27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001
Issue No.553
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001 Issue No.553 |
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New target, same drill
As the US gears up for yet another war on terrorism, policy-makers in Libya and Sudan are undoubtedly experiencing a feeling of déjà vu, writes Michael Jansen
In April 1986 the US, with logistical support from Britain, bombed Tripoli and Benghazi in retaliation for an attack on a West German disco frequented by US soldiers. In 1998, Sudan's most important pharmaceutical factory was taken out by US cruise missiles, allegedly in retaliation for the car bombings of two US embassies in East Africa.
In both of these cases Washington took action within two weeks of the bombings -- before there was proof that Libya or Sudan were involved in the attacks. Subsequent investigations failed to reveal any evidence that either of these two countries had connections to the perpetrators.
In 1986 US President Ronald Reagan justified his response, saying, "State-supported terrorism is a form of warfare, and you can't sit by and let them declare war on you and pretend that you're still at peace." The US "will never watch passively as our innocent citizens are murdered by those who would do our country harm... No one can kill Americans and brag about it. No one."
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was the target of the raid on his country. It must be recalled that Reagan also ordered US battleships to shell Lebanese civilian targets (including my own house) after the destruction of the US embassy and the killing of 241 marines in an attack on their barracks.
In 1998, US President Bill Clinton, under pressure to resign because of a sex scandal, ordered the strike on Sudan, claiming that the Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries plant in northeast Khartoum manufactured chemical weapons on behalf of Osama Bin Laden, the prime suspect in the embassy bombings and in this month's attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Justifying the 20 August 1998 missile attack on the pharmaceuticals plant, Clinton said, "The information now in our hands is convincing... The Bin Laden network of radical groups [is] probably the most dangerous non-state terrorist actor in the world today... We also had compelling evidence that the Bin Laden network was poised to strike at us again, and soon." But Clinton was wrong about the Shifa plant.
Having suffered from Washington's propensity to strike first and investigate terrorist affronts later, both Sudan and Libya promptly denounced the attacks on the US and pledged support for Bush's "war against terrorism." Sudan has also said it would not grant refuge to Bin Laden who lived in the country from 1991-96.
So far Washington's hawks have not suggested bombing Tripoli and Khartoum in a broad campaign. Syria, also on the US list of terrorist states, quickly condemned the "destructive attacks directed against innocent civilians in the United States." Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad sent a letter of condolence and support to Bush. Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sharaa spoke on the phone to US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Powell said he hoped the US and Syria would have the "opportunity... to work together on the elimination of terrorism," and suggested that Damascus should go after "terrorist organisations" other than the Bin Laden networks, meaning Hizbullah and Palestinian opposition factions that maintain offices in the Syrian capital. But Damascus makes a firm distinction between 'terrorism' and legitimate resistance to Israeli occupation. Syria will not renounce the right of the resistance to keep open the remaining Arab fronts against Israel: the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Shebaa Farms area.
If the Palestinian resistance and the Lebanese Hizbullah are suppressed, there will be no paramilitary pressure on Israel to withdraw from these territories and negotiate settlements with the Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Until this happens there can be no peace between the Arabs and Israelis.
President Al-Assad has joined Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in insisting that the fight against terrorism should be conducted by an international coalition under the auspices of the UN, and should have well-defined, previously- agreed objectives. Syrian Information Minister Adnan Omran reiterated the general Arab stand that the struggle against terrorism should target Israel which is guilty of carrying out terrorist actions against Arabs.
Syria has the support of Saudi Arabia, Washington's oldest and closest Arab ally, on these demands. President Al-Assad enjoys a warm relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.
Syria's urgent concern is the call by hard-liners in Washington for strikes against "targets in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley," where most of Syria's 25,000 strong expeditionary force is based and Hizbullah has training facilities. In an attempt to deny the US any pretext for an attack, Damascus has reportedly asked Hizbullah to refrain from initiating any operations against Israel for the time being.
Beirut vehemently rejects accusations that it is harbouring terrorists and dismisses the suggestion that the US might resurrect an old list of persons accused of terrorism, including two key political figures, namely, Sheikh Mohamed Fadlallah, Hizbullah's spiritual mentor, and Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the movement's secretary-general.
A Syrian informant said that if the US exerts pressure on Damascus to halt its support for Hizbullah and close down Palestinian offices in Damascus or dredges up old charges of Syrian support for terrorism, Damascus could make public its own "files" on US involvement in the 1979-82 campaign by the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood to topple the government.
By releasing these files, Damascus would be making the case that the US state, too, sponsors terrorism, thereby dealing a blow to the Bush administration's credibility to wage a "war against terror."
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