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Welcome to USAGOLD's "Gilded
Opinion" pages.
We invite you to browse our index
of outstanding gold-based commentary.
(Back to Holger Jensen Index)
While we find Mr. Jensen's columns particularly informative with respect to foreign affairs, his opinions do not necessarily represent those of Centennial Precious Metals, USAGOLD, its management and clientele.
INSIDE FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Book offers Bush primer on
cooling Islamic rage
by Holger Jensen, International Editor
Ever since Sept. 11, analysts have been saying that the war on terrorism can only be won if it is accompanied by major changes in U.S. foreign policy, especially as it pertains to the Middle East.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies is the first to make specific recommendations. They include doubling foreign aid, more even-handed peacemaking in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, pressing for political change in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and reconciling with Iran.
These steps are outlined in a 373-page book titled To Prevail: An American Strategy for the Campaign Against Terrorism.
Thirty of the center's scholars contributed to the work, written by CSIS analysts Kurt Campbell and Michele Flournoy, two former Defense Department officials.
"The conditions that allowed al-Qaeda's brand of global terrorism to flourish -- and to find sympathy, support, or at least tolerance in many quarters across the Middle East -- must be addressed," say the authors. "From this point on, U.S. strategy toward the Middle East must recognize and seek to alter those realities while also reducing our dependence on Persian Gulf oil."
While stressing that nothing can excuse the attacks on New York and Washington, Campbell and Flournoy point out the "single most important driver of Islamic rage is the failure of many 'moderate' Islamic states to create modern governments responsive to the needs of their people and viable civil societies where even minimal levels of debate and democracy are tolerated."
They cite Egypt and Saudi Arabia as the two most important Arab regimes that must be pushed to provide greater liberty, economic opportunity and political participation for their people or "they may end up as casualties in this international campaign."
The second priority, according to Campbell and Flournoy, is to reassert U.S. leadership in the Middle East peace process. That means putting "pressure on the Palestinian Authority to stop the attacks emanating from areas under its control and pressure on Israel to stop conducting raids on Palestinian villages and expanding settlements in the occupied territories."
President Bush has sent retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni to prod both sides into a cease-fire and implement a broader blueprint drawn up by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. But Zinni faces a dizzying array of obstacles, beginning with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's insistence on a week without violence.
Israeli analysts say Sharon cannot freeze Jewish settlement construction, as demanded by the Mitchell Plan, without collapsing his coalition government. And Palestinian analysts say Yasser Arafat cannot enforce a cease-fire without first being able to show his people that they have gained something from their 14-month uprising against Israeli occupation.
Every fresh killing of Palestinians, such as the death of five small boys by an Israeli bomb, increases Palestinian rage and diminishes Arafat's ability to control it. And every killing of Israelis, such as the two shot by Palestinian gunmen just as Zinni arrived, perpetuates the deadly cycle of tit-for-tat violence.
Campbell and Flournoy say the Bush administration should also move away from dual containment of Iraq and Iran in favor of "a modest and careful political opening to Iran." And it must be "prepared to strike Iraq militarily if evidence of collusion in terrorist attacks against the United States is credible."
So far the administration has sent out mixed signals on Iraq. Bush demands that Saddam Hussein allow a resumption of international arms inspections, halted in 1998, saying the global war on terrorism will also target those who make weapons of mass destruction. But aides hastened to say that Iraq is not the only nation of concern -- Sudan, Somalia or Yemen are just as likely to receive Bush's attention once the Afghan campaign is completed.
The 22-nation Arab League has warned that an attack on Iraq or any other Arab nation would collapse the global coalition against terrorism.
It may also threaten our oil supplies. That's why Campbell and Flournoy advise Washington to take more aggressive conservation measures, develop more fuel-efficient vehicles and industrial processes and diversify energy supplies to reduce U.S. reliance on Arab oil.
November 29, 2001
Send your questions to international editor Holger Jensen, who will answer one each day. E-mail: hjens@aol.com
Copyright © 2001 The E.W. Scripps Co. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted by USAGOLD with permission of Mr. Jensen. No further reproduction without permission.
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