(Guardian-UK) Martin Woollacott - Why are we in the Middle East? We have to return to the fundamental fact that the driving aim of al-Qaeda and its allies is not only to get Western forces out of Iraq, but to get the West in all its manifestations out of the whole region. Not just its soldiers, but its businessmen, clerics, scholars, teachers, and aid workers. And not just Westerners, but those Arabs who have allegedly become Westerners in their hearts. It is the contention of al-Qaeda and its allies that Western support for Arab regimes and for Israel, and the insidious Western cultural influence that goes along with that support, are the two great obstacles standing in the way of a purification and renewal of the Muslim world. Once the West has been cowed into a retreat, then the real war for power and religious dominance in the Middle East can begin. Given the complex realities of the societies they imagine they will at some point control, and the utter inadequacy of their own resources - other than for destructive purposes - their ambitions are certainly doomed to fail. But on the way to that failure they can clearly do grave damage to both civilizations.
2004-03-19 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive