Allies have second thoughts on coalition?

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, OCT. 11. For all the talk of a global coalition, there is a growing sense here that the ``war'' against Osama bin Laden is ending up largely as an Anglo-U.S. effort with no active participation from any of the other allies, except, of course, Pakistan which has been dragged into it, kicking and screaming.

While America's European allies, though paid members of the coalition because of their NATO obligations, are keeping a conspicuously low profile, the Arab world is on the verge of pulling down the drawbridge as it comes under intense public pressure not to back military action against another Muslim country. The British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Jack Straw who, after a brief ``historic'' visit to Teheran, believed that Iran had come on board is said to be dismayed by the strong Iranian condemnation of the U.S. offensive in Afghanistan. The fact that the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, has had to make a dash to Arab capitals in the midst of a war is seen as an indication of the anxiety that the coalition might be cracking up.

Observers said while some sort of a Muslim backlash was expected, the intensity of anti-war protests across the Islamic world must have surprised the coalition managers. ``Whether it be a Lebanese Minister, a Saudi journalist, a Jordanian bank clerk or an Egyptian resident, the response is the same: Bin Laden's voice, repeatedly beamed into millions of homes, articulates the demands and grievances and fury of Middle East Muslims...,'' said The Independent quoting Arabs as accusing Americans of waging a war against ``one person''.

The death of civilians in the bombardment of Afghanistan has further inflamed anti-U.S. sentiment in the Muslim world. At home,too, Mr. Blair's painstaking attempt to win over the Muslim opinion appears to have failed with some of his staunchest Muslim supporters reacting angrily to the military action in Afghanistan. His interview to the Qatar-based Al- Jazeera TV channel to counter Bin Laden's propaganda is reported to have made little impact on the opinion in Arab countries where he was seen to struggle while answering some sharp questions about Britain's policies towards West Asia.

Writing in The Guardian, Malise Ruthven, author of ``Islam in the World'', warned that the U.S.-led operation against Bin Laden was fraught with serious political consequences. ``As a figurehead he is in a win-win situation: if he is captured or killed, he becomes a martyr...whose menace increases posthumously; if he remains at large, his heroic status is enhanced.'' Another of Britain's leading commentators, Mr. Jonathan Freedland, noted that the ``intensity of street-level reaction has exposed a glaring hole in the Western coalition's case'' that it was not a civilisational clash.

``To trash the idea, Blair and others constantly said the West has no grievance with Islam. But they never paused to wonder how Islam felt about the West. Bin Laden insists there is absolutely a clash of civilisations - and, so far, from Quetta to Gaza, they are cheering him,'' he said echoing the view that the military strikes were destined to be counter-productive. The West, he said, was faced with a Catch-22 situation in which if Bin Laden was captured and put on trial he would become a ``focus for Islamist anger'', and if he was killed he would become a martyr whose death would ``have to be gruesomely avenged'' by his followers. Britain, analysts said, had jumped on the ``American bandwagon'' without thinking it through whereas other U.S. allies had been more cautious - and, in retrospect, been the wiser for it.

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Section  : International
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