Soapbox:

The paradoxes of reform

By Amr El-Choubaki

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The recent wave of bombings in various cities across the world suggests that a new brand of terror has emerged. Terror used to be a locally motivated phenomenon, one aimed mainly at changing a system of government. This was the case with Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya and Al-Jihad, groups that had known leaders and a definite structure.

The Luxor attack in 1997 was the last atrocity mounted by local radical groups. The period of calm that followed was broken once the US went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since then, violence has gone global, with Iraq becoming a breeding ground for a wide range of radical groups. The presence of US occupation forces in the region altered the strategies of radical groups.

Terror is unjustifiable and yet we must identify its motives. Iraq was obviously the catalyst for the mayhem in Taba, Madrid, London and Sharm El-Sheikh. Al-Qaeda has been universally blamed, but we mustn't rule out the existence of local agents and disgruntled individuals. It is possible, for example, to argue that the arrest of thousands of Bedouins following the Taba attacks facilitated rather than deterred the Sharm El-Sheikh attacks.

The madness needs to stop. For this to happen, the US occupation of Iraq should be brought to a swift end, and the UN should get genuinely involved in determining the future of that country. The Palestinian problem needs a fair solution. And those who still believe that tough security is enough to deter terror must think again.

This week's Soapbox speaker is an analyst at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.