Wonking: Asking "Why"

[Max Sawicky]

seems to me that MK is implying anti-Americanism
in S.A. stems from a yearning for democracy among
the masses.  but if OBL has a following in SA,
it is not based on a desire for more democracy
but for a more thorough-going theocracy. the
destruction of anything resembling a social-
democratic left in the ME took decades and I
suspect it would take some to reconstitute
itself, except in Palestine and Lebanon.

mbs

Hi,
Now this makes sense. Klare usually does.
:-)
-cb

So I think that we have to take a different approach, based
on coordinated, unrelenting international police work aimed at identifying
bin Laden's cells and eradicating them one by one. At the same time, we
will have to conduct a moral crusade against Bin Laden, portraying HIM
as the enemy of Islam, on the grounds that no TRUE believer in the Islamic
tradition could take innocent human lives in this manner. To succeed at
this, however, we will have to reassess U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf,
showing more sympathy for the Arab Muslim masses and calling on the Saudi
regime to announce a timetable for democratization and the provision of
basic human rights. Only when Saudi citizens are allowed to express their
grievances in a lawful, peaceful manner will it be possible to eliminate
the threat of anti-American jihad.

(A preliminary analysis of the September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks on New York and Washington, and its implications for U.S. foreign
& military policy. Based on a talk given by Michael Klare, 
<mklare at hampshire.edu>,

Five College Professor of Peace and World Security Studies, at Smith 
College, Northampton, Mass., on September 13, 2001.)

http://www.fpif.org/commentary/0109why.html