[iwar] [fc:Arab.Allies.Unconvinced.by.Evidence]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-08 07:12:12

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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2001 07:12:12 -0700 (PDT)
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Arab Allies Unconvinced by Evidence
The Associated Press, Mon 8 Oct 2001

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Washington's NATO partners listened to the evidence
against terror suspect Osama bin Laden and responded by lending military
hardware. 

British Prime Minister Tony Blair listened and declared unequivocally
that America had identified those responsible for the Sept.  11 terror
attacks in the United States. 

But in the Mideast, allies listened and, at least publicly, remain
unconvinced America has enough proof for its war on terrorism, which
began Sunday with strikes against largely Muslim Afghanistan.  That has
been clear in recent days in the silence in several key Arab capitals,
where officials have received briefings on U.S.  evidence against bin
Laden, a Saudi exile living in Afghanistan who has been accused of
masterminding the attacks. 

With no official guidance, ordinary Arabs speculate wildly.  One popular
rumor has it that Israel was behind the attacks as part of a plot to
defame Muslims. 

``America rushed into this.  There is no evidence,'' Mohammed Fathi, a
20-year-old student, said Sunday as he gathered with friends around a
television in a Cairo cafe to watch news of the U.S.  attacks on
Afghanistan. 

Most Arab states are autocracies in which the masses have little
influence over policy.  Nonetheless, widespread opposition to joining a
U.S.  anti-terror coalition has made leaders in the region wary of
publicly aligning themselves with Washington. 

Again and again since Sept.  11, protesters on the streets and
politicians in parliaments have linked the attacks on New York and
Washington to anger at America's Mideast policy.  Among other
complaints, the United States is seen as favoring Israel in its conflict
with the Palestinians and trying to destroy Iraq through sanctions
dating from the 1991 Persian Gulf War. 

Walid Kazziha, a political scientist at the American University in
Cairo, said that if any Arab leader publicly stated that bin Laden
masterminded the suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, ``people will say, `Look, he's been bought by the
Americans.'''

In Egypt, which helped the United States persuade other Arab states to
join the Gulf War coalition against Iraq, newspapers have reported only
briefly that U.S.  Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld briefed officials
on the evidence against bin Laden during a visit to Cairo last week. 

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal was quoted by Time magazine
as saying Saudi Arabia believed U.S.  evidence showed bin Laden was
responsible for the Sept.  11 attacks.  But the Saudi media had not
conveyed that to the Saudi people. 

Saudi Arabia, which hosts a large U.S.  air base, has said no troops
would be allowed to use its bases to launch attacks on Arabs or Muslims. 

NATO members, in contrast, granted the United States access to their
airfields and seaports and agreed to deploy ships and early warning
radar planes in Washington's war against terrorism. 

In Kuwait, which owes its liberation from Iraq to a U.S.-led coalition,
an official said in Sunday papers that Kuwait had received evidence
against bin Laden, but made no further comment. 

On Sunday, Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa Miro called for an
international conference on how to deal with terrorism and distinguish
between terrorist cells and groups trying to end the Israeli occupation
of Arab lands. 

The proposed meeting should ``differentiate between terrorism and the
right of people to liberate their land,'' Miro said. 

The call comes ahead of a crucial Oct.  10 meeting of the Organization
of Islamic Conference member states in Doha, Qatar, where discussions
are expected to focus on a unified Muslim position on terrorism. 

------------------
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