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Attacking any Arab Country Crosses a Red Line: Amr Mussa
CAIRO, Sept 21 (IslamOnline & New Agencies) - Aggression aimed at any Arab country is a red line that cannot be crossed, Arab League chief Amr Mussa said in a televised interview.
Speaking to Al Jazeera satellite television channel, Mussa said that all Arab countries would stand together against any such aggression if it took place.
He added that any international coalition fighting terrorism that includes Israel would end in failure. "Israel is a country built on occupation, murder and assassinations. It has no right to claim that it is anti-terrorism," said Mussa.
These remarks came as Mussa held several talks with Arab foreign ministers to study the possibility of holding an emergency meeting to discuss the terror attacks on the U.S.
Western military analysts have said in the past that the United States might strike Arab countries such as Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq on the pretext that these countries aided in the attacks that rocked Washington and New York on Tuesday, September 11th.
Many Arab countries have refused to join the coalition initiated by U.S. President George W. Bush against terrorism while some have said that they would join if solid evidence were brought forward to prove that the culprits are those Washington say they are.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has in the past asked Arab countries to join the global campaign against terrorism, saying that it has nothing to do with a war against Islam.
In Kuwait - one of the governments pledging support - parliamentary, religious and other local groups strongly opposed any help the government would provide to the United States supporting any military action against Afghanistan.
Hakim Al Mutairy, the general secretary for the Salafi movement in Kuwait, told IslamOnline that the movement urges the United States to abide by the fundamentals of international law and provide evidence it has gathered against its prime suspect, Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, to the Afghani government without resorting to war.
"This is why it is not Islamically legitimate for any Muslim or Arab country to support such a military action, and the Afghani population has the right for self defense," he added.
In the UAE, political analysts said the reason behind the U.S. seeking the support of Gulf countries within the coalition is to add Arab and Islamic legitimacy to it, so that any U.S. war would not seem as one against Arabs and Muslims.
Abdel Khaliq Abdullah, political science professor at UAE University, said that the position of the Gulf in general, and Saudi Arabia specifically, in the Islamic world would make the international coalition acceptable in different Islamic countries.
He added that there are three kinds of assistance required from Gulf countries for the coalition. The first is moral support, which means acting as an Arab-Islamic umbrella for the military attacks that would be directed against one or more Islamic countries.
The second is ensuring that the flow of Gulf oil helps stabilize oil prices so that the U.S. and international economy does not suffer from increases in oil prices, and hence, affecting the military operation itself.
The third form of support, he added, is logistic support, which comes from military bases and arsenal storage areas, which exist in Qatar and Bahrain.
Abdullah added that the military bases available in the Gulf are the closest to Afghanistan, and would play a major role in any military operation the U.S. would direct towards the country.
Another political science professor at UAE University, Ibtisam Al Kutbi, said that including names of Gulf citizens on the list of those suspected in participating in the attacks on September 11, is a sort of political blackmail which will place the countries whose citizens are on that list in a difficult situation forcing them to do all they can to clear their names, and the names of their citizens.
"Gulf countries, and most Muslim countries, will be forced to accept the American demands or be called 'terrorist sponsors' and there is no limit to the American demands," said al Kutbi.
She added that the participation of Gulf countries in the coalition is indisputable, and not a single country would be able to avoid it. In addition, Gulf countries would also be expected to attack - on behalf of the United States - any country or movement or Islamic group it deems terrorist.
Al Kutbi warned governments of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of possible violent protests in local communities, adding that the situation now is much different from what it was on during the Gulf War.
UAE writer, Mohammad Mutawee, said that the GCC will not take part in the coalition except if the United States provides it with solid evidence on those behind the attacks.
The UAE, he said, emphasizes the importance of not adopting double standards when dealing with terrorist groups and Israeli terrorism, which kills and breaches laws of freedom.
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