The Law of Unintended Consequences:
Whether or not what you do has the effect you want, it will have at least 3 you never expected, and one of those usually unpleasant.
Asian Muslims Denounce Attack on Iraq
Wed March 19, 2003 11:36 PM ET
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Muslim leaders in Asia condemned the U.S. attack on Iraq on Thursday and said Americans would pay the price.
They were speaking within minutes of the United States and Britain launching attacks on Iraq in a war that President Bush said could take longer and be more difficult than many had predicted.
"This is not an attack on Islam but an attack on humanity," said Syafii Maarif, head of the 30-million-strong moderate Muhammadiyah Muslim group in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.
Malaysia's conservative Islamic opposition said Allah would bring about the U.S. superpower's eventual downfall.
"This despicable war exposes the ugliness of America and its allies," said Abdul Hadi Awang, the president of Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS).
"PAS is convinced that this war is the start of America's destruction because Allah will not let any major power reign supreme forever."
Deputy Malaysian Defense Minister Shafie Apdal told Reuters in parliament that he feared reprisals by Iraqi sympathizers in other countries.
"What is also a concern to us is the retaliation on other countries or possible attacks.
"I hope there won't be but I foresee there will be some kind of sympathizers, and a number of people who will organize something else that will cause a lot of damage to other countries and their nationals.
"I do hope that they can control their feeling but they are only human."
Murid Timasaen, spokesman for Thailand's Muslims for Peace Group, said Americans would never live in peace again.
"They have attracted more enemies than ever, not only from the Muslim world, but also from the Buddhist community," he said.
"Countries like Iraq don't have the capacity to fight the Americans in a conventional war, so more terrorist means will be deployed against the Americans."
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said Manila was giving political and moral support for actions to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.
"The war has just begun," Arroyo said in a speech to graduates of the Philippine Military Academy.
"The Philippines is part of the coalition of the willing. We are giving political and moral support for actions to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction."
Some 280,000 U.S. and allied troops had awaited the order from Bush to launch the assault on Iraq after an ultimatum expired for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to give up power and go into exile.
"The greatest fears of ASEAN ministers are the upsurge of terrorism and the negative effects on the economy," said Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Lauro Baja who is in Malaysia attending a foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"The hopes of the international community is that this war will be short."
The cabinet in Indonesia would discuss the U.S. attack at a meeting later on Thursday, chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters.
He did not elaborate, but Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said an official response was being drafted and would be made public after the meeting.
China had no immediate comment on the start of hostilities but state television broadcast Bush's address live in a rare move.
Thailand said it wanted no part in the war.
"But we are ready to help rehabilitate (Iraq) after the fighting, up to the extent of our resources," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said.
"At this stage, we hope the war casualties will be confined only to military targets and not on civilians."
Oil production and exports in key Gulf OPEC producer Kuwait, which Iraq invaded in the last Gulf war, were running smoothly after the attack began, a senior Kuwaiti oil official said.
"As of now, all production and export operations are normal," the official said. "Things are calm in Kuwait." |
