MIDDLE EAST: On the third anniversary of September 11th, many Arabs believe themselves to be the major victims of the Bush administration's policies of revenge writes Michael Jansen in Beirut
The Cairo liberal daily Nahdat Misr summed up editorial comment across the Middle East when it said: "Arabs are the only people in the world paying the bill for September 11th . . . The collapse of the World Trade Centre's twin towers . . . represents a real defeat for Arabs and not Americans . . . The events . . . which cost some 3,000 lives, were transformed into a sword hanging over the heads of 300 million Arabs."
The semi-official Egyptian daily al-Jumhuriyah blamed the US "thirst for supremacy" for the "terrorist actions" of September 11th, which it said were "in response to its tendency to impose its hegemony and use force to impose its will on others." But the Egyptian opposition paper al-Wafd held responsible al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, and his Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for the debacle.
"Thanks to their stupidity and blindness, they allowed the chief of the infidels, President Bush, to seize strategic positions in two Muslim countries [Afghanistan and Iraq] in order to consolidate [US] domination of the world."
The Saudi press carried extensive coverage on the dark anniversary, ref- lecting on the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers who crashed aircraft into the Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, were young Saudis.
Writing on an internet site created in the run-up to the anniversary by two Saudi dailies, London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat and the English language Arab News, Abdel Rahman al-Rashed, asserted, controversially: "It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims."
Al-Rashed, general manager of the popular al-Arabiya satellite television channel, listed Muslim militants who committed terrorist outrages and concluded by condemning Islamist ideologues who lead young Muslims astray.
Inas Adel Shahin, commenting in Iraq's al-Bayan, agreed. He said Muslims must face up to the "neo-Muslim" concept of modern day jihad, or holy war, waged by "those who want to kidnap Islam just as they kidnap innocent children". The Saudi daily Okaz called September 11th a "black day" and said: "The bitter truth is that the incidents witnessed by the world after September 11th . . . have not or will not curb terrorism, but are plunging the world into destruction and havoc."
The Syrian official daily Tishrin said the attacks on the US cleared the way for "the rise in the political and religious right [in the US], which carries out the policies of the Israeli far right" and to a new era in which international principles and law are being "reversed to serve American plans for global hegemony".
Al-Khaleej, a liberal daily published in the United Arab Emirates, warned that "Sudan, Lebanon, Syria and Iran are on the list of countries" which should be concerned about US policy following the Iraq war, while Iraq's al-Mashriq bemoaned the country's deepening instability.
In Egypt, the largest Arab country and the one which formerly led the Arab world, editorialists focused on its diminishing role in Arab and international affairs. The independent al-Misri al-Yawm looked at the changing relationship between Washington and Cairo (Egypt is the largest recipient of US foreign aid after Israel). The editorialist wrote: "Cairo's regional role has been curtailed and its vital space reduced." The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr Ahmad Abul Gheit, said the "greatest challenge threatening our security is the world's narrow vision in dealing with our region".
This vision, in the view of Arab writers, defines the region as the source of terrorism without looking into the causes of anti-US and anti-Western sentiments: Israel's treatment of the Palestinians and, now, Iraq.