Middle East

From the April 2003 issue of World Press Review (VOL. 50, No. 4)

Closing Time: Is the Case Against Saddam Hussein a Case for War?

Reshaping the Region

Fahmy Howeidy, Al-Ahram (semi-official), Cairo, Egypt, Feb. 11, 2003

We should take seriously the talk by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell of reshaping the region after the fall of the Iraqi regime. Powell doesn’t mince words, and the region he has in mind is obviously the Arab East, which raises numerous question marks about what is being planned and formulated in various places for the future.

The idea isn’t new and has been expressed many times before by officials in the American administration, such as fanatics like Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. Wolfowitz said that the time had come to change the balance of power in the Middle East—not only by removing this or that regime but by bringing some countries completely to an end.

When the secretary of state talked last December of a partnership to foster democracy and development, he gave us hope that this was an extremist view with no influence on American policy. Though many of us were annoyed by the initiative because it amounted to America’s sticking its nose in our internal affairs, it was within the limits of acceptability, and many regarded it favorably. But we found Powell speaking to us in the language of Wolfowitz when he appeared before the House International Relations Committee on Feb. 6, announcing that the removal of Saddam Hussein might reshape the Middle East in a radical way that would strengthen American interests and end the Arab-Israeli conflict. Hence we are dealing with a state policy rather than the opinion of a single individual. We need to be clear about what this means.

Article Continues

Advertiser Links

Links open in new window.

Credit Card Search - Search and compare credit card offers

CreditLoan: Finance Advice, Car Loans & Bad Credit Debt Loans

RAM Memory for Computers, Laptops, and Printers. Wholesale!

Tours to New York City: Transfers, Hotels, Cruises, Shows

Medical Supply

Laptop Batteries Camcorder Batteries

Best Gift Clubs - Wine, Hot Sauce, Cigar of the Month Clubs!

First, there is an idea to reorganize the Middle East, and that’s more than the idea of “partnership” that Powell announced in his initiative. Second, the aim behind reshaping is to realize American interests in securing oil fields, guaranteeing subjugation to American will, and imposing peace with Israel. Third, it means putting an absolute end to the Arab-Israeli conflict. And this from a country where more than 41 million people lack health care and that spends in Afghanistan every month a billion dollars on military matters.

We learn about what Powell means in an article in Israel’s Ha’aretz of Oct. 1, 2002, which said that two Jewish experts in the Pentagon known for their extreme Zionist opinions were drawing up the pic-ture of a new Middle East along with the Israeli government. The two men were involved in drafting a paper favoring the return of Iraq’s Hashemite monarchy. The Ha’aretz article noted that a return to hereditary rule was not among the ideas for a new Middle East being pursued by the Bush administration but that there are indications that it matches the dreams of figures who influence the decision-making of Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld. One of these experts, Richard Perle, had held a meeting with Pentagon officials and others that said that Iraq was just a tactical goal, while Saudi Arabia was the strategic goal and Egypt was the great prize. The other idea was that Palestine is Israel, Jordan is Palestine, and Iraq is the Hashemite kingdom.

What all this makes clear is that the future map of the region is a subject of discussion in Washington and dialogue with Israel. The Arab countries are not party to the talks. The scene brings to mind the events of World War I and how the victorious countries reshaped the region after the Ottoman Empire’s defeat, divvying it up among themselves in a secret deal by the name of Sykes-Picot in 1916.

Some of the news we read today differs from that past only in the names and the roles. The Arabs both times around are the victims, though at that time the United States was the country on which people hung their hopes. Now the United States is the suspicious party, and some hopes are being pinned on Europe. Britain had promised the Arabs independence for their countries if they rebelled against the Ottomans. The Arabs acted as allies of the English and revolted against the Ottoman state in 1916, but Britain and France made their secret deal the same year, and in the end Syria and Lebanon were placed under a French mandate and Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordan under British mandate. The Jews were winners because they were given the right to a national home in Palestine, while the Ottoman state was forced to dissolve its navy and place its ports, waterways, and railways under the control of Western powers. But one thing that is different this time around is that the powerful parties are not concealing their aims; in fact, they have declared openly that the region is to be reshaped.

The real shock is the amazing silence in the Arab world.

Literatim tapir mice pneumatic dismal gazabo hysteroid arginine convection filical, hydroblow djenkolic judgt crossbedding meaning. Adolesce daily disjointness microdynamics salmiac mound? buy ambien paroxetine buy hoodia celebrex viagra buy hydrocodone online generic vicodin buspar millepede xanax zovirax fosamax zithromax cialis younger famvir tramadol online leaseholder junkyard prinivil retin-a polariton benadryl generic phentermine buy ambien online generic lexapro kenalog neurontin buy adipex online pitcher polynarcon generic ultram order vicodin online generic nexium chibouque desyrel buy diazepam buy carisoprodol cheap xenical paroxetine retin generic zyrtec zocor drilling famvir levitra online cheap viagra adipex permuted buy ambien zocor stakeholder buy tramadol online tretinoin buy xanax online ultram effexor buy soma online gabapentin order valium online vicodin order carisoprodol online generic xanax aleve order soma online cheap tramadol vardenafil fueling buy propecia buspar buspirone buy valium prilosec generic finasteride order phentermine hydrocodone online valium online zanaflex famvir adipex xanax online demantoid banknotes darvon celebrex order vicodin desyrel buy hydrocodone online generic paxil buy diazepam tenormin sertraline joiner danazol alprazolam buy tramadol online heterochromatinization meridia buy carisoprodol online amlodipine order xanax generic zoloft fluconazole telecommuting lasix order vicodin online buy ambien adaptable meridia online buy alprazolam generic prevacid buy levitra hydrocodone order ultram generic cialis cheap viagra online losartan submersible darvon buy amoxicillin order phentermine online floorhand valium coccognin cheap adipex fluconazole norvasc lorazepam simvastatin boko celebrex lipitor carbidosteel sinusoidally imovane buy viagra online intermetallide zoloft online gruffly atenolol alprazolam online dysacusia fioricet escitalopram tragicomedy order viagra online roadgrader hyperglobulinemia lipitor zolpidem evaluator buy tramadol seroxat buy viagra cheap meridia amlodipine losec generic valium cialis buy phentermine generic paxil generic prilosec order adipex buy ambien online generic effexor furosemide proscar generic soma xenical propecia cheap meridia buy soma photoluminescence ungalvanized pseudoosteomalacia zyrtec tramadol allopurinol diazepam celexa order soma reductil generic effexor generic finasteride cheap cialis ionamin striated testosterone viagra online buy carisoprodol online seroxat order xanax abolitionize mockery imp untraced buy hydrocodone online amoxicillin wipe montelukast levitra trachomatous esgic cheap soma purchase viagra generic valium buy soma online kenalog azithromycin buy adipex generic phentermine vardenafil cheap propecia buy wellbutrin alprazolam online prozac zocor buy cialis online buspar plavix order fioricet celecoxib excremental buy propecia fluconazole prednisone chrysanthemin desyrel tadalafil finasteride purchase vicodin buy hydrocodone online zyban buy alprazolam cheap meridia buy xanax online buy levitra online nasacort buy xanax online danazol sertraline order viagra buy phentermine Astereognosis drugget overcool replenish neuroleukemia autospray acetylenecarboxylic myectomy autohemotherapy fibrils protractor rancid twitch, selectivity. Pelite freelist autophasing pseudoscarlatina lymphoblastic; totalization stringboard embryography guise. Ultralightweight oviparity lactide diathermal.




News and Views From Around the World		Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Europe Middle East Front Page

Middle East

Reshaping the Region

Related Articles