Return-Path: <sentto-279987-3523-1004197342-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 [204.181.12.215] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.7.4) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Sat, 27 Oct 2001 08:43:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 23030 invoked by uid 510); 27 Oct 2001 15:41:44 -0000 Received: from n18.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.68) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 27 Oct 2001 15:41:44 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-3523-1004197342-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.1.223] by n18.groups.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 27 Oct 2001 15:42:24 -0000 X-Sender: ozair_rasheed@geocities.com X-Apparently-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_0_1); 27 Oct 2001 15:42:22 -0000 Received: (qmail 72185 invoked from network); 27 Oct 2001 15:42:21 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by 10.1.1.223 with QMQP; 27 Oct 2001 15:42:21 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mail.isd.wol.net.pk) (208.242.129.253) by mta3 with SMTP; 27 Oct 2001 15:42:20 -0000 Received: from ozair ([65.202.13.76]) by mail.isd.wol.net.pk (8.9.0/8.9.0) with ESMTP id UAA18587 for <iwar@yahoogroups.com>; Sat, 27 Oct 2001 20:40:14 +0500 (PKT) To: "Info War" <iwar@yahoogroups.com> Message-ID: <001301c15eff$71236120$6301a8c0@crestech.com> X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook, Build 10.0.2616 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Importance: Normal From: "Mohammad Ozair Rasheed" <ozair_rasheed@geocities.com> X-Yahoo-Profile: ozair_rasheed Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 20:52:47 +0500 Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] Taliban appeal worries Egypt Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable http://www.metimes.com/2K1/issue2001-43/methaus.htm Taliban appeal worries Egypt By Amil Khan Middle East Times staff Away from his usual jokes and semi-permanent laugh, Yasser, a 35-year-old shopkeeper from Cairo, looks up, peers over his glasses and says, "Bin Laden wants to give us back our respect, bring us closer together and set our societies back on the straight path. I don't think that he carried out the attacks on America, and the Taliban don't think he did either. But, since he's their guest and they have offered him protection, they are now willing to die for him. They have honor." However, Yasser looks nothing like the marginalized bearded fanatic that Muslim governments would have the world believe are the only people who see Osama Bin Laden as a man with a just mission. In fact, it would be fair to say Yasser is as far from a religious conservative as it is possible to get. He likes to drink Egypt's Stella beer from time to time, can get his friends anything from uncensored videos to marijuana, and will spend hours discussing Jean-Claude Van Damme action films. It is the quietly-building grassroots support for people like Bin Laden, along with the deteriorating image of the West, and America in particular, that has been worrying Egypt's pro-western government since the September attacks. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, most of the world tried to decide where to position itself in relation to America's "new war". The Arab regimes realized that the West's newly-intensified abhorrence of terror attacks carried out in the name of Islam offered them the opportunity to indulge in some domestic spring-cleaning. Egypt, in particular, had, for 20 years, been trying to persuade Western countries to hand back suspected Egyptian terrorists who had sought asylum. Western governments were well aware that Egypt had been pursuing its opponents with ruthless vigor and those seeking asylum could easily show that their lives were in danger if they returned home. However, September 11 changed all that. The Egyptian prime minister, Atef Ebeid, proudly suggested that Western countries, instead of criticizing Egypt, as they had for 20 years, should have followed in its footsteps. As governments around the world began to re-examine their files on Egyptians who had escaped Cairo's clutches, the Egyptian authorities began rounding up members of Islamic jihad and Gamaa Islamia and ordering their trials before military courts. The climate worked in favor of the authorities. Instead of facing political pressure from the United States or European countries, Cairo only had to brush aside the muffled protests of groups such as Human Rights Watch. America was not prepared to defend groups that, in its view, have similar outlooks to those that had carried out the suicide bombings in Washington and New York – and it was definitely not ready to anger a much-needed 'anti-terrorist' ally. After Gamaa and jihad came the turn of the peaceful, popular and banned Islamic-orientated opposition movement, Muslim Brotherhood. Legal sources announced on October 22 that four members of the Brotherhood had been arrested and ordered into detention for 15 days. Muhammad Abbas, an engineer, and three teachers, Muhammad Hassan, Khaled Al Samuli, and Hossam Habashi, had been arrested on October 20 in Alexandria. Government figures in Egypt have come to realize that the public's simmering anti-American and pro-Bin Laden feelings could threaten the regime. In a seminar on Arab economic integration, held on October 21, Gamal Mubarak, son of President Hosni Mubarak, told the audience: "Our Arab societies were mobilized against the West even before the September 11…. Today, we are urged to double our efforts to set things straight… and not to allow certain forces to exert their retrograde influence on us." Egypt's present government, which started life through an anti-Western, anti-imperialist, socialist coup in 1952, has emerged as one of America's strongest regional allies. However, a population angered by perceived American bias towards Israel and lack of interest in the suffering of Iraqi and Palestinian civilians, is not entirely convinced that reliance on America is a good thing. Muhammad Ahmed Abdullah, a security guard from the Cairo district of Bulaq, told the Middle East Times, "Unfortunately we need American help, but I wish we didn't. They made our government sell its soul." Yasser Bakry, a 28-year-old businessman from the Cairo district of Imbaba, added with zeal: "Soon we won't need it and they can go to hell." Well aware of the anti-American and anti-Western mood of its people, the Egyptian government is attempting a balancing act. Although the authorities generally frown on public demonstrations, they realize the need to let people vent their anger. However, protests that are allowed to take place are always surrounded by a security force often greater in number than the demonstrators. Egypt's annual $2 billion aid package from Washington was unknown to many Egyptians until American commentators mentioned it last year in their criticisms of Egypt. The government felt obliged to counter by pointing out that aid (which it said it hoped to replace soon with trade) did not give any country the right to "buy" Egyptian foreign policy. The government's attempt to convince the population that instead of becoming a tool of American policy it has managed to convince the Americans to part with cash for Egypt's own development without bowing to American pressure, has begun to sound increasingly hollow. When the present Palestinian intifada kicked off a year ago, student demonstrators began to carry placards expressing dismay at U.S. backing for Israel. Some placards asked: "Where is the Egyptian army?" President Mubarak appeared on TV telling the nation that Egypt had done its duty in previous conflicts with Israel and could not afford another war. After the demonstrations came the public boycott. Lists began circulating of U.S. products and services that should be avoided to make America realize that pro-Israeli policies would have an economic impact on their own industries. However, within weeks dismay set in as the realization dawned that many American products were produced in Egypt and any boycott of them would have a negative impact on the Egyptian economy. Without a free press – and public examination of official policies frowned upon – government statements presented by a compliant state-run media are fast becoming unacceptable. The present mood represents the most dangerous threat to the regime, which has, so far, been spared a rising tide of revolutionary opposition. The Iranian revolution didn't inspire the masses, as the Shia revolutionaries had first hoped, and Egypt's armed militants' attacks on civilians set many people against them. Today, while Egyptians feel little affinity for the Taliban, the U.S.-led attacks against it are tending to confirm the view of America as a nation "on the other side," a world power on which their government relies but which Arabs and Muslims cannot trust. For them, the experience of Palestinians in the intifada confirms that American help may well not be there when they really need it. The government's balancing act has just become that much harder. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Pinpoint the right security solution for your company- Learn how to add 128- bit encryption and to authenticate your web site with VeriSign's FREE guide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/yQix2C/33_CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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