The War On Terror Could Have Been Won
by Hasan Abu Nimah
Jordan Times
21 Aug 2002
IT HAS been almost a year since the attacks on Sept. 11 shocked
the world, but the war on terror is far from over. The extent and
the vicious nature of the tragedy had raised deep hopes,
worldwide, that the root causes would be addressed, and valuable
lessons would be learnt, but such hopes have fast dissipated.
There was no lack of support, from many countries in the world,
for America's "war on terror," and no lack of cooperation either
-- sometimes reluctant but often willing. In the fields of
intelligence, a great deal of assistance was offered and rendered
in tracking down suspects and squeezing their financial resources.
Yet the Americans have plainly frustrated, if not betrayed, the
trust of those who had hoped the anti-terror war would be
conducted on the firm basis of objectivity, a high degree of
responsibility, and justice.
It is very true that it was not possible to link the September
atrocities to any understandable, let alone legitimate, cause. No
cause could justify using passenger planes carrying innocent
civilians as rockets against other innocent civilian targets,
resulting in an immense loss of life, and catastrophic
destruction.
Yet, if there was total revulsion for the September attacks
themselves, there was certainly a prevailing feeling in their wake
that America's selective approach to international problems and
the misapplication of International Law and justice needed to be
examined and drastically rectified.
Even away from the impact of the attacks, and since the dramatic
collapse of the Soviet Union which left America the unchallenged
leader of the world, concerns were already rising that the
application of double standards, and the serious deviation from
the right values and principles, accompanied by total reliance on
the supremacy of military power, were leading to international
chaos, hopelessness and despair.
Instead of taking Sept. 11 as the long awaited wake-up call, the
US administration inconsiderately eliminated any possible
advantage and quickly resorted to the old style of handling a
major world crisis and a devastating national tragedy -- by
imposing hegemony, pursuing short-sighted goals, and settling old
scores.
This is consolidating, rather than alleviating the bitterness and
vast fears which many believed were behind the culture of hate and
vindictiveness that produced the brutal September attacks.
Two significant blunders seriously compromised the American
effort. One was US submission to Israeli pressure advocating that
any Palestinian or Arab action resisting or opposing the continued
Israeli occupation of Arab lands, should be put on the list of
targets. The other was the frenzied calls for an attack on Iraq
with the declared intention of bringing down Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein's regime.
Both issues have been nurturing anti-American feelings in the
region for a long time. They have contributed to deepening
mistrust, tension and frustration. Many believed that if the
Americans revised their policies toward these two pressing issues
they would cover significant ground in regaining trust, and
prestige; and as a result, achieve significant gains in the war
against terror.
This unfortunately did not happen, in fact the exact opposite did.
By unreservedly adopting the policy of a right-wing racist
government in Israel, the US became directly accountable for every
atrocity that Israel commits on a daily basis. By branding even
legitimate Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation as
pure unjustified terror, as Israel maintains, the US is allowing
much of the support for its justifiable war on terror, to
decrease.
It is true that some of the resistance methods, such as suicide
bombings targeting civilians, are undeniably wrong, and even the
Palestinian National Authority has described them as acts of
terror. Yet the Palestinian issue -- the result of a struggle
between two peoples, one of which is deprived of all its
legitimate rights -- is a totally different matter and should be
treated independently.
The US insists that it should change the regime in Iraq by
military force, but is struggling to find a pretext, let alone a
legal cover for this undertaking. In the absence of both, and
despite extensive intelligence efforts to find any proof linking
Iraq to Sept.11 or Al Qaeda, the remaining claims range from Iraqi
defiance of UN resolutions, to stockpiling of weapons of mass
destruction (WMD), which are a threat to regional and world
security.
In the eyes of most people such allegations are striking examples
of a selective approach to issues and an application of double
standards. Is Iraq the only country that can be accused of failing
to comply with UN resolutions? Is it the only country that
possesses WMD, if it does?
What about Israel? While Iraq does not occupy even an inch of any
of its neighbours' territory, Israel, in blatant defiance of
International Law and UN resolutions, continues to occupy vast
areas of Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian land and build
settlements on them, and continues to violate every international
rule and commit every heinous atrocity.
While Iraq is only accused of stockpiling WMD, Israel is known to
possess a huge nuclear arsenal and ominous leaks indicate that the
Israelis would use it.
The war on terror would have been won by now had it not been
messed up and wrongly entangled with unrelated issues. Terror
remains a real danger to our existence and civilisation. It should
indeed be eliminated, and all efforts should be mobilised towards
achieving that end. The first step though is to address injustice
and accept the rule of law.
The writer is former ambassador and permanent representative of
Jordan to the UN. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.
© 2002 The Jordan Times
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