-Caveat Lector- http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2002-10/15/article04.shtml
U.S. War on Terror Not Working, Political Justice Needed: Guardian The Palestinian suffering ranks on top of the causes of fury in the Islamic world LONDON, October 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Having apparently failed to stop what it calls terrorist attacks, the West, led by the U.S. should move to address the grievances which made too many in the Muslim world rally to Osama bin-Laden's flag, reported a British daily Tuesday, October 15. Every counter-terrorist struggle in the world, from Algiers to Belfast, had taught the same lesson; in the end, there can be no military victory over an enemy which enjoys even a limited degree of popular support, according to The Guardian. Instead, there has to be political action. Not an attempt to compromise with the (alleged) killers - Bin-Laden is hardly demanding roundtable talks - but to win over the constituency that offers them tacit backing, to drain the sea in which they swim, the paper said. The same opinion has repeatedly been declared by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who called, time and again, for convening an international conference on terrorism to address the causes of the international phenomenon. After touching upon the nature of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization, the Guardian article concluded that no military victory was in sight for any party. "The whole terrifying point about al-Qaeda was that it was not located in one territory to be targeted, neatly confined to one set of borders. Instead it spread to as many as 50 countries, with up to 100,000 members ready for action. Bombing a few camps would hardly reach this enemy at all. "Since al-Qaeda's methods were not those of a conventional army, the response would have to be equally unconventional. The military analyst Martin van Creveld warned a decade earlier of "asymmetric war" and now the world understood what he meant. He urged armies to put aside their ships and rockets, and take on the enemy on its own terrain. The soldiers of al-Qaeda did not march in columns on battlefields but wore jeans, rented apartments and posed as students in Hamburg, Brixton and Florida. To win, our soldiers would have to learn a new language of combat. "No one is even sure if the Bali attack was an al-Qaeda operation or, for that matter, whether such thing as an "al-Qaeda operation" even exists. The Indonesian government says it was, noting the expertise required to trigger a series of simultaneous explosions - a know how al-Qaeda could possess. Others are doubtful, insisting that Bin Laden's men tend to prefer military, political or culturally iconic targets. It is the homegrown Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah which hits nightclubs and similar symbols of "Western decadence". "Even if it was the Jemaah group, there might still be an al-Qaeda link. It could be subtle, with al-Qaeda acting as an inspiration rather than as direct command. This is one more reason why al-Qaeda represents such a formidable foe: it is not an organization in the western sense at all. It may just be an animating idea, spreading fast throughout the Islamic world. "If al-Qaeda was truly to be defeated, killing or arresting its activists would not do the trick: lopping off a head today would only make another grow tomorrow," according to the paper. Then, the paper offered another, deeper solution to the scary phenomenon. "That meant, among other things, a new alternative energy strategy, aimed eventually at weaning the west off oil. No longer would the U.S. and others need to manipulate the Middle East just to safeguard their petrol supply. They could let the peoples of the Arab world choose their own governments for once. Some 1.7 Iraqi children died due to the 12-year-old embargo, yet Bush wants to occupy Iraq "The U.S. would move its troops out of Saudi Arabia, healing one of the sores Bin-Laden most likes to inflame; the presence of "infidels" on holy Muslim soil. And Washington would devote serious political muscle to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Genuine movement in that area would instantly rob the Islamic hard liners of one of their greatest recruiting pitches. “Who knows what impact all that might have had? We certainly don't, because it has hardly been tried. Nor has the military component of the war on terror fared much better,” the paper added. The article then mentioned some of the signs of failure in the so-called war on terror. "Bin-Laden was allowed to vanish, along with the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, who escaped the wrath of the mightiest army in the world on board a clapped-out motorbike. The jump-suited captives at Camp X-Ray appear too low-level to have much useful to say. Nor do the U.S. intelligence agencies inspire much confidence; they remain at war with each other while their political masters tend to hear only what they want to hear". Lashing out at U.S. President George W. Bush for his plans to occupy Iraq, the Guardian said, " A prolonged U.S. occupation of Iraq will be the greatest provocation yet". On Tuesday, October 15, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad echoed the same logic, saying that there were causes for terrorism, and the West can do something about them. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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