May. 30, 2002
US senator: War on terror a long-term battle
By SAUL SINGER
US Sen. Sam Brownback looked a bit incongruous camped in Mifgash Ha'aish, the no-nonsense Middle Eastern restaurant that serves the industrial area in which The Jerusalem Post is located. But as an American politician who is used to stomping the hustings, he also seemed quite at home as a visitor to Israel, for which he clearly has close feelings.
Brownback, a Republican senator from Kansas who serves on the prestigious Foreign Relations Committee, is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon today, as well as Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman.
According to a report in The Washington Post, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff wants 200,000 troops to oust Iraq's Saddam Hussein, but is not sure that such an endeavor is advisable at all.
"I wouldn't say that," responded Brownback, looking disturbed at the thought that anyone would consider that the US had backed off ousting Saddam. The way to look at it, said the senator, is that the US is proceeding methodically through the stages of the war on terrorism: first Afghanistan; then mop-up operations against the terrorist network in the Philippines, Sudan, and elsewhere; and finally Iraq.
"It's a very carefully orchestrated, long-term battle that will take many steps," Brownback explained.
He had no real explanation, however, why the Bush administration has not spent roughly $100 million in military assistance to the Iraqi National Congress that was appropriated by Congress well before September 11.
Brownback blamed the State Department, which is supposed to administer the assistance to Iraqi opposition movement, but was not clear on why President George W. Bush had not overruled his diplomat's objections.
Brownback, however, urged not losing sight of the forest for the trees. To him, September 11 was the most defining global event since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Speaking of Bush's pivotal "axis of evil" speech before the US Congress, Brownback claimed that its most important commitment was to end the American acceptance of the Arab world as a democracy-free zone.
Before September 11, Brownback says, the US knew that Arab regimes were violating human rights, but said to itself "we need the oil." Now, he argues, the US will press for democracy and human rights, "including in Saudi Arabia."
On the Palestinian front, Brownback could not say for sure how the US would react to Israel ousting Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in response to further terrorist attacks. As far he is concerned, however, the US needs to "move beyond Arafat."
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