Why Arabs are angry with America
By Fahed Fanek
Editorial
The Jordan Times
Monday, January 20, 2003
jordantimes.com
AMERICA'S NEW programme for the Middle East, launched on Dec. 12 by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, makes it seem, through the use of the term Middle East, as if it includes Iran, Israel and Turkey, as well as the Arab world.
The stated objective of the so-called US-Middle East Partnership Initiative is to improve America's image in the Arab world. This is meant to be done through “sustained” support for political reform (i.e., democracy), economic reform (free markets), social reform (women's liberation) and educational reform (through a comprehensive overhaul of educational curricula).
At first, many people thought Powell was about to launch an initiative similar to the post-World War II Marshall Plan, which turned a hostile Germany into an ally of the US through economic aid.
Far from pouring billions of dollars into the new initiative, however, Powell said that it would only involve a paltry $29 million, to be shared by 25 different countries. Consequently, the new plan will prove to be nothing more than a public relations campaign designed to convince Arab public opinion that America is on their side.
America's image in the Arab world is far worse than Powell believes. It would be extremely difficult to convince Arabs that US policies are evenhanded and fair, and that it is not a strategic ally of Israel's, a country determined to destroy the lives of the Palestinians.
It would be even more difficult to convince Arabs that America is not blockading the Iraqi people but only Saddam Hussein, and that it is planning to wage war against Saddam and not the entire people. America can scarcely deny that it plans to occupy Baghdad, the ancient capital of the Abbasids and a potent symbol of Arab dignity, again humiliating the Arabs and Muslims everywhere.
America helped Israel defeat the Arabs in five different wars; it devastated Iraq in 1991 and has been bombing the country almost on a daily basis ever since. It has occupied Iraq's airspace, starved its people and now occupies military bases in six Gulf Arab states.
The fact that America has been instrumental in visiting successive defeats on the proud Arab nation led to hatred building up in the entire region. This hatred is being expressed in many ways, terror among them.
What has America done to prove that it respects Arabs? By making them adopt political, economic, social and educational reforms, America will damage their popularity among ordinary Arabs. Reformers will be silenced for fear of being branded as mouthpiece for the United States. As for improving its image in the Arab street, America would need far more than a public relations campaign: it would need to change its policies.
US President George W. Bush and a large number of American columnists and commentators tried to ascribe the hatred demonstrated by Arabs and Muslims towards the United States to the fact that America is free, rich, democratic and strong. In other words, they tried to portray the poor and backward Arabs as being jealous of America's superiority and success.
American policies in the Middle East have had nothing to do with it. Arabs, they would say, hate Americans because of what they are, not because of what they do.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact that America is rich and democratic is cause for Arab admiration, not hatred. In fact, Arabs love America; they respect America's free society and admire America's economic and cultural achievements. What Arabs hate, however, is America's policy towards Palestine and Iraq.
America is totally biased in favour of Israel despite its occupation of Arab lands, despite the crimes against humanity committed on a daily basis by the Israeli army, and despite Israel's reneging on UN resolutions concerning expulsions, settlements, house demolitions and annexation.
America has been incessantly and deliberately blockading the Iraqi people, depriving them of the basic requirements for a dignified existence. Iraqi universities, hospitals and infrastructure, once the pride of the Middle East, have been all but destroyed. And as if that were not enough, the US is preparing for a new war that threatens to return the country to the Stone Age, besides piling even more humiliation upon the Arab nation.
Moreover, America has been occupying the Arabian Peninsula for the last 12 years. Occupation is by nature reprehensible and foreign bases are unacceptable, especially if their presence is aimed at the peoples and interests of the occupied people.
Before 1990, there was no US military presence in the Gulf states. After the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, however, Gulf states allowed the Americans to mass troops on their territories. At the time, it was thought that this American presence would be temporary. But they stayed, and turned into forces of occupation. Their mission was (and still is) to control Arab oil.
At the present time, the US has 10,000 troops, 50 aircraft, and 64 Patriot missile batteries deployed in Saudi Arabia. There are 12,000 troops, 522 tanks, 127 aircraft, and 64 missile batteries in Kuwait. In Qatar, there are 3,000 troops, 175 tanks, five reconnaissance aircraft and 7,700 landmines. In the UAE, there are 500 troops. Some 3,000 American troops, six helicopters and a number of aircraft are stationed in Oman, while Bahrain hosts 1,200 troops.
Is it wrong, therefore, to say that the US is occupying the Arabian Peninsula? |
