[iwar] [fc:A.time.to.choose.(friend.or.foe)]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-05 19:55:15
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 19:55:15 -0700 (PDT)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:A.time.to.choose.(friend.or.foe)]
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                         Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.

                           October 3, 2001
                           A time to choose

Among the most memorable passages in President Bush's extraordinary
address to the joint session of Congress on Sept.  20 was the challenge
he posed to others around the world: "Every nation, in every region, now
has a decision to make.  Either you are with us, or you are with the
terrorists.  From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor
or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile
regime."

The New York Post reported on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon has asked that the United States formally include Hamas, Islamic
Jihad and Hezbollah on its list of targeted terrorist groups in the wake
of the Sept.  11 attacks in New York and Washington.  Such a step would
establish that the governments of Iran, Syria and Lebanon and the
Palestinian Authority – all of which "harbor or support" one or more of
these groups – would be deemed to be "hostile regimes." Colin Powell's
State Department is adamantly resisting this step, however.  In fact, it
is actively seeking to enlist the aforementioned (among other unsavory
regimes, such as those of Sudan, Cuba and Algeria) as members of the
anti-terrorism coalition.  Just last Friday, Secretary Powell wrote
members of the U.S.  Senate opposing draft legislation aimed at imposing
sanctions on the Palestinian Authority's access to weapons if it does
not meet its commitments to fight terrorism.  His letter claimed that,
"The Palestinian compliance legislation ...  would be counterproductive
to our coalition-building and peace process efforts and we would like to
see it withdrawn." In other words, even if you are not "with us," you
can continue to benefit from American legitimation and assistance. 

This is all the more extraordinary – and insulting to Israel – since the
State Department issued on Sept.  12 a report condemning these groups
and the aid and comfort they receive from the Palestinian Authority.  As
noted in Sunday's editions of the Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz:

[The] half-yearly report stated that the PA was not preventing
incitement and was even engaged itself in incitement.  [It] added that,
although the Palestinian Authority continued to adopt an official line
opposing terrorism, organizations affiliated with the PA ...  were
responsible for attacks against Israelis [and that] the evidence would
suggest that they were aware of the involvement of [such organizations]
...  in the attacks but did little to restrain them.  Israel is not the
only nation to have suffered from terrorism at the hands of such groups,
though.  As Salon Magazine reported earlier this month, the State
Department has also determined that "Hezbollah is known or suspected to
have been involved in numerous anti-U.S.  terrorist attacks." Hamas has
killed American citizens in its war on Israel.  (For that matter, Yasser
Arafat is personally implicated in the murder of two American diplomats
in Khartoum more than two decades ago.)

It is, therefore, extraordinary indeed that the Bush administration has
been courting organizations in this country that have refused to condemn
the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah – some have even publicly applauded
those terrorist groups.  The president himself has met twice in as many
weeks with leaders of American-Muslim organizations that have defended
Hamas and Hezbollah.  For example, in a November 2000 rally held in
Lafayette Park, the then-executive director of one of these
organizations, the American Muslim Council, declared "We are all
supporters of Hamas.  I wish they add that I am also a supporter of
Hezbollah." When he asked those present whether there were any other
supporters of Hezbollah among them, the crowd roared its approval.  As
it happens, even as Mr.  Bush was meeting for the second time with
representatives of the American Muslim Council and other self-appointed
"leaders" of that community to express his solidarity with law-abiding
people of the Islamic faith in this country, the American Muslim Council
web site prominently featured a statement telling its members "Don't
talk to the FBI." This warning, authored by the National Coalition to
Protect Political Freedoms – a conclave of largely hard-left
organizations that includes the American Muslim Council, the Council on
American Islamic Relations and other Muslim groups – declared: "The FBI
is looking for information to use against you, your family and/or your
community.  The FBI has a history of harassing and harming minority and
immigrant communities.  Some people are spending a long time in jail
because they or their friends talked to the FBI."

It is hard to believe that Mr.  Bush wants to be legitimating such views
of U.S.  law enforcement or discouraging, even implicitly, Americans of
any faith or community from cooperating fully with the war on terrorism. 
It is equally improbable that he wants to communicate in any way that
those who support terrorists – whether by endorsing their activities,
providing them with financial assistance and/or harboring their
organizations – can really be on our team.  If not, the president will
have to make a choice, too, by insisting at a minimum that those who
want the honor of meeting with him or otherwise being deemed on the
right side in the war against international terror must first publicly
renounce and convincingly end all associations with terrorist
organizations and their supporters.  Frank J.  Gaffney, Jr. 

©2001 Center for Security Policy


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