"THE SMOKE FROM THE FIRE OF IRAQ IS DRIFTING OVER LEBANON"
An eye-opening, shocking story from the Washington Post takes us into Tripoli, Lebanon, to see how the 'War On Iraq' franchise of the 'The Long War' against terror is spreading its influence, and power to recruit new jihadists, well beyond the borders of the current conflict.
The war in Iraq has generated some of the most startling images in the Middle East today: a dictator's fall, elections in defiance of insurgent threats and carnage on a scale rarely witnessed.
Less visibly, though, the war is building a profound legacy across the Arab world: fear and suspicion over Iraq's repercussions, a generation that casts the Bush administration's policy as an unquestioned war on Islam, and a subterranean reserve of men...declare that the fight against the United States in Iraq is a model for the future.
In the West, we are told by the likes of President Bush, UK's Prime Minister Blair and Australia's Prime Minister Howard that the 'War On Terror' is not a War Against Islam.
But for seemingly millions of people across the Middle East, and greater Asia, this is exactly what the War On Terror has become. And this belief seems to be spreading deeper, and wider, and radicalising more and more Muslims as the 'War On Iraq' continues well into its fourth and the civilian casualities and atrocities mount.
The war in Iraq has generated some of the most startling images in the Middle East today: a dictator's fall, elections in defiance of insurgent threats and carnage on a scale rarely witnessed.
Less visibly, though, the war is building a profound legacy across the Arab world: fear and suspicion over Iraq's repercussions, a generation that casts the Bush administration's policy as an unquestioned war on Islam, and a subterranean reserve of men...declare that the fight against the United States in Iraq is a model for the future.
It is as though a script written well before the September 11th attacks on the US is now being acted out, page by page. As this WP story points out, while there was anger and resentement against US foreign policy across the Middle East before the 'War On Iraq', the call to arms to fight in a region-wide resistance wasn't getting many takers. That doesn't seem to be the case now.
Bush told us that Iraq was "the central front of the War On Terror" long before the lengthened 'War On Iraq' made into a reality.
...Tripoli, is one of the most visible manifestations of the war, a rough-and-tumble city being transformed by growing radicalism and religious fervor that may long outlast the death of Zarqawi and the U.S. presence in Iraq, now in its fourth year. Here, and elsewhere, that militancy may prove to be the inheritance of both the war and the Bush administration's professed aim of bringing democratic reform to the region.
"....why does the Islamic current reach its goals? Because it expresses the people's sentiments against the Americans. It's a reaction to American policy. They are planting the seed of hatred that is going to last generations."
Grievances against the United States are nothing new in a city like Tripoli. For a generation, activists across the spectrum have bitterly criticized U.S. policy. What has shifted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the U.S. invasion of Iraq is the perception of that policy.
The critique is no longer about perceived double standards -- of excessive support for Israel, of backing Arab dictatorships. Today, it is more generalized, universal and uncompromising. Popular sentiment here and elsewhere holds that U.S. policy amounts to a war on Islam, and in the language of Abu Haritha and others, the conflict is framed as one between the faithful and infidels, justice and injustice.
"The targeting of Iraq can be considered the first step in targeting the entire Middle East to impose a new order in the region...
Some see an American hand in Iraq's entropy; in their analysis, the United States and Israel are fanning the flames of sectarianism as a way to further divide the Arab world and create a region even more balkanized than today's. Others see a more deep-seated hostility in U.S. actions, a scorched-earth campaign to hasten an apocalyptic battle or, in Salih's words, the "politics of chaos."
"America is with the Shiites in Iraq and against the Shiites in Lebanon, with the Sunnis in Lebanon and against the Sunnis in Iraq and Palestine. It is against the Shiites in Iran. Where is America?" Shaaban asked. "It needs Einstein to resolve it."
The whole story is well worth a read.
