13 - 19 September 2001
Issue No.551
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 13 - 19 September 2001 Issue No.551 |
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Jumping the gun
Islamist leaders warn the West not to point fingers too quickly, reports Jailan Halawi
Although no one has claimed responsibility for the wave of suicide attacks that shattered New York City's landmark World Trade Center and smashed a hole in the Pentagon, US officials have strongly indicated that the highly sophisticated operation has all the hallmarks of the style adopted by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
Bin Laden, currently believed to be living in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban -- the ruling hardline Islamist leadership -- is blamed for the 1998 twin bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as other anti-American attacks. Hours after the attack, bin Laden was quoted by the Taliban mouthpiece Awsaf -- as saying that although he supports the attacks, he denies responsibility. He was also quoted by the Pakistani newspaper Khabarian as saying that the terrorist attack was "the action of some American group; I have nothing to do with it."
In a telephone interview from his London office, Yasser El-Serri, who runs the London-based Islamic Observation Centre, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the United States "should not resort to pre-conceived accusations against bin Laden or any other Islamic groups so long as they do not have evidence." El-Serri noted that America had succeeded in making "many enemies" in Europe, Latin America and inside America itself; "So why are US extremist organisations excluded?" El-Serri demanded.
El-Serri criticised US persistence in using bin Laden and other Islamic groups as their scapegoat, in order to "arouse hatred" against Arabs and the Muslim world. As an example, El-Serri cited the 1995 car bomb attack on the Oklahoma City federal building that killed 168 people. Preliminary accusations pointed at Middle Eastern groups, but later, Timothy McVeigh, a US army veteran with a grudge against the federal government, was convicted and executed for the crime.
El-Serri suggested that brutal attacks like Oklahoma City and Tuesday's attacks are the normal outcome of the irrational policies, both domestic and international, adopted by the US government. On Wednesday, Afghanistan's Taliban warned that it was too premature to talk about extraditing bin Laden. Previous US requests for the extradition of bin Laden have received the stock response that the Taliban would consider doing so if any proof were presented against the dissident.
Meanwhile, Germany said on Wednesday that its intelligence agencies agreed with those of France, Britain and Israel that bin Laden was probably behind the attacks on the US, but admitted that they did not have hard evidence. "The repetition of the attacks on the World Trade Center suggests in several ways that the assailants are indeed linked to the network of bin Laden," German Chancellery Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
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