Objectives of the U.S. War against Terror [Archives:2002/04/Law & Diplomacy]
(Part 6 of 10)
Ahmad M. Abdulghani
Chairman of the al-Jazeera & al-Khaleej Center for Studies
The United States fought many wars in the last ten years in southern Europe, namely in the Balkan region; which were over immediately after achieving the objectives of those wars. However, the war in its different forms against Iraq is still in full swing and this proves that the US wars in the Arab region have special objectives and dimensions. This makes many people wonder when the decade-old sanctions imposed on Iraq will be lifted. Indeed, this is a legitimate and a logical inquiry because the reasons on which the sanctions were imposed are no longer existent.
The Arab world is still hopeful that the US government will recalculate its policies despite its biased stance towards Israel. Since the new world order heralded by the USA has gained growing official recognition it still needs a popular acceptance so as to support it and consolidate it. The US propagation for the new world order and its advantages has placed its relations with the Third World countries in a state of fear and willingness. Interestingly, this situation could be conductive for a positive development in achieving the aspired goals.
The mishaps that accompanied the American presidential elections of November 2000 had undoubtedly shook the US democratic system in the eyes of many of its friends. Thus, the new American administration has adopted a program that aims at restoring the image of the US democratic system and strengthening its status on the part of its friends and allies. As far as the Arab world is concerned, the US administration has attempted to know more about their orientations and views, particularly with regard to the Palestinian issue. However, the meeting with Arab leaders has been to no avail as the proposal of smart sanctions against Iraq is indicative of the US government’s bad will towards Iraq.
Similarly, Sharon’s government has attempted to reshuffle the situation and bring the peace process backwards most likely encouraged by the leakage of the US report which included 12 recommendations to be used as a basis in dealing with the region. Following the terrorist attacks of 11 September, all countries of the world have sympathized with the US government for the most part on a humanitarian ground as well as from the perspective that the USA is in practice the world leader. Besides, the scientific and technological breakthroughs achieved by the United States are after all victories for all humanity. This sympathy is potentially subservient to grow in ways that serve human aspirations for international peace and security, especially if there is a conductive ground for building up trust and understanding among the countries of the world. But, after hours of the attacks the US officials accused Arabs and Muslims of being behind them. These accusations have been also coupled with a fierce media campaign, which necessitated on each Arab and Muslim to prove himself to have no connection to the attacks. In fact, these accusations were either based on anger or misunderstanding of the second party. Many sick mentalities have taken advantage of these incidents and attempted to distort the image of Arabs and Muslims plus creating a gap between Muslims and the West. The most fatal accusations made by those people are to make Islam pertinent to terrorism and violence.
If the US president George W. Bush has provoked the sentiments of Arabs and Muslims when he branded the situation as “a new crusade,” the US security authorities had further improperly tackled the situation, especially when the CIA and the FBI retrieved very old lists of suspected Arabs.
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