Arabs rally behind Saddam Hussein

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), FEB. 18. Opinion in the Arab world appears to be near unanimous that Friday's bomb attacks on Iraq by the U.S. and British military aircraft was totally without justification.

The raid has further strengthened the hold that Iraq's President, Mr. Saddam Hussein, has on the Arab street and it will be very difficult for Arab governments not to join the efforts for a lifting of the sanctions. When the U.N. Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, travels to Iraq at the end of this month to discuss this issue, his interlocutors will face him with great confidence in the support they have for their position.

Very few in the Arab world are prepared to buy the U.S. and British explanation that the air raids were carried out because Iraqi defences had so improved as to threaten the aircraft enforcing the ``no fly'' zones. Iraq's claim that two people died and that 20 were injured has been accepted without reservation and there seem to be few in the region who doubt that the attacks were only intended as a means to punish Iraq for its defiance and has no other purpose.

There are hardly any takers for the U.S. position that Iraq still threatens its neighbours and that its ``containment'' is a dire necessity. Attacks on Iraq in which civilians are killed indiscriminately stand out in stark contrast to the U.S. protestations about the deaths of Israelis in clashes with the Palestinians.

Even the Government of Kuwait, which has always expressed its support for similar U.S. actions, has deemed it prudent to keep aloof this time around. They have said that it was and is the internal affair for Iraq or atmost an affair between Iraq and the U.S. and that they had no further comment. The Saudis have not issued any statement either but Friday's attack, which came out of the blue as it were, will certainly move the Saudis further along on the course of distancing themselves from the sanctions regime.

Saudi diplomacy is always discreet and their moves are revealed only slowly so there might not be any quick decision to stop U.S. and British war-planes from using their bases. But there can be little doubt as to the direction in which the attacks have pushed Saudi Arabia.

If nothing else Arab leaders whom the U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. (retd.) Colin Powell, will meet during his tour at the end of this month are bound to be more insistent in asking the U.S. to elaborate on its intentions towards Iraq.

The messages coming from Washington have not been unmixed and the Arab governments cannot live in perpetual uncertainty about what the U.S. intends to do about Iraq and Mr. Hussein.

Almost all Arab governments, bar Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, have already moved to re-establish commercial if not diplomatic ties with Iraq and the raid will add momentum to these efforts. By the time Mr. Annan comes to discuss weapons inspections and the continuance of sanctions with the Iraqi regime at the end of the month, he is likely to face Iraqi officials who are confident that the sanctions regime is corroding by the day.

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Section  : International
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