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4/16/2002 (24:47) |
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Americans are masters of destruction
The US is driving the Muslim world to hatred, says newspaper editor Abdel Bari Atwan
Terrorism crisis - Observer special
Islam and the West - Observer special
Sunday March 10, 2002
The Observer
It never occurred to me when I met Osama bin Laden in one of the caves of the Jalalabad overlooking Tora Bora mountains more than five years ago that this slim, rarely smiling man would be the leading figure responsible for paving the way for inter-religious, inter-cultural wars that may last for five or more decades but this is what he has done.
Although 11 September changed the Western world the effect on the Islamic world has been far greater. The gulf between the two is widening. Today many in the Islamic world are convinced that the US administration harbours real enmity for Islam and the Muslims. The inhumane treatment of the Muslim prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay and the preparations for war on Iraq have only reinforced that impression.
Worse, as Arabs and Muslims we have been terrorised by the campaign launched in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Yemen and Georgia. The supposed potential dangers facing the West have not been eliminated. This campaign has given the mistaken impression that Muslims are the source of terrorism in the world, creating tensions and providing Islamic radical groups with the ammunition to recruit thousands of young Muslim men and women.
Now the humane foundations of Western civilisation - tolerance, democracy, a fair and independent judiciary, equality before the law and respect for human rights - are being questioned by Muslims worldwide. The US, which considers itself a 'republic of immigrants', has turned against all its values and principles, detaining thousands of its Arab and Muslim citizens. Even Britain has witnessed intense media, legal and political campaigns against its Arab and Muslim citizens.
In the past six months I have learned that the opinion of 'the other' is welcomed, but only rather restrictively. I have been threatened repeatedly and warned to refrain from expressing an opinion about the events. So far I have received 10 messages containing death threats. We must sympathise strongly with the victims of the September disaster and denounce all those who supported that action. But it has brought to everyone's attention that the source of the hatred expressed towards America across the Islamic world is Washington's imbalanced foreign policy.
Successive US administrations have supported the two worst things in the Islamic world: the Israeli occupation of the Arab-occupied territories and the corrupt dictatorial regimes that have been imposed on the people. The US will not win its war against terrorism unless it changes the way it sees the world and renounces its arrogant policy of resorting solely to military solutions in order to confront this phenomenon. There must be a long-term policy to deal with the roots of terrorism in order to eliminate the causes of the world's hatred for America.
The Americans are experts in destruction but novices in reconstruction, reform and renovation. They must learn fast.
· Abdel Bari Atwan is editor of the Arab newspaper al Quds, which is based in London.
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