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 ==^================================================================
