By
Angy Ghannam & Hani Bishr, IOL Staff
CAIRO,
December 13 (IslamOnline) - The version of "democracy"
suggested by the so-called U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative
declared by Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday, December 12,
will be the door for Washington to meddle into Arab countries'
internal affairs and rearrange the region according to its own
interests, several Arab political analysts said Friday, December 13.
Democracy
doesn't have a clear-cut specific definition, and the type of
democracy the U.S. is trying to impose on Arab and Islamic countries
through this initiative will only destabilize certain regimes in the
region, said Ahmed Abulkheir, former consultant to Egyptian foreign
minister.
"The
Bush administration, which is known for its anti-Islam position, is
seeking to serve its own interests through this initiative even
through they run counter to the interests of Middle East and Muslims
countries," he added in an interview with IslamOnline.
Powell’s
speech at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation was actually a
threat message to the Arab world, said Ambassador Mohamed Wafaa
Hegazy, chairman of Al-Diplomasy Al-Alami (international
diplomat) magazine.
He
described the new initiative as part of the U.S. scheme to control the
region culturally, politically and economically.
"Obviously,
Powell and those behind him didn't notice that they are the reasons
behind the problems of the Arab world since the era of colonization
during which our wealth and sources were stolen," he stressed.
The
United States on Thursday launched an initiative, which has been
delayed several times, allegedly to strengthen "democracy"
in the Middle East.
In
his speech, Powell said the United States wanted to show that it was
on the side of reform and change in the Middle East.
The
project "will provide funding and a framework for the United
States to work together with governments and people in the Arab world
to expand economic, education and political opportunity," said
the State Department.
The
U.S. will exploit the new initiative to bypass governments and deal
directly with the civil society, creating groups that sponsors U.S.
principles and interests, Abulkheir charged.
"They
want a civil society, loyal to and protected by the United States, to
be as powerful as the governments in order to drive a wedge between
civil societies in Arab and Islamic countries and their
governments," he asserted.
Regarding
the $29 million allocated by the U.S. for the initiative, Dr. Hassan
Nafaa, head of the political science department in Cairo University,
said that it is a very small sum of money compared to the huge reforms
the U.S. wants.
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Powell's
speech is a threatening message to the Arab world
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"Some
of the U.S. money will be spent in an American farce of workshops and
training sessions, while most of it will go into the pockets of some
corrupt elements in the civil society who are as harmful as similar
elements in the bureaucratic governmental community," said Dr.
Nabil Abdel Fattah, assistant director of Ahram Center for Political
and Strategic Studies.
Powell’s
speech has many goals, Abdel Fattah said, one of which is to contain
the sources of anti-U.S. violence that lead to the September 11
attacks and which came from angry youths in countries considered close
U.S. allies.
"The
second goal is to answer critics who say the U.S. favors authoritarian
pro-American governments, as well as to respond to criticism of the
U.S. bias towards Israel and its weak role in the Middle East peace
process," he said.
"Last
but not least, the speech is an ideological cover-up under the pretext
of democracy to what the U.S. intends to do in the region," he
added.
Considering
the current U.S. agenda for the region, one of its main targets for
regime change will be Saudi Arabia, who refused to be a launch pad for
an envisaged U.S.-led war on Iraq, Abulkheir said.
Including
changes in education in the new initiative came as a response to Saudi
Arabia refusal to change its curriculum as demanded by the U.S, he
stressed.
"The
Americans want to eliminate religious teaching from school textbooks
in preparation to turning Saudi Arabia to a secular country,"
said the former diplomat.
In
his speech, Powell chose to praise countries such as Qatar, Bahrain,
where the U.S. has military bases that will serve as launch pads to
any attack on Iraq, and Morocco which is relatively not involved in
the region's events, he said.
Abulkheir
explained that the refusal of the U.S. initiative is not an opposition
to the principles of democracy and freedom.
"We
all call for the implementation of democracy, transparency and
emergence of civil society, but on condition that it serves the
region's best interests, not those of the U.S.," he said.
"They
want us to abandon our heritage, culture and religious believes while
implementing democracy, that's why a U.S.-imposed democracy must be
rejected," Abulkheir added.
"Any
initiative that comes from the current U.S. administration which plan
to strike Iraq and wants to control the whole region, should be
carefully studied and its sinister intentions should be taken into
consideration," he said.
