great degree of visibility into their future," the queen said.

Jordan seeks the creation of a "representative Iraqi government" that would be chosen by the Iraqi people rather than imposed from outside. It also wants Iraqi unity and sovereignty preserved.

Queen Rania said "it is not so much that people were supportive of the regime of Saddam - in fact, they weren't - but they were maybe opposing the foreign presence.

"And this is why it's very, very important for the coalition forces to clearly say to the Iraqi people what their role is going to be and how long they are going to stay."

She said President George W. Bush "went out of his way to explain that and to reassure people that they have no intention of staying there for a really long time.

"I, personally, believe that he has a great deal of integrity and he means what he says," the queen said. "But it's important for the Iraqi people to also know that."

Last week, Queen Rania appealed to Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to ensure that Iraq is sufficiently safe for aid organizations to work there.

Turning toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Queen Rania urged the international community to fight the "cynicism" surrounding the peace process.

"A lot of people have no faith in this peace in the Middle East," she lamented. "But giving up on peace in the Middle East would be giving up on the futures of millions of people in our part of the world."

She said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is the main source of anger and frustration" in the Middle East, and noted that working toward peace is "the surest, quickest and most effective way to fight terrorism."

"Fighting terrorism doesn't require war plans," the queen said. "In many ways, it requires peace plans."

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30 JULY 2003
The late Katharine Hepburn has demonstrated her generosity one last time by leaving $200,000 to her housekeeper Norah Moore. The legendary actress, who died last month at the age of 96, also gifted a section of her eight-acre waterfront estate in Connecticut to local authorities to be "used for the benefit of the general public".

Her collection of four Oscars will meanwhile go to charity. Katharine decreed that the statuettes, along with an extensive collection of movie memorabilia, should be given to a charitable organisation chosen by her old friend Cynthia McFadden.

Cynthia, who was Katharine's closest confidante for many years, will personally receive $10,000 and much of the star's furniture and art collection. Her accountant has been gifted $50,000 while another $10,000 is earmarked for The Actors Fund of America. The actress has also established two $100,000 trust funds, for a nephew and a grandniece.

The bulk of the $20-million estate will be divided between her sister Margaret, brother Robert and the descendants of her late siblings Marion and Richard, however.

In characteristically unpretentious fashion, the iconic star also requested that no funeral or memorial service be held in her name.

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28 JULY 2003
Legendary funnyman Bob Hope has died of pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, California. His publicist said that he was surrounded by his family when he passed away on Sunday night.

The sad news comes shortly after the iconic entertainer celebrated his 100th birthday. Tributes and celebrations were staged all around America on May 29 to mark the centenary of one of the world's best-loved entertainers.

Bob was best known as the wise-cracking guy who was always ready to fly off to entertain the troops. In the history of show business, no other individual travelled so far to bring laughter to so many, nor for so long. Whether it was on stage or screen, radio or TV, Bob joked his way through every decade of the twentieth century – from impersonating Charlie Chaplin in front of a fire station at the age of six to celebrating an astonishing 60 years with NBC in 1996.

The fifth of seven sons, Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in London in 1903, his father a stonemason and his mother an aspiring concert singer. When Bob was four, the family decided to seek their fortune in America and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. The youngster got started in vaudeville in 1924, and rapidly scaled the showbiz ladder with his innovative mix of wise cracks, topical social and political commentary – and the help of some of the best gag-writers of the time.

At 30, he got his first big break in the successful Broadway musical Roberta. A co-star introduced him to a young singer, Dolores Reade, and after a brief courtship the pair married in 1934. Five years on, he had his own hit radio show and a movie contract with Paramount.

The format he developed for his radio broadcasts – topical monologues, skits and musical acts – set the standard for programmes of the time and was widely imitated. Alternatively self-confident and self-effacing, brash and retiring, his persona struck a chord with Depression era audiences and his weekly show was soon ranked number one by American listeners.

In all, Bob starred in more than 50 films, but most people will remember him for his screwball comedies. His motion-picture debut came with The Big Broadcas t Of 1938 in which he and Shirley Ross sang the melancholy ballad Thanks For The Memory – the song which was to become his signature tune. A string of light comedies followed before the funnyman finally hit the jackpot with 1939’s The Cat And The Canary.

In 1940, he teamed up with Bing Crosby and a sarong-clad Dorothy Lamour to make Road To Singapore. The friendly rivalry, easy rapport and frothy ad-libbed repartee between the two men proved extremely popular, and the film was a major hit. Over the next two decades Bob and Bing found themselves on the roads to Zanzibar, Morocco, Utopia, Rio, Bali and Hong Kong.

Busy as he was with his film work, Bob continued his radio shows and embarked upon an astonishing television career which spanned four decades. When the great entertainer presented his first TV special on NBC in 1950, few could have envisaged that he would go on to deliver 282 more before calling it a day in 1995. His Christmas specials – many featuring broadcasts of his shows for military personnel – became a festive tradition.

He began entertaining US troops overseas during the Second World War, a service that was to take him to Korea in the 1950s, Vietnam in the 1960s and – when he was nearly 90 years old – to the Persian Gulf. Many of his humanitarian awards stem from these performances.

However, while he spent many years hosting the Oscar ceremony, the most prized Hollywood gong of all, an Academy Award, eluded him, although he eventually received four honorary trophies recognising his humanitarian work and contribution to the motion picture industry. The decision to present him with a Presidential Medal of Freedom confirmed his status as a national institution.

He is survived by his wife, Dolores Reade Hope, his four children, Linda, Anthony, Honora and William, and four grandchildren.

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