| Author | Message | | Alpha | | Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2003 6:31 am Post subject: Conflict to Leave Millions Hungry/Don't be Fooled by US... |
| Don't be fooled by claims that invasion will bring democracy
By Ali Abunimah
The Daily Star
27 February 2003
url: http://dailystar.com.lb/opinion/27_02_03_d.htm
Having spectacularly failed to convince the world that Iraq and its
alleged weapons of mass destruction present an imminent danger,
supporters of American war plans have turned to "moral" and
"humanitarian" arguments. According this logic, Saddam Hussein is
such a brutal tyrant that international action to remove him could
be justified.
Meanwhile in Kabul, The Independent's Phil Reeves reports that
Afghans listen "with astonishment as Americans portray their
country's experience since the overthrow of the Taleban as a
'success.'" Amid the mounting problems faced by Afghanistan, Reeves
reports "a deep concern in Kabul that the international community is
losing interest even though the task of repairing the wreckage of
war has just begun."
Blair, who vowed the international community "will not walk away
from Afghanistan," is now selling the same snake oil to raise
support for an attack on Iraq.
Let us, for the sake of argument, accept the premises and good
intentions of Blair's position. Is there any evidence that US-led
action would lead to an improvement for the people of Iraq? The
record from recent "humanitarian" US military interventions in
Somalia, Haiti and Kosovo much smaller countries and less complex
situations than Iraq suggests Afghanistan's dismal experience is
the norm, not the exception.
In December 1992, the first President George Bush sent 28,000 troops
to Somalia on a "humanitarian" mission to help distribute food. US
forces met resistance and engaged in heavy fighting, killing
thousands of Somalis. A decade after Bush declared "we will not
fail," Somalia today does not even have a functioning government.
Few economic statistics exist, though in a September 2002 brief, the
World Bank said over half a million people there faced severe food
shortages, a situation scarcely better than in 1992.
Many Somalis survive on remittances sent from relatives aboard.
After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Washington shut down many of the
money transfer agencies that Somalis in the United States used to
send funds home. According to the World Bank's brief: "The reduction
in remittance flows, caused by the closure of Al-Barakat, formerly
Somalia's largest remittance company, and branches of other
remittance companies, will worsen the economic situation."
In September 1994, then-President Bill Clinton sent a 15,000-strong
invasion force to Haiti. As the troops were on their way, Haiti's
military rulers stepped down under an ultimatum. Clinton sent the
troops in anyway as the advance guard of a US-led international
force whose mandate was "to begin the task of restoring democratic
government," to "stop the brutal atrocities," to "preserve stability
and promote democracy," and "to uphold the reliability of
commitments we make to others."
Today, Haiti remains torn by political violence, instability and
severe human rights abuses. In 2001, the political situation became
so bad that the United States and the European Union cut off
financial aid to the Haitian government. This has only exacerbated
the situation. Haiti's per capita income in 1999 was just $460, and
80 percent of its people live in abject poverty. Haiti is poorer
today than many countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
In 1999, the United States led NATO's bombing campaign against
Yugoslavia, which precipitated a massive exodus of refugees from the
region. The attack, whose declared goal was to save Kosovo Albanians
from ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, was preceded by
claims that tens of thousands were killed by his forces.
Investigations have not borne out those claims, and it now appears
that the number of innocent people killed by the Yugoslav Army is
roughly comparable to the number killed by the NATO bombing designed
to save the country. Today, Kosovo is not a democracy. Foreign
occupation forces (KFOR) remain and the province is governed by the
UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), whose performance is criticized by
human rights organizations. Amnesty International reported in 2002
that "the police and judiciary failed to investigate and prosecute
those responsible for human rights violations and to ensure
international standards for fair trial," and complained that "UNMIK
and KFOR failed to fully protect and promote human rights."
According to the World Bank, 75 percent of Kosovo's budget comes
from foreign donors and this share is increasing. Prospects for a
viable and independent Kosovo are dim.
A short distance away in Bosnia, peace has been guaranteed since the
mid-1990s by the presence of large international forces, including
US troops. But despite all the efforts of the international
community, a stable multicultural democracy is nowhere in sight.
Rather, the international presence has frozen the status quo, which
includes the continued exile of millions of Bosnian Muslim, Serb and
Croat refugees forced from their homes in the early 1990s. Better
than active fighting, and the horrors of the Yugoslav wars, but
hardly an inspiring success for post-war reconstruction.
These experiences show that ardent promises made to gain support for
a military intervention quickly give way to apathy by Western
governments, media and the public, behind which long-standing
problems continue to fester unseen. Even if the United States were
motivated by sincere intentions to bring democracy to Iraq, recent
history serves as a warning. To this poor record, and America's
historic support for the most undemocratic regimes in the world,
including Israel's military dictatorship over the Palestinians and
undemocratic regimes in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, must now be added a
third factor. The hawks who have hijacked American foreign policy
have stated that their goal is to create a unipolar world ruled by
the United States. It is a zeal to reorganize the Middle East in the
interests of the United States and Israel that drives them.
Only the naive will believe emancipation for the people of Iraq or
anywhere else in the region fits into these schemes.
Ali Abunimah, a Chicago-based Palestinian-Jordanian analyst, media
critic and co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, wrote this
commentary for The Daily Star
_____________________________
Ali Abunimah
http://electronicIntifada.net
http://electronicIraq.net
Protest:
http://www.islam-online.net/english/News/2003-02/27/article06.shtml
Robert Fisk: America uses Israel's words to justify occupation
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=382362
Iraqis will Not be Pawns in Bush & Blair's War Game:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/uk-and-europe/2003/02/24/iraqis-will-not-be-pawns-in-bush-blair-s-war-game.php
Retired Air Force General Takes Bush to Task on Iraq:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/uk-and-europe/2003/02/27/retired-air-force-general-takes-bush-to-task-on-iraq.php
'Hidden Wars of Desert Storm' Film/'Madness of Empire':
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/articles/2003/02/27/hidden-wars-of-desert-storm-film-madness-of-empire.php
Robert Fisk: Don't Mention the War in Afghanistan:
The near collapse of peace in this savage land is a narrative erased from the mind of Americans
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=375608
Robert Fisk: The case against war: A conflict driven by the self-interest of America:
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=378428
Robert Fisk: How the News will be Censored in this War:
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=382362
February 27, 2003
U.S. Diplomat Resigns, Protesting 'Our Fervent Pursuit of War'
By FELICITY BARRINGER
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26 — A career diplomat who has served in United States embassies from Tel Aviv to Casablanca to Yerevan resigned this week in protest against the country's policies on Iraq.
The diplomat, John Brady Kiesling, the political counselor at the United States Embassy in Athens, said in his resignation letter, "Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson."
Mr. Kiesling, 45, who has been a diplomat for about 20 years, said in a telephone interview tonight that he faxed the letter to Secretary of State Colin L, Powell on Monday after informing Thomas Miller, the ambassador in Athens, of his decision.
He said he had acted alone, but "I've been comforted by the expressions of support I've gotten afterward" from colleagues.
"No one has any illusions that the policy will be changed," he said. "Too much has been invested in the war."
Louis Fintor, a State Department spokesman, said he had no information on Mr. Kiesling's decision and it was department policy not to comment on personnel matters.
In his letter, a copy of which was provided to The New York Times by a friend of Mr. Kiesling's, the diplomat wrote Mr. Powell: "We should ask ourselves why we have failed to persuade more of the world that a war with Iraq is necessary. We have over the past two years done too much to assert to our world partners that narrow and mercenary U.S. interests override the cherished values of our partners."
His letter continued: "Even where our aims were not in question, our consistency is at issue. The model of Afghanistan is little comfort to allies wondering on what basis we plan to rebuild the Middle East, and in whose image and interests."
It is rare but not unheard-of for a diplomat, immersed in the State Department's culture of public support for policy, regardless of private feelings, to resign with this kind of public blast. From 1992 to 1994, five State Department officials quit out of frustration with the Clinton administration's Balkans policy.
Asked if his views were widely shared among his diplomatic colleagues, Mr. Kiesling said: "No one of my colleagues is comfortable with our policy. Everyone is moving ahead with it as good and loyal. The State Department is loaded with people who want to play the team game — we have a very strong premium on loyalty."
U.S. Diplomat Resigns, Protesting 'Our Fervent Pursuit of War':
February 27, 2003
U.S. Diplomat Resigns, Protesting 'Our Fervent Pursuit of War'
By FELICITY BARRINGER
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26 — A career diplomat who has served in United States embassies from Tel Aviv to Casablanca to Yerevan resigned this week in protest against the country's policies on Iraq.
The diplomat, John Brady Kiesling, the political counselor at the United States Embassy in Athens, : http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2003/02/28/u-s-diplomat-s-letter-of-resignation-a-matter-of-conscienc.php
U.N. Official Warns Of Iraqi Food Crisis
Conflict Could Leave Millions Hungry By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 28, 2003; Page A18 BAGHDAD, Feb. 27 -- The United Nations' top humanitarian official in Iraq said today that civilians could face "extremely grave" conditions if U.S. forces attack, warning that at least 10 million people could run out of food within six weeks of the start of hostilities if they did not receive emergency aid.The official, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, said the Iraqi population's near-total dependence on government food rations means the United Nations and the United States would have to mount a massive and immediate humanitarian relief operation to prevent widespread starvation. Although plans call for the U.S. military to stockpile 3 million daily rations and the U.N. World Food Program to store food for 900,000 people for 10 weeks, he said those efforts would not be sufficient to satisfy the need.Lopes da Silva's comments, in an interview, depicted Iraqis' probable food needs after an invasion more starkly than the Bush administration or U.N. officials in New York have characterized them. The remarks seemed designed to alert decision-makers to what he sees as a potential humanitarian crisis despite pledges by the U.S. military to ensure people have enough to eat.The Bush administration has said it regards humanitarian relief as a U.S. responsibility in the early phases of an armed conflict, and U.S. officials have insisted they are moving aggressively
U.N. Official Warns Of Iraqi Food Crisis
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13499-2003Feb27.html
Conflict Could Leave Millions Hungry By Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 28, 2003; Page A18 BAGHDAD, Feb. 27 -- The United Nations' top humanitarian official in Iraq said today that civilians could face "extremely grave" conditions if U.S. forces attack, warning that at least 10 million people could run out of food within six weeks of the start of hostilities if they did not receive emergency aid.The official, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, said the Iraqi population's near-total dependence on government food rations means the United Nations and the United States would have to mount a massive and immediate humanitarian relief operation to prevent widespread starvation. Although plans call for the U.S. military to stockpile 3 million daily rations and the U.N. World Food Program to store food for 900,000 people for 10 weeks, he said those efforts would not be sufficient to satisfy the need.Lopes da Silva's comments, in an interview, depicted Iraqis' probable food needs after an invasion more starkly than the Bush administration or U.N. officials in New York have characterized them. The remarks seemed designed to alert decision-makers to what he sees as a potential humanitarian crisis despite pledges by the U.S. military to ensure people have enough to eat.The Bush administration has said it regards humanitarian relief as a U.S. responsibility in the early phases of an armed conflict, and U.S. officials have insisted they are moving aggressively to have enough supplies ready. But Lopes da Silva said he and other aid workers worry about uniformed soldiers distributing relief supplies to civilians, saying it "raises questions of blurring the lines" between combatants and humanitarian workers and "increases the danger to the humanitarians."In any case, a U.N. official said preparations so far by the U.S. military and the World Food Program are "grossly inadequate.""It's not nearly enough," the official said. "They need to be sending ships of wheat to the Persian Gulf along with ships of soldiers."In the interview, Lopes da Silva said the Iraqi government's efforts to give people six months' worth of extra rations have not worked out as intended. The extra rations lack adequate quantities of beans and other proteins, as well as weaning cereal for young children, he noted, and many families have sold some or all of the additional handouts to pay for gifts for recent holidays and for other supplies to prepare for a war.As a consequence, he said, the Iraqi government's much-touted six-month cushion actually is closer to six weeks. "After that, we will have to feed 10 million people," he said. "Eventually we'll have to feed the entire population."Because 60 percent of Iraqi households depend on government rations -- and most of the rest are deemed by the United Nations to be largely dependent on them -- a war "will have dramatic implications on the food intake of the population," said Lopes da Silva, a former World Food Program official who now supervises the U.N. program that allows Iraq to sell oil in exchange for food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies.He also warned that attacks on Iraq's infrastructure, particularly electricity generating stations, could force water treatment plants to shut down, leading to cholera, measles and other epidemics. While U.S. military officials have said they would attempt to minimize damage to civilian facilities, they have not ruled out hitting power plants.Even if a war results in minimal destruction to the civilian infrastructure, the downfall of President Saddam Hussein's government likely would result in the collapse of the program that feeds the country's 23 million people, U.N. officials said. In that case, U.S. and U.N. officials would have to reconstitute the existing rationing system or develop a new method of handing out food.Unlike in Afghanistan, international aid organizations have not played a significant role in the distribution of food here, meaning that those groups also would have to start from scratch if they wanted to help feed people."It will be an enormous -- if not impossible -- task," one U.N. official here said. "There is no precedent for an aid operation of this scale."Iraq spends about $1.3 billion every six months under the program to import wheat, rice, sugar and other commodities, which are distributed to every home using a network of local distribution agents. The ration system is regarded by the United Nations as the world's largest and most efficient food-distribution program of its kind. But most of the warehouses that store food purchased under the program are now empty, Lopes da Silva said, so there are no stockpiles on which U.S. soldiers and international aid workers could draw.The Bush administration has said it expects Iraqis to manage for several weeks on existing food supplies and emergency rations provided by the United States and international organizations. Planners in Washington anticipate that large segments of Iraq will be stable within days of a U.S.-led attack, permitting relief efforts even as fighting continues in Baghdad and elsewhere.If that happens, U.S. officials have said, food distribution to the majority of Iraqis could be restarted quickly.
Iraq Invasion: British MP Asks "Why Now"?
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2003/02/25/iraq-invasion-british-mp-asks-why-now.php
Warmongering Bush Speech from Last Night:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2003/02/27/warmongering-bush-speech-from-last-night.php
US/UK Imposed Iraq Sanctions Caused Genocide:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2003/02/27/us-uk-imposed-iraq-sanctions-caused-genocide.php
The Effect of Deplete Uranium Munitions:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/uk-and-europe/2003/02/27/fwd-the-effect-of-depleted-uranium-munitions.php
U.N. Finds No Long-Range Iraqi Missiles
Thu Feb 27, 6:00 PM ET
By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent The U.N. inspectors swarming over Iraq's missile industry found an infraction last week: The short-range Al Samoud 2 sometimes flies a few miles farther than allowed. But the experts have reported no sign of any longer-range missiles that could strike Israel or neighboring oil nations as Washington fears.
Russia Warns of Iraq War Resolution Veto
.c The Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) - Russia is ready to veto a U.S.-British resolution in the U.N. Security Council authorizing use of force against Iraq if such a step is needed to preserve ``international stability,'' Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Friday.
``Russia has the right to a veto in the U.N. Security Council and will use it if it is necessary in the interests of international stability,'' Ivanov said at a news conference in Beijing.
The foreign minister's comments came a day after China and Russia issued a joint declaration saying war with Iraq ``can and should be avoided'' and appealing for more time for U.N. weapons inspectors there.
The United States is seeking votes to support a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing war. France and Russia - both permanent council members with veto power over U.N. activities - as well as Germany are pushing a plan to continue weapons inspections for four more months.
``Of course, if you use the veto power you should fully understand the responsibilities of it before using it. It can only be used for international peace and stability,'' Ivanov said. ``At the same time Russia will not be in favor of any new resolution which allows the use of military force directly or indirectly to solve the Iraqi issue.''
Robert Fisk: "Fear and Learning in America:
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=285777
Old Arab Friends Turn Away From U.S.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2452-2003Feb25.html
Old Arab Friends Turn Away From U.S.
Policies Toward Iraq and Palestinians Alienate Pro-American Generation By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, February 26, 2003; Page A01 CAIRO, Feb. 25 -- With the bitterness of betrayal, Said Naggar looks out at a region on the brink of war and sees the wreckage of ideals he cherished and principles he proclaimed.The United States wants to partition Iraq, he argues in slow, deliberate tones, and covets the world's second-largest oil reserves. An invasion, he says, serves only Israel and a clique within the Bush administration "whose ignorance is matched only by their greed." A preemptive war, whose very premise he believes defies international law, signals the rebirth of colonialism and imperialism that seemed finished generations ago."I feel we have been deceived about the nature and character of the United States of America," he said.Remarkably, these are the words of a friend. Naggar is a World Bank veteran who quotes the Declaration of Independence and whose son is a U.S. citizen. His library is stocked with works of Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and "all the great founders." He lived for 17 years in Washington, where he says he never felt like a foreigner, and still longs for the city's intellectual and artistic life and his favorite Asian restaurants.In 1991, he founded a group called the New Civic Forum "to promote the ideas and ideals of the United States of America." Today, the very thought gives rise to a long, boisterous laugh."I still believe in these values," he said, wiping his eyes, "but I don't call them American ideals anymore."A generation of Arabs wooed by the United States and persuaded by its principles has become among the most vociferous critics of America's world view. Within its ranks are affluent businessmen with ties to the West, U.S.-educated intellectuals and liberal activists. Their ire is directed not at U.S. culture, but at preparations for a war that they believe has left them voiceless, discredited and isolated in a landscape almost universally opposed to U.S. policy.To them, the Bush administration's talk of a more democratic Arab world is rendered hollow by its policy toward the Palestinians and Iraq. They see their desire for more secular, progressive societies overwhelmed by growing radicalism and religious fervor, a tide so pronounced that it has caught even mainstream Islamic activists off guard. In sentimental tones, they lament the end of an era in which the United States appeared as a beacon."As far as I am concerned, this is going to be the first American-Arab war," said Mohamed Kamal, a professor at Cairo University. "If it ends with an American presence in Iraq, people have one description for this -- this is occupation, this is an American occupation of Arab land. America never had a colonial legacy in this part of the world, but it is about to have one."The shift among the Arab ruling and intellectual classes who identified with the West is a telling barometer in the Arab world. Anger at the United States appears greater than at any time since the 1967 Middle East war, greater even than during the headiest days of the 1950s, when Gamal Abdel Nasser ruled Egypt and made anti-imperialism a staple of his still-celebrated speeches. The fate of Iraqis and, to a greater degree, that of Palestinians have become pressing domestic issues.The broad anger is evident in many ways: attacks on Americans and other Westerners in the Persian Gulf region, chants at protests that denounce "American terrorism" in the same breath as "Israeli aggression," and ongoing efforts to boycott McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Pizza Hut and other U.S. products. There are also more subtle signs. Well-to-do Jordanians are said to spurn invitations to dinners attended by Americans. Cairo taxi drivers occasionally decline to pick up foreigners in expatriate enclaves. In a culture that celebrates a tradition of hospitality, some even refuse to offer the almost requisite coffee or tea to an American visitor.Among Egypt's wealthy, a group long disposed toward America, there has been a resurgence of religious piety that some see as a repudiation of the West and a visceral reclamation of identity. Amr Khaled, an accountant turned preacher, recently created a sensation by ministering to Cairo's wealthy with a television-evangelist style that contrasted with the robed, fire-and-brimstone preachers who long dominated religious sermons."The upper class used to be extremely loyal to the American ideal. It always saw the United States as the incarnation of its own ideals," said Mohamed Sayed Said, deputy director of Cairo's Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "Now they share the same negative view of the United States, that it targets Arabs and Muslims. That's the new element."For conservative Islamic activists, suspicion of the West has long extended beyond specific U.S. foreign policy to include the perceived lax morality of American popular culture and the overarching military, economic and political power that the United States represents. Their views are often expressed as a kind of Islamic triumphalism, a supremacist ideology familiar in the rhetoric of Osama bin Laden.But Naggar, Said and others said their disenchantment springs not from a fear of American power, but from a sense of betrayal of ideals. Despite their opposition to U.S. support for Israel, they point to the United States' lack of a colonial past and respect its democratic traditions. Egyptians still celebrate President Dwight D. Eisenhower's demand that the Israelis, British and French withdraw from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in the 1956 war. Arabs recall admiringly the decision in 1957 of a young senator, John F. Kennedy, to side with Algeria in its war for independence from France.Many younger, urban Arabs continue to find a place in their lives for American culture. In Lebanon, once ruled by the French, American-accented English has come to dominate. Hollywood movies remain popular. Sitting at McDonald's in Amman's ritzy Abdoun neighborhood over Cokes and a basket of half-eaten French fries, young Jordanians rattle off their favorite musicians -- Eminem, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur.But powerful and once sympathetic voices have turned decisively against U.S. policy. Reda Hilal, a columnist for Egypt's leading newspaper, the English-language Al-Ahram Weekly, was once a stalwart defender of U.S.-Arab ties. He now talks of America's arrogance of power. Hani Shukrallah, managing editor of the Al-Ahram Weekly, recalled a dinner last week in which leading Egyptian businessmen involved in joint ventures with Israeli companies and exports to the United States "were speaking like leftist university students."When an American landed on the moon in 1969, "we thought he was one of us," reminisced Mustafa Hamarneh, director of the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan. Now, he argued, not even the most pro-American elements of Jordanian society believe the United States is sincere in its talk of freedom and democracy for the Arab world.With a war, he said, "it will be almost impossible for people to be in open alliance with America on issues in the future."
Losing the Benefit of the Doubt
Kamal, the Cairo University professor, earned his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University in 2001, lived in Dupont Circle and worked as a congressional fellow in the House of Representatives, but he said he is at a loss to explain U.S. policy to the 200 students in his international relations class."We're not talking about defending American actions, just explaining them," said Kamal, 36. "You feel you're on the defensive. You don't know what to say. It's like the cup is totally empty. Not half-empty and half-full, and you can explain the full part. It's totally empty when it comes to Iraq and Palestine. It's difficult to give the Americans the benefit of the doubt."For weeks, Kamal said, he has labored to put together a model U.S. Congress, in which students would simulate the workings of the Foreign Relations, Finance and Armed Services committees. Its slogan: "Experience U.S. politics and its influence over our world." But he said a war will likely force him to cancel it."What's next, the Israeli Knesset?" Kamal recalled one university official asking him."This is what really worries me," he said. "Emotions have overwhelmed rationality in dealing with the United States."Concern that anti-American sentiment will overwhelm the region is shared, perhaps ironically, by mainstream Islamic groups that risk losing ground to a more radical younger guard.In Egypt and Jordan, the mainstream is represented by the Muslim Brotherhood, whose leaders -- some with years of jail time on their r?m?-- remain the most credible opposition figures and targets of often fierce government repression. Having disavowed violence decades ago, the group dominates the professional unions that serve as the focus of still-feeble civil societies in both countries, and its widespread clinics, hospitals, pharmacies and schools often outperform shabby government alternatives.Islamic leaders in Jordan fear the repercussions of a war in Iraq on a rank and file who are predominantly Palestinian and considered more militant. In an unusual Letter from the Youth published in the leading Arabic newspaper Al Hayat in April, the younger guard in Egypt questioned the movement's long-standing policy of not confronting a state that has tolerated few protests.Fearful of the growing appeal of bin Laden as a symbol of defiance to the United States, mainstream Islamic scholars have even spoken out in recent weeks against transforming resentment of U.S. policy into a conflict between Islam and Christianity. Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a leading Shiite cleric in Lebanon, warned this month of a "wave of retardation and myth" rolling over the Arab world. Leading Islamic voices in Egypt took to the pages of prominent Arabic newspapers last week to denounce a clash of civilizations when millions protested in Europe and the United States against a war."It's very difficult for a moderate movement to maintain its moderation in a violent, repressive atmosphere," said Emad Eldin Shahin, an expert on Islamic movements at the American University in Cairo.While some analysts see a broad return to piety across the Arab world as a response to the crisis, others predict gloomier scenarios of violence in the event of war. Officials are blunt in their assessment that the growing resignation of Arab governments to a war has engendered deep-seated popular resentment over their seeming inability to stand up to the United States. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's support has diminished markedly over the past decade, but most expect the war to be portrayed as an aggression against a fellow Arab country, rather than a mission to depose him."The situation has become very scary. There's a real sense of doom," said Shukrallah, the editor at Al-Ahram Weekly. "What's interesting to me is that no one has any kind of scenario on how this disaster will unfold."For Hamad Abdel-Aziz Kawari, a former Qatari ambassador to the United States, the disillusionment itself is enough.Sitting in his seaside office in Doha underneath two pictures of former president George Bush, he boasted that his three children were graduates of George Washington University. He straddles two worlds, he said, having served eight years in the United States. But the American ideals he respects, he said, are overshadowed by the foreign policy he sees."You want to be friends. And to be friends you have to be convinced your friend is doing something good," he said."Believe me and write this," he added. "Nobody hates America. America used to be a great example, it was not a colonial power in the region. Our sons and brothers work with American businesses. I am very sorry that American policy is threatening the human relations between the nations. The Americans are antagonizing their friends."Special correspondent Alia Ibrahim in Beirut contributed to this report.
PNAC Group....The List of Players:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2003/01/31/pnac-group-the-list-of-players.php
JINSA (Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs) Zionist Extremist Planned Iraq 'Regime Change' before Bush Presidency:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/12/31/bush-planned-iraq-regime-change-before-becoming-president.php
Wake Up America: YOUR GOVERNMENT IS HIJACKED BY ZIONISM:
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/middle-east-and-asia/2002/09/29/wake-up-america-your-government-is-hijacked-by-zionism.php | |  | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
