A tolerable constituency

Many in the Arab world expressed disgust at the way Washington publicly aired its dirty linen, while in New York, Clinton stressed that Western civilisation and Islam are not at loggerheads. He received a standing ovation from the UN General Assembly -- which, remarkably, coincided with the broadcast of his video-taped 17 August grand jury testimony in the Lewinsky sex scandal. The world still cannot believe the "indecent exposure" to which the "most powerful man in the world" has been subjected.

At the UN, Clinton argued that there was no fundamental and inevitable clash between Western and Islamic civilisation and values. He said that his discussions with Muslim leaders the world over showed him clearly that all people share the same hopes and aspirations for peace and security. But many in this region question America's sincerity in brokering a just Middle East peace settlement.

"False prophets may use and abuse any religion to justify whatever political objectives they have, even cold-blooded murder," Clinton remarked. But he failed to quell the fear in the Arab world that he himself might be tempted to repeat recent attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan to deflect public attention from the Lewinsky affair. Religion, after all, can take many guises and, in the case of US foreign policy, it has most recently been cloaked in the disguise of "self-defence".

Americans respected and honoured Islam, which is one of the fastest growing religions in the US, Clinton said. The American president said that there were six million American Muslims and over 1,200 mosques and Islamic centres in the US. But he failed to mention that American Muslim public opinion was outraged at the US strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan. Religious tolerance, then, is all very well; but some, as we know, are to be tolerated more than others.