Terror war causing U.S. to reassess its ties with Arab states
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, September 27, 2002
The United States has begun a reassessment of its relationship with the Arab world, with officials linking Washington's relations to Arab allies to their cooperation against groups deemed as terrorist and their standing on democracy and human rights.
Richard Haass, director of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff, said the United States can no longer ignore the internal situation in Arab countries.
Haass, who embarks on a Persian Gulf tour over the weekend, said economic and other conditions can help create a climate for terrorism, Middle East Newsline reported.
"9/11 also forced us to reexamine our relationship with the Islamic world and Arab countries in particular," Haass told the International Institute for Strategic Studies earlier this month.
"At the same time, 9/11 helped focus attention within the Arab world on their own societies. We realize that it is no longer sustainable to have narrowly-defined relationships that focus almost exclusively on access to energy resources or basing rights."
U.S. officials said the Bush administration has been reviewing relations with a range of allies and rivals in the Arab world. They are said to include Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
The reassessment includes an examination of the cooperation Arab countries have provided to the United States in wake of the Al Qaida suicide attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. Officials said the administration has cooled relations with those countries which have been deemed as providing insufficient cooperation.
Haass said the reassessment takes into account democracy and human rights in the Arab world. Haass said these factors were not considered more than a year ago.
"We need to forge new, broader relationships that encourage and enable Arab regimes to gradually address the freedom deficit that has developed in their own societies," Haass said. "Such a reorientation is not simply the right thing to do. It makes strategic sense. If we fail to reorient our policies to address the lack of opportunity in these states and their resulting brittleness, our allies in the Arab world will grow weaker — not stronger — and our interests will suffer."
Haass's assertion was the latest indication that Washington planned to link democracy and human rights to the development of U.S. relations. That link was first announced by President George Bush in June when he connected U.S. aid to the Palestinians to democratic reforms.
The State Department official said the United States now views what Haas termed state failures as a strategic problem. He described a state failure as a state that no longer has control over its territory, lacks credible institutions or is a threat to its people and neighbors.
U.S. officials have identified these states as Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. They said the introduction of democracy and rule of law would be key elements in ensuring warm diplomatic relations with Washington.
"We will act to seek variety by seeking out new opportunities in West Africa and Middle Eastern nations committed to democracy," Sen. Conrad Burns, a Republican from Montana, told the National Press Club last week. "The future for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is unclear. My hope is that the kingdom of Saudi Arabia will soon decide to become democratic, to separate church from state."
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Lincoln Bloomfield said Washington would require greater cooperation from countries in intelligence exchange, law enforcement and financial cooperation. Bloomfield, who is responsible for political and military affairs in the State Department, cited one Arab ally from whom Washington would require military cooperation.
"We need to learn to operate effectively with forces from Denmark, Jordan, Australia, and elsewhere, side by side, all at once," Bloomfield told a terrorism conference in Paris. "This is a particular challenge for my bureau at the State Department. Cooperation among governments everywhere must be continuous and wide-ranging."
U.S. officials said several Arab countries have already been approached for the stationing of American troops. They include Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Israel was also approached. But analysts said the United States has only begun the process of reassessing its foreign policy with the Arab and Islamic world. They said this process could take years, particularly toward Arab oil producers.
"The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and the varied responses to them, both in the U.S. and in the Islamic world, raised a series of profound questions for American foreign policy," the Brookings Institution said in a report authored by Peter Singer. "The challenges that have resulted — ranging from the war on terrorism, our role in the Mideast peace process, to crafting better public diplomacy — will be at the center of international affairs for years to come. Unfortunately, the hard decisions needed to come to terms with these questions are yet to be made, a full year later."
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