For prosperity and war
The US's latest initiative for a more prosperous Middle East remains glaringly at odds with its plans to wage a war on Iraq. Khaled Dawoud reports from Washington
US officials vehemently deny that the new US-Middle East Partnership Initiative, announced by US Secretary of State Colin Powell on 12 December, was aimed at distracting attention from more critical issues dominating Arab-American relations: the expected US military attack against Iraq, deep Arab disappointment over what they see as blind US support for Israel and failure to put pressure on consecutive Israeli governments to accept a just, peaceful settlement with the Palestinians.
In a speech delivered at the headquarters of a right-leaning think-tank, the Heritage Foundation, Powell outlined the main pillars of the new US strategy for assistance programmes it provides to the Middle East. While recognising that "winning the war on terrorism, disarming Iraq and bringing the Arab-Israeli conflict to an end" topped the US-Arab agenda, Powell said, "It has become increasingly clear that we must broaden our approach to the region if we are to achieve success." Such an approach entails giving "sustained and energetic attention to economic, political and educational reform".
Reflecting the importance the US administration accords this new approach, Powell announced that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage would serve as coordinator.
Quoting extensively from the conclusions reached by the Arab Human Development Report released earlier this year by the UN Development Programme and researched by Arab experts, Powell said that too many people now in the Arab world clearly lacked "the very political and economic freedom, empowerment of women and modern education they need to prosper in the 21st century". He added, "These are not my words. They come from Arab experts who have looked deeply into the issues."
What Powell said in his speech reflected an increasingly dominant view within the US administration following the 11 September attacks. This view suggests that one main reason behind the spread of extremism in the Arab and Islamic worlds was the failure of governments to meet the demands of their people in terms of economic prosperity and democracy. Coupled with lack of respect of basic human rights, alongside corruption and economic constraints, the younger generations feel frustrated and opt for extremism to vent their anger, not just against their governments, but also against the United States, which maintains friendly relations with those regimes.
In this framework, US officials decided to review existing US assistance programmes to the region "to ensure that our aid is reaching as many people as possible across the region, with a particular emphasis on women and children", said a fact sheet about the initiative circulated by the State Department. But one matter US officials avoided addressing was the irony in announcing a new initiative to foster economic prosperity in the region, while preparing for a war against Iraq that is expected to inflict heavy economic losses on all countries in the region.
The initiative will encompass the more than $1 billion in assistance that the US government provides to Arab countries annually, mainly Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, the United States has also committed $29 million in initial funding for pilot projects in support of reforms in the economic, political and educational fields. One noteworthy departure from the US's earlier programmes is that this new initiative will fund projects in wealthy oil-rich Arab Gulf states, namely, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Most US aid has in the past gone to support developing Arab economies, but since the new US strategy is aimed at goals not generally pursued by Gulf states, necessary funding will be provided by the US government.
The first projects under the new initiative began last month with the US playing host to 60 women from the Arab world to monitor mid-term elections in the United States. Those women also received training in campaigning skills to prepare them to stand for elections in their own countries.
Asked about the timing of the announcement of the new initiative, Assistant US Secretary of State William Burns denied the charge. "Let me stress that our emphasis on these issues is not a substitute for the other critically important items on our agenda in the Middle East, whether that's active American leadership in the effort to find a political solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, particularly the problem that divides the Palestinians and Israelis, the campaign against terrorism in which we and our friends in the region continue to work on our mutual interests, or the international effort to hold Iraq to its obligation to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction."
But even in this respect, Powell's statements on the Middle East and Iraq during his speech were frustrating. Notably, the US secretary of state reiterated that Palestinians needed a "new and different leadership". While his sole request from Israel was to "end all settlement construction activity" -- a call that was not accompanied by any rebuke for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the daily atrocities committed by the Israeli army against Palestinian civilians.
Liz Cheney, deputy assistant secretary of state who oversees a number of projects within the new initiative, does not deny the significance of critical issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Iraq. However, she was keen to argue "it has also become clear that we can't wait to address these critical economic, political and educational issues. We can't put them on the sidelines anymore. I think that the Arab Human Development Report makes that point more clearly than we could. Look at the demographics in every country in the region; you will see 50 per cent of the population under the age of 20. If these economies don't grow sufficiently to create jobs for those people, we are going to be in a situation where the regions' countries fall further and further behind the rest of the world in terms of economic development."
Aimed at calming fears that the initiative would seek to overcome existing governments and deal directly with civil society organisations and independent businessmen, Burns and Cheney both stressed that the new US approach would deal with both groups.
"I think that one of the critical parts of this initiative is to work from the top down, and from the bottom up. We will be working with governments to help encourage them to put in place the kinds of legal systems and investment regimes that will help to attract investments and encourage private sector growth; but at the same time, we want to make sure that every dollar of our assistance, whether in our existing aid programme, or to the new money for this partnership, reaches as many people as possible," Cheney said.
Examples of projects the new initiative will fund in the field of education include inviting non-governmental organisation leaders from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates for exchange programmes on education, dubbed "Partnership for Learning". Other programmes will focus on improving the lives of girls and women through literacy training and scholarships to stay in school. Funds will also be provided to efforts that expand e-learning, teaching English as a foreign language, book publishing initiatives, as well as offering training and exchanges for electronic and print journalists.
In the field of economic reform and private sector development, the Initiative will provide assistance to Arab members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It also says it will establish new micro-enterprise programmes to help new micro-businesses and back programmes to assist ongoing efforts to "increase transparency and fight corruption".
