Posted on 10/22/2001 7:12:45 AM PDT by veronica
US 'risks making Ben Laden a hero' in Bahrain
By Lachlan Carmichael
Agence France-Presse
MANAMA — The US war on Afghanistan risks turning chief terror suspect Osama Ben Laden into a hero in the Gulf Arab state of Bahrain, which is home port for the US Fifth Fleet, Muslim clerics and others said here Sunday. Protesters at an anti-US rally here on Friday for the first time expressed public support for Ben Laden, though others have uttered it privately in this island nation allied with the United States.
“With the American actions, they're making him a hero, a martyr,” according to Adnan Ben Abdullah Al Ghattan, an Islamic court judge here in Manama.
Muslims are rallying around Ben Laden because US forces are attacking him without providing proof of his guilt in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.
They also like how he stands up for the Arabs, perceived as downtrodden by the West.
“They're looking for a leader. They complain of injustice. They will support any figure” who stands up for Arab rights in the Palestinian territories, Iraq or elsewhere, Sheikh Adnan said.
Adnan's remarks were echoed by several other Bahrainis, including a Sunni Muslim cleric who spoke at the rally on Friday as well as by an influential Shiite Muslim cleric, Sheikh Abdul Amir Jamri.
However, they agreed that the Bahraini people were not expressing support for Ben Laden's extreme political views.
“The Arabs are looking for a leader who will take them from their misery,” said Sheikh Mohammed Khaled, a preacher at the Adliya mosque who called for an immediate end to the US war on Afghanistan while speaking to Friday's rally.
He also denounced all attacks on civilians, whether in the United States or elsewhere.
Some of the 300 protesters carried a photograph of Ben Laden and placards reading: “Ben Laden, we are with you.”
Another sign read: “God is the greatest ... and anthrax is just the beginning.”
Sheikh Mohammed, interviewed after the protest, portrayed the placard as suggesting that the United States was being cursed for attacking Afghanistan and harming innocent children and people.
“It's the beginning of God's war on America,” he said, referring to the numerous cases of letters containing anthrax powder being sent to news media organisations and Congress.
On Sunday, the anthrax scare spread to Bahrain but investigators said white powder found at American Express appeared to be harmless.
The Bahraini government meanwhile has been careful to say that no military operations have been launched from Bahrain or its territorial waters, and criticism of the US military presence here was muted.
Sheikh Mohammed acknowledged that many Bahrainis were “not happy” about their archipelago serving as the home port for the Fifth Fleet, which plies the Gulf region and the Indian Ocean.
Sheikh Jamri said: “We don't approve of being part of attacking any Muslim country. But the American presence here or base — if it doesn't affect our Islamic identity — we're not against it.”
A statement from a Bahraini information ministry official said “everybody in Bahrain is against Ben Laden.”
Looks like Bin Laden has brought more misery to those associated with him. There is no reason to embrace him as your leader.
No risks.
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