One of the key demands of the anti-US moslem fundamentalists is MUCH HIGHER OIL PRICES. The ruling circles in this nation have got to know that the lower oil prices go, the bigger will be the Moslem fundamentaist backlash against the US.
That is why anyone expecting these ultra depressed oil prices to last a long time just doesn't get it. If oil prices do not bounce back soon, the stability of key US allies in the region (or puppets depending on your viewpoint) becomes very doubtful.
RADICAL MUSLIM "DEMANDS" HAVE
FOUNDATION AND HISTORY
MER - Washington - 8/25:
When the anti-American Iranian Revolution took place 19 years ago
it didn't happen in a vacuum. The Iranian people had tried to throw
out the Shah as early as the 1950s; and there are still retired CIA
agents in Washington who mesmerize the cocktail circuit with their
exploits of how they kept the Shah on the Peacock Throne and literally
torturing Iranian society for decades. Not that long ago Iranian
Ambassador in Washington, Ardeshir Zahedi, played the role the Saudi
Ambassador, Bandar bin Sultan, does today.
And what is taking place today in 1998 is not happening in a vacuum
either. Going back to the Reagan era the U.S. has greatly stepped up
its CIA exploits throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds, established a
major "strategic relationship" with Israel, and substantially
increased support for both Israel and Arab "client regimes" --
real democracy and true human rights be damned. Plus, of course, the
dispossession and subjugation of the Palestinian people has been
continually pursued -- a vital element in the overall strategy.
Most recently the unofficial but nevertheless very real "Ankara
Pact" has been established -- a major U.S./Israeli/Turkish military
and intelligence alliance. Anyone who thinks this isn't an anti-Arab
and anti-Muslim alliance (as well as anti-Iranian) is simply missing
the historical moment.
Earlier this month, the coalition of radical Muslim groups that has
come together to challenge U.S./Israeli domination of the Middle East
issued the following demands to the French media.
GROUP SPELLS OUT ITS DEMANDS
CAIRO (AFP - 8/10/98) -- The shadowy Islamic group which has claimed
responsibility for bomb attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar
es Salaam, has issued a list of demands calling for US forces to leave
Saudi Arabia and for the release of detained Islamic militants.
In communiques sent to Radio France International, copies of which
were obtained by AFP's Cairo bureau, the Islamic Army for the
Liberation of (Moslem) Holy Sites said it wanted:
"1. The withdrawal of US and Western forces from Moslem countries in
general and from the Arabian peninsula in particular, including
civilians.
"2. The lifting of the naval blockade imposed round the Arabian
peninsula and the withdrawal of warships from Islamic waters.
"3. The release of ulemas (religious scholars) and young Moslems
detained in the United States, Israel and in Saudi Arabia, and first
and foremost Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman (the spiritual guide of the
Egyptian fundamentalist organisation Jamaa Islamiya who is jailed in
the United States) and Sheikh Salmana al-Wada (a Saudi dissident).
"4. A halt to the expropriation of Moslem riches, in particular the
oil wealth of the Arabian peninsula and of Moslem countries.
"5. An end to all forms of US support to Israel.
"6. An end to the war of eradication being waged by the United States
with the aid of governments in its pay, against young Moslems under
the pretext of fighting terrorism.
"7. An end to the campaigns of extermination conducted by the United
States against certain Moslem nations in the guise of economic
sanctions."
The hitherto unknown group justified its "jihad" against Washington by
the "occupation of the holy places in the Arabian peninsula where US
forces are close to the Al-Aqasa mosque." The group said it had taken
inspiration from "fatwas from contemporary Moslem theologians
including Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman...and statements by Sheikh Ossama
bin Laden", a Saudi-born millionaire who now lives in exile in
Afghanistan.
Bin Laden, who is a self-avowed enemy of the United States, has been
named as a likely suspect behind Friday's bomb attacks which have left
at least 174 dead and more than 4,000 injured. The communiques said
the Nairobi bomb attack which killed at least 164 people, was carried
out by "two men from Mecca" and that the one in Dar es Salaam which
left another ten dead, was the work of "a man from Egypt who belongs
to the Abdallah Azzam batallion*".
(*Abdallah Azzam was a Palestinian killed during the war in
Afghanistan against Soviet troops and is venerated as the
"father" of the fundamentalist "Afghan Arabs".)
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