Issue No. 603
Editorial
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12 - 18 September 2002 Issue No. 603 Editorial |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Glibly certain
For the majority of Arabs and Muslims the first anniversary of the 11 September attacks were accompanied by uncertainty and fear. Yet only 12 months ago, in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, Americans had begun to ask themselves why they were so hated. It was an important question, though the soul- searching, it has become increasingly obvious, did not extend to an administration whose officials were content to state, and then restate, that America was under attack from those who hate civilisation and freedom. No question of reviewing policies, no question of reviewing America's conduct across the globe. The answer was simple. We are hated by those who hate freedom.
No cause for anger, then, in the US administration's single- handed abandonment of arms control. There can be no arguing with its "son of star wars" programme, with its scuppering of the Kyoto agreement , with its undermining of attempts to protect the environment, with Washington giving a notorious war criminal the green light to escalate his murder of Palestinians. For all of these -- well, it's business as usual.
Repulsion at the slaughter of more than 3,000 innocent civilians was as strong in the Arab world as anywhere else. Yet the Arab world cannot afford the simple certainties of US administration officials: America is not hated because people hate freedom, it is not attacked out of pique. The equation is far more complicated than that. And for many in the region it does not take an enormous leap of the imagination to understand how hatred might have grown to such monstrous proportions.
And it is this that is the real tragedy, not that somewhere, in caves, in underground cells, there are those who rub their hands together in anticipation at the collapse of "freedom".
And the increasingly strident calls to war emanating from Washington -- are those who raise their voices to object (ie most of the world, America apart), are they, too, haters of freedom? Can the international community convince the United States that its confrontational and aggressive tactics can produce only more enemies? The chances look slim, but it is on such success we depend if there is to be any hope for a better understanding between America and the rest of the world.
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