US turns to Arabs to keep the peace
By Emad Mekay
CAIRO - The United States is turning to Arab regimes for support against increasing armed resistance in Iraq, official sources here say.
A source close to the Egyptian foreign ministry confirmed reports that surfaced in the Arab press late last week that the United States has sought the help of Egyptian peacekeeping forces.
"The Americans raised the issue," said the official who wished to remain unidentified. "They were testing our pulse." He declined to reveal what the Egyptian response would be.
A US congressional delegation arrived in Cairo from Baghdad earlier this week for talks with Egyptian officials on the situation in Iraq. Chairman of the House intelligence committee, Florida Republican Porter Goss led the team.
"The escalation in attacks against US forces in Iraq was at the center of Goss' talks with Egyptian officials," the official source said.
The US Senate called last week for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and United Nations (UN) troops to be sent to Iraq. Spain, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, the Baltic states and possibly the Philippines, Thailand and Mongolia may send peacekeeping forces.
The Lebanese newspaper al-Kifah al-Arabi reported Saturday that the United States is seeking troops also from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a regional grouping that includes Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Earlier this week, the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat reported that the United States was seeking Egyptian help also to "win the support of other Arab states". Al-Hayat reported that the US wanted Egyptian support particularly to persuade other countries to accept ambassadors appointed by the new governing council in Iraq.
The US governor of Iraq L Paul Bremer III, needs an Iraqi governing body to share responsibility - or blame - in establishing post-war order, and he needs Arab backing of these polices for the same reasons, Egyptian analysts say.
A 25-member transitory council in Iraq appointed by the United States held its inaugural session Sunday. One of its first decisions was to celebrate April 9, the date the US troops entered Baghdad, as a national holiday, and to cancel holidays of the Saddam Hussein era.
"The problem with the recently appointed council is that it is not elected," Hafiz Hussein, former head of the Nasser Academy for Strategic Studies in Cairo said. "It is not representative either. And it is the first council to celebrate the date of the start of an occupation. This is not a good start."
The council comprises officials representing several religious and ethnic groups. It has been asked to map the path towards elections, not planned for at least a year.
Most Arab regimes have publicly said they cannot accept US forces ruling Iraq because this would legitimize US occupation.
"The bitter fact is that the council would still be a cover for decisions made by the Anglo-American occupation authority," commentator Saeed Ahmedi wrote on al-Jazeera.net. "Definitely, an Arab face for security and peacekeeping would take the sting from any Iraqi resistance operations."
Analyst Anas Fouda wrote on the popular bab.com website that Egypt helped persuade Palestinian groups to stop resistance activities against Israel, and that Egyptian support to the US presence in Iraq could be calculated to have a similar effect.
"But this time if Arab countries send troops to protect the Americans, the public will not look at this as effort to establish peace but as an effort to legitimize American occupation," he said.
On Tuesday, a previously unknown Iraqi resistance group warned foreign countries, including Arab nations, not to give in to US demands to send troops to Iraq.
"We will resist with weapons any military intervention under the umbrella of the United Nations, the Security Council, NATO, or Islamic and Arab countries," the group calling itself the Iraq Liberation Army said in a statement broadcast on the Dubai-based al-Arabiya television. |
