20 - 26 September 2001
Issue No.552
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 20 - 26 September 2001 Issue No.552 |
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Waiting for the missiles
Will Iraq be another sitting duck for the new global coalition the Bush administration is forming to combat terrorism following last week's attacks? Salah Hemeid probes the possibility
As millions of people all over the world watched the two symbols of America's economic and military might fall in piles of dust and ashes on 11 September, their question was: who could have perpetrated the worst terrorist attacks on American soil?
File photo: A United States AWACS reconaissance plane flies past the dome of a mosque while landing at Incirlik joint airbase near the southern Turkish city of Adana in November 17, 1991
Even before law enforcers began their investigations into the deadly attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, fingers were pointed at Arabs and Muslims. Although the identities of the alleged hijackers of the planes used to target the sites did not indicate involvement of any Arab state or group, Arabs were blamed for America's national disaster.
While America's current enemy number one, Saudi multi- millionaire Osama Bin Laden -- whom it charges with being the world's most prominent mastermind of terrorism -- was immediately mentioned in the context of prime suspect, Iraq was also reported as a possible target for American retaliation even without its being identified as linked to the attacks. Considering the 1991 Gulf War animosity, the on-going confrontation with Baghdad and the virulent statements made by some senior United States officials against the regime of President Saddam Hussein following the attacks, Washington's anti-terror coalition has all the ingredients for yet another strike against Iraq.
Indeed, Baghdad's reaction to the attacks might have made that possible. Not only was Iraq the only Arab country which failed to condemn the strikes, but statements made by Hussein and some of his government officials seemed actually to condone them. In his first comments after the strikes, the Iraqi leader said the United States was reaping what it had sown. The president's son, Uday, writing under a well-known pseudonym in his Babel newspaper, said the attacks proved that "the US has reached its weakest point ever." But probably the strongest Iraqi official comment came from Saddam's deputy, Taha Yassin Ramadan, who told an Iraqi newspaper on Sunday that the attacks "were a good omen" and "it was right for all America's victims to rejoice."
While, US officials could not have been surprised about the Iraqi regime's views, they apparently received these remarks with dismay. Secretary of State Colin Powell's first reaction to Saddam's statement was that the Iraqi leader was "an irrelevant leader sitting there with a broken regime."
"We will keep the regime under sanctions, and will do what is necessary when it becomes necessary and when we choose to," he said.
Richard Perel, head of the Pentagon's Policy Board and one of the Bush administration's more hawkish policymakers, was more blunt. "Alleged state sponsors of terrorism, including Iraq, can't run and they can't hide," he said.
Such statements and leaked reports about an Iraqi role in sponsoring international terrorism highlighted speculation about the possibility that Baghdad would be another target for Washington's retribution. The US has not produced any evidence to back up an Iraqi role in the attacks, and even vice- President Dick Cheney played down a possible retaliation against Iraq, yet new military action against Iraq has never been ruled out.
According to some news reports, Washington may have some clues about an Iraqi-Bin Laden connection which might indicate some level of cooperation. The other alleged clue is related to a possible connection to Ramzi Ahmed Youssef, a Baluchi whom the US has designated as an international arch-terrorist and mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Youssef, who is serving a life sentence in the US, and who resided at the Bin Laden-funded "House of Martyrs'' in Peshawar before his capture by Pakistani authorities, may also have stayed briefly in Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War.
Many observers, however, believe the Bush administration will not need to produce proof if it decides to hit Iraq under the pretext that Baghdad, like Bin Laden, has also declared Jihad, or holy war, against the US. Moreover, Washington is seemingly referring to its own broad definition of terrorism, which includes a wide range not only of violent acts but also anti-American and even anti-Israeli sentiments. As Washington continues its efforts to build an international anti-terrorism coalition -- with even countries like Syria and Iran as partners -- Iraq is becoming further isolated, and the chances of its being another target in the event of a US military attack is increasing.
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