Posted on 07/04/2002 2:47:18 PM PDT by TheRedSoxWinThePennant
Bush speech seen as a slap to Arab allies
LONDON , 4 July — If President Bush had aimed to crank the motor of Islamic militancy, his Middle East policy speech was just the job, analysts said.
"This is God's gift to Osama bin Laden," said Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Arab newspaper al-Quds, who has interviewed the Saudi-born militant in the past. "Bush pleased two people -- the ultra-rightwing Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and the ultra-rightwing fundamentalist bin Laden. He confirmed bin Laden's argument that America is Israel and Israel is America," Atwan said.
Arab and Western analysts said Bush's long-awaited speech was a slap to Washington's Arab allies who had tried to convince the US leader that only a swift end to Israeli occupation and a clearly marked path to Palestinian statehood could enable Arafat to outflank suicide bombers and revive peace talks.
Instead, Bush echoed Sharon's demand for the removal of Yasser Arafat, one of the few democratically elected Arab leaders, and set tough conditions for a Palestinian state.
Toby Dodge, of London's Royal Institute of International Affairs, described it as a "spectacular diplomatic faux pas."
"He has poured oil on the flames," Dodge declared, citing Bush's remarks as evidence of how a unilateralist ideology, embodied by the post-September 11 "war on terror," had outweighed more pragmatic impulses in the US administration.
"If you are trying to stop something big coming out of the sky, this not the way to go about it," he said.
Sparking anger
"The reaction will be tragic both in occupied Palestine and in the United States, where the lunatics and terrorists will act to take revenge," said Imad Shueibi, a political science professor at Damascus University.
"The United States is handing them the raw material." Islamists themselves argued Bush had vindicated their views.
"Bush's statement does not give people in the region a ray of hope," said London-based Egyptian militant Yasser el-Serri.
"Not only bin Laden and his group but all Islamic people will see Bush as a swindler working to realize Israel's wishes, impose US hegemony on the region and eliminate legitimate resistance," Serri told Reuters.
Bin Laden's hatred of the United States initially arose from the presence of "infidel" US troops in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, but he has sought to broaden his message.
"Clearly bin Laden has been acting as focal point for Arab street anger over Palestine, Iraq and a feeling of alienation from a US-dominated world order," said Dodge.
Bin Laden, accused by Washington of ordering the September 11 strikes and other attacks, has lain low since the campaign to rout his al-Qaeda network and its Taliban allies in Afghanistan.
Evidence suggesting that al Qaeda remains active includes this month's capture of a "dirty bomber" in the United States and that of a cell in Morocco including three Saudis said to have been plotting suicide attacks on US and British warships.
"I don't think al Qaeda has the organizational capacity to carry out another spectacular right now," Dodge said.
"But I think the Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership have licked their wounds and are now planning what to do next."
Atwan of al-Quds said he expected bin Laden to show himself again on videotape only after a major al Qaeda attack on the West. "He will definitely emerge after al-Qaeda hits back...to prove he is still alive, in control and triumphant," he said.
Vulnerable Arab leaders
Meanwhile, Bush's effective endorsement of Sharon had handed him a propaganda windfall: "Bin Laden will say to moderate Arab leaders: 'This is your ally, the man you were betting on. You made Washington your Mecca and you could not change a single sentence in Bush's speech, which was written by Sharon'."
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Jordan's King Abdullah have all tried to swing Bush behind a plan to offer Israel normal ties if it withdraws from all Arab land. Bush's speech did not mention that plan.
The US war on terror was contradictory, Atwan argued: "They are fighting it with aircraft carriers and marines, but giving radicals the ammunition to justify their war against the United States by siding fully with the ultra-right in Israel."
Mustafa Alani, a London-based Iraqi security analyst, said bin Laden could use Bush's demands on the Palestinians to taunt pro-Western governments in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and elsewhere.
"It's a bonus for bin Laden," he said. "He calls Arab leaders lackeys of the United States. This idea that the United States can pick and choose Arab leaders proves his point that their legitimacy depends on Washington, not their own people." (Reuters)
See: Many Saudis among 293 arrested [Pak], Frontier Post, July 4, 2002, by Shujaat Ali Khan (posted by Ranger).
See: A Ray of Arab Candor: A U. N. report by Middle-Eastern intellectuals blames Arab culture, City Journal, July 4, 2002, by Victor Davis Hanson (posted by aculeus).
See: Islam - Study Warns of Stagnation in Arab Societies, New York Times, July 2, 2002, by Barbara Crossette (posted by swarthyguy).
See: U.S. Sudan Ambassador Confirms Clinton Snubbed Bin Laden Deal, NewsMax.com, July 2, 2002, by Carl Limbacher (posted by NormsRevenge).
See: Are too many Muslims in denial about September 11?, The Telegraph (U.K.), by Barbara Amiel, Mar. 4, 2002 (posted by Pokey78).
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