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Arabs Back U.S. Plight but Refrain from Military Action
CAIRO, Sept 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Arab nations are urging Washington to be careful in how it retaliates for last week's terrorist attacks while insisting that a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would also help ward off future attacks.
The fallout from the September 11th attacks were at the heart of talks Tuesday in Egypt between President Hosni Mubarak, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Jordan's King Abdallah II and Sultan Qaboos of Oman; as well as at the core of meetings in Saudi Arabia Monday between Arab League Chief Amr Mussa and Omani Foreign Minister Yussef bin Alawi.
Assad and Mubarak described terrorism as a "global phenomenon" and as "organized crime" that menaces international security and stability, Egyptian Information Minister Safwat Al Sherif said, cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Since Sunday, Egypt has stepped up diplomatic contacts in order to coordinate Arab positions in the wake of the attacks on Washington and New York.
According to Mubarak, the United States must be careful in retaliating for the attacks and in taking steps to build a coalition of countries to help fight terrorism.
Mubarak also reiterated his call for an international conference to draft an anti-terrorism convention.
"To attack a country because of some individual, you are going to kill innocent people," Mubarak told CNN. "We have to work hard, not to be in a hurry, not to jump to conclusions unless you have hard evidence who did it."
In another interview reported in the Egyptian press, Mubarak said Palestinian-Israeli bloodshed may be one of the reasons for the attacks against the United States, but reproached Americans for rushing to blame Arabs and Muslims, adding that a feeling of injustice among Arabs could have led to the wave of attacks, he added.
Mussa said Saturday that Arab countries supported the United States in its war on terrorism, but had reservations about military operations against countries suspected of backing terrorism, such as Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have named Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born dissident operating from Afghanistan, as the prime suspect in the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington.
Bin Laden has denied responsibility for the operation, which left more than 5,000 people dead.
In Abu Dhabi, the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, urged U.S. President George W. Bush "to take time" before taking revenge for the attacks.
"The United States and the rest of the international community are also called upon to face up to the terrorism practiced by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, so there is no feeling of injustice," Sheikh Zayed said.
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia has said that his country will offer the U.S. its full co-operation in its fight against terrorism.
Thousands of U.S. troops and several squadrons of Western warplanes are already based in Saudi Arabia, a reality that many Saudis deeply resent, the BBC's online service reported.
In a long message broadcast on Iraqi television Tuesday, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein pondered as to how the U.S. could take any action before getting conclusive proof as to who was responsible for the attacks on New York and Washington, without mentioning the cities by name.
"We have said on previous occasions that the United States needs to try wisdom after it has tried force over the last 50 or more years," Saddam's message said.
"Afghanistan - Osama Bin Laden - the Al-Qa'idah organization - Syria - Yemen - Algeria - Iraq - Lebanon - and Palestine. The list may be curtailed or enlarged according to the pretexts of the policy of power, which has found its opportunity ... to declare war," he said.
"Have you ever heard or read in the recent or distant past of a state declaring war before defining who is its enemy?"
A separate letter was also sent from Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz to a U.S. group campaigning against sanctions in Iraq. In it, he said Baghdad expressed its "sincere condolences" to the families affected by the attacks.
Iraq is on the U.S.'s list of state sponsors of terrorism.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell appealed to Arabs Tuesday to join a global campaign against terrorism in the aftermath of the attacks, stressing it would not be a war on Islam.
"We believe that so many Arab nations should be part of this campaign because they have suffered from terrorism for so many years," he said in an interview shown on Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite television station.
"It is as much a cause for Arab nations and for Arab leaders as it is for other leaders such as American leaders," Powell said, adding that Arabs as well lost their lives in the World Trade Center attack.
"This conflict, this campaign we are about to begin, is not directed against Arabs or anyone of the Islamic faith. It's against terrorism," he insisted.
Powell ruled out Israel as a military riposte, which would deter Arab states from joining the coalition the United States is trying to build.
"I don't see nations such as Israel playing a role in that kind of operation," he said. But Israel might supply intelligence, he went on to say.
Arab leaders, wary of being sucked into a U.S. military campaign, are all the more so, because they fear Israel will use the terrorist attacks to their benefit.
The New York Times reported Friday that a senior U.S. State Department official met with 15 Arab representatives and gave them a stark choice: either declare their nations members of the international coalition against terrorism, or risk being isolated in a growing global conflict.
Reports quote regional analysts and government officials as saying that there may be limits to what Arab states can, or are willing to do on America's behalf at a time when shock over the attacks is offset by anger over U.S. support for Israel and what is seen as unjust punishment towards Iraq.
While Afghanistan's Taliban government is not popular among most Arab states, it could be difficult for Arab forces to join in any U.S.-led military action against another Muslim state, the reports add.
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