Arabs wary of US war aims

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Arabs wary of US war aims

AFP

Cairo, Sept 16

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Arab states are cooperating with a US campaign against

terrorism, seeing a chance to advance their own battle against

Islamic militants, but remain opposed to joining a US-led military

coalition.

 

At a time when Arab anger is rising at Washington's backing of

Israel, Arab leaders are wary of being sucked into a US military

campaign, all the more so because they fear Israel will turn the

terror attacks to their benefit.

 

US Secretary of State Colin Powell looked Friday to the Arab

world as the United States forged ahead in building a global

anti-terrorism coalition to back US retaliation for the strikes in

New York and Washington.

 

But Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak opposes any anti-terrorist

coalition to confront the attacks on the United States that is not

under the auspices of the United Nations.

 

"A coalition grouping a select number of countries must not be

formed since that will not permit decisive and collective

international action against terrorism," Mubarak said in the

government-run Al-Ahram daily on Saturday.

 

"It would be better to hold an international conference against

terrorism under the auspices of the United Nations to adopt

binding resolutions for all the countries of the world," he said.

 

Morocco and Jordan, two other Arab allies of the United States,

also expressed reservations about a military engagement, while

no Arab country says it is ready to take part in military action.

 

King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Thursday urged Washington

to favor negotiations while Jordan's King Abdullah II said the

anti-US attacks would not have occurred if Washington had

settled the problems in the Middle East.

 

If a majoritiy of Arab countries took part in the US-led military

coalition against Iraq's invasion of Kuwait more than 10 years

ago, the circumstances are very different today, according to

analyst Ahmed Abdul Halim.

 

"The Gulf War was about restoring the sovereignty of a country

which had been stricken from the map by another," said General

Halim, an analyst with the pro-government Cairo Center for

Middle East Studies.

 

"But today, the Arabs cannot join a coalition whose goals are

unclear and while Israel is trying to include Palestinian

organizations like Hamas and Jihad, or Hezbollah of Lebanon,

on a list of terrorist groups," he added.

 

Makram Mohamed Ahmed, editor-in-chief of the weekly

Al-Mussawar, considered close to senior Egyptian officials, said

Arabs must be cautious of the aims of an anti-terrorist coalition.

 

"Before there is any anti-terrorist coalition, there must be a clear

definition of terrorism which does not confuse terrorist groups

and resistance movements against occupation such as Hamas,

Jihad and Hezbollah," Ahmed said.

 

"If the group of Osama bin Laden is the top suspect in the

attacks on September 11, the United States is the second

suspect, because they have let the fire burn by allying

themselves with Israel," he said.

 

"Bin Laden has benefitted from American injustice to fool young

Arabs and exploit them in his ideological battle against the

United States," Ahmed said.

 

The fight against terrorism, he added, "requires a rebalancing of

the American position in the Middle East."

 

Arab countries are meanwhile pursuing their security

cooperation with the United States, especially in the exchange of

information.

 

Egypt, where the FBI has had an office running since February

1997, is a key country in such cooperation, as two armed

Egyptian groups, Jamaa Islamiya and Islamic Jihad, are allied

with bin Laden's group.