Trouble
Overshadows U.S.-Arab Relations: News Reports
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Bush’s
war plans in Iraq have strained U.S.-Arab relations
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WASHINGTON,
August 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Whether pressuring Egypt
on a human rights case, or handling post-September 11 questions about
Saudi Arabia and terrorism, the United States is treading in delicate
territory with its top two Arab allies, reported Agence France-Presse
(AFP).
These frictions
have not done much to ease a climate already soured by disagreement
between the U.S. administration and Arab states over the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the possibility of a U.S.-led
military assault on Iraq, U.S. analysts said.
Beyond sporadic
rows, "the more serious issue is that U.S. policy is more and
more criticized in the Middle East, and that Washington appears to be
on a track that Arab countries cannot support," AFP reported
Charles Butterworth, a University of Maryland expert on the region, as
saying.
News that
Washington would not grant Egypt aid beyond that already budgeted as
long as an Egyptian-American intellectual, Saad Eddine Ibrahim,
remains in prison drew a less-than-delighted response from Cairo which
protested against any external pressure.
Meanwhile, U.S.
relations with Riyadh have rumbled through a bumpy patch since August
after an expert with the independent Rand Corporation, in a Pentagon
meeting, accused Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism.
The friction
resurfaced Thursday, August 15, with the filing of a
multi-trillion-dollar lawsuit by relatives of the victims of the
September 11 attacks against Saudi Islamic organizations and three top
royals, alleging they supported the Al-Qaeda network and its leader
Osama bin Laden.
An early Saudi
reaction came Friday, August 16, in an article in the Al-Ryad
newspaper close to the Saudi government which calls on authorities to
review relations with the United States.
"The rising
vitriol against Saudi Arabia is reducing the likelihood that the
United States will be able to address its real problems with that
country," Rachel Bronson of the Council on Foreign Relations
wrote in an op-ed published in the Los Angeles Times.
"Anti-Saudi
rhetoric in Washington adds fuel to the anti-American fire
abroad," she added.
The U.S.
administration, meanwhile, has scrambled to try to keep the
differences limited, and to not jeopardize its alliances with these
key partners.
The White House
and Pentagon repeat over and over that Saudi Arabia and Egypt remain
strategic allies and very close friends, and regularly roll out the
red carpet in its capital for their leaders.
Experts also
point out that the countries have far too many shared interests with
Washington to sacrifice them to passing disagreements.
Some two billion
dollars in U.S. aid to Egypt every year helps shore up the current
regime, and the oil power's economic interests are closely tied to the
west.
Even with the
powerful religious establishment in Saudi Arabia, "like it or
not, the current regime is the friendliest partner that the United
States has in the kingdom," Bronson said, quoted by AFP.
And in Egypt,
"President Hosni Mubarak depends too much on the United
States" to even consider breaking ties with Washington,
Butterworth said.
The U.K. daily
newspaper, the Telegraph, said Sunday, August 18, that U.S. diplomats
are sending uncompromising messages to Arab States and “those who do
not support the planned United States operation against Saddam Hussein
will be treated as enemies.”
The paper said
that there are many countries that hoped that the U.S. threat for war
would evaporate. It quoted a western official as saying that “many
countries have been hiding their heads in the sand. Now there are the
beginnings of a realization that they must ensure they remain on the
right side of the Americans."
It added that the
Arab leaders would be happy to see Saddam go if it could be done
overnight and that the only issue is that it is not clear how this
will be achieved, how long it will take, and who will replace
him.
“Until they are
sure of the result, no Arab country is ready to offer the Americans in
public the use of its air bases,” said the Telegraph.
The paper said
that there is a big possibility that both Qatar and Turkey will back
the U.S. in striking Iraq. Since the Saudi Prince Sultan Air base is
no longer available for the U.S. to use in striking Iraq, unlike
during the 1991 Gulf War, the U.S. is now looking towards the Qatar
military base Al-Udeid, the newspaper said.
“When completed
by the year's end, it will be able to hold 10,000 soldiers and 120
aircraft in hardened shelters designed to withstand biological or
chemical attack. Qatar is something of a maverick among Arab states,
and would no doubt relish becoming Washington's favorite in the Middle
East,” it said.
Turkey, the
Telegraph said, is hoping for a easing of its foreign debt in exchange
for letting the Americans use its air bases. It added that
Turkey is also determined to be on any settlement that affects the
Iraqi Kurds, because of the fact that it has its own large Kurdish
minority and that is why there is little doubt that it will be an
integral part of the U.S. plans.
In addition, it
said Israel has been actively pushing for speedy military action
against Saddam.
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