Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
---------------------------------------------



WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 12 2001

Arab leaders may be the ultimate victims of this terrorist assault
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,248-2001314681,00.html

MICHAEL BINYON

Any Middle East leader who has ties to America must today be fearing for
his throne. The worst terrorist attack in history has demonstrated not
only a ruthlessness and co-ordination unseen so far in the many
terrorist atrocities spawned by the Middle East; it has also highlighted
the powerlessness and irrelevance of moderation and diplomacy in the
face of naked hatred and thirst for revenge. The Arab rulers who have
embraced the peace process are as shocked and fearful as any world
leader, and have more to lose. For the target of the suicide hijackers
was not just the Twin Towers and the Pentagon; it was the whole
framework of peace with Israel and its embrace by political leaders
within the Middle East. The only people strengthened - temporarily - by
yesterday's terror are the radical anti-Western leaders of Iraq, Libya
and Syria who have encouraged attacks, verbal or physical, on America.

They may, in the long run, pay a heavy price. America will have few
qualms now about striking at any government tainted by terrorism, even
those such as Syria and Libya which claim to have renounced their
terrorist past and now embrace "moderation". President Saddam Hussein of
Iraq may be rejoicing in this mother of all catastrophes, basking in the
acclaim of the militants now cheering the outrage in New York. But
George W. Bush may not now wait for an excuse to complete his father's
Gulf War business and bomb the man seen as responsible for backing
America's enemies.

More immediate panic will be felt by the Arab moderates - many of whom
have become remote from their people and unable to reflect the
anti-Israel passions that have been brewing for a year. Both Egypt and
Jordan still have Israeli Ambassadors on their soil, despite growing
popular demands for their expulsion. President Mubarak and King Abdullah
II of Jordan are seen by Islamic radicals as American puppets, leaders
who are unable to sway opinion in Washington and unwilling to confront
America over its support for the Sharon Government in Israel.

They will need all their skills, and intelligence services, to hold in
check the extremes of emotion unleashed by yesterday's cataclysms. They
will not be protected by any understanding that they have repeatedly
warned Washington of the dangers of drift; instead, they will feel the
need to protect themselves and their peoples on the one hand from an
outpouring of anti-American vitriol and on the other from possible
American retaliation against any targets in their own countries.

Other rulers too will be aghast. The Gulf states, whose economies depend
on oil sales to the West and which have long been the target of Islamic
extremism, will want to distance themselves from a wounded America, even
as they express abhorrence for the terrorism and sympathy for the many
casualties.

The link between terrorism, anti-Americanism and Islamic extremism has
not yet been proved. But the suspicion that the perpetrators will have
been motivated by religious as well as political zeal will make it all
the harder for moderate Arab rulers to keep a balance. No country will
salute the men who carried out such actions; but many people in the Arab
world will be privately rejoicing that America has at last been made to
suffer for what most Arabs regards as its blinkered pro-Israel policy.

The rulers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and most of the Gulf states
now face a painful unmasking as men unable to influence events or stop
the cycle of violence and counter-violence that has led to such a
terrible disaster. Most Arab countries, while urging America to get
involved in the region, were also doing their best to stay uninvolved,
knowing that any escalation could lead to war and that any war could
lead to their own defeat.

Only last week King Abdullah II spoke of his country's ability to
survive, relatively unscathed, despite the turmoil and killing on the
other side of the River Jordan. His security services have tried to
enforce calm in his kingdom, just as President Mubarak has clamped down
on any signs of trouble in Egypt. But both men must now fear that the
coalition of anti-Western forces, co-ordinated with such deadly effect
for this operation, may prove a powerful motivating factor within their
own countries. They cannot remain unscathed for long.

The Arab leaders know that the only answer to a Hydra-headed terrorism,
generating new cells with every retaliatory strike, is the old and stale
formula of a just and comprehensive peace. There is no prospect of that
for the moment, and no point in urging it on America. The United States
is not in a mood to listen to the Arabs, even to its Arab friends. They
must fend for themselves, bowing to the mood even as they send their
police to round up all known radicals, extremists and those preaching
jihad against America. They, and all the Middle East, have much to fear
from yesterday's atrocities.

---

-------------------------------------------------
This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been 
shut down

==^================================================================
EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA
Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
This email was sent to: archive@jab.org

T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail!
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register
==^================================================================

Reply via email to