Al-Qaeda's strength highlights urgent need for changes in US policy

Thursday, May 27, 2004


Before the United States invaded Iraq, wise heads warned that far from being a decisive blow in the US-led global "war on terror," this latest adventure
would only fuel international terrorism. A report just released by the
International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank, "Strategic Survey
2003/4," states that Al-Qaeda's ranks are growing as a direct result of the
conflict in Iraq, and the number of Al-Qaeda "potential terrorists" is
estimated at more than 18,000.

Specifically, the report says, "Iraq has become the new magnet of Al-Qaeda's
war against the United States ... The US-led war in Iraq has increased the
risk to Western interests in Arab countries." Although the number of
Al-Qaeda-affiliated "terrorists" is probably exaggerated, the basic premise
of the report is accurate: US policies with respect to the Arab and Muslim
worlds is a gift to Al-Qaeda recruiters.

These policies, inadvertently or otherwise, include the ongoing scandal of
prisoner abuse by US forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. If the same
mental process that delivered the shock of Abu Ghraib is still extent in
other covert operations, the war on terror is lost and the world should
brace for catastrophe. So too is the alliance of radical Israeli settlers in
the Occupied Territories on the one hand, and American fundamentalist
Christians and the neo-conservative right on the other hand, like a red rag
to an already enraged bull.

In short, what the United States and its ally, Israel, are doing is
destroying both their own hopes for peace and prosperity and those of the
Arab and Muslim worlds.

Thus is a vicious circle in the process of spiraling
out of control, and something must be done to bring it to a standstill.

Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states must make a move, and urgently. They
have the prestige, power, influence and resources to establish and bolster
their own lobby groups in the United States. The mission? To puncture
Washington's bubble of madness, for all our sakes. The message? To convince
Washington that the mascot of US diplomacy in the Middle East, indeed,
globally, must be justice. Justice, even-handed and impartial, is the only
solution, the only way out of the potentially fatal trap in which current
policy has America ensnared.

The Gulf Arab states must act, and Washington must respond. There is no
alternative, and time is a precious commodity.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&article_id=4484&categ_
id=17