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Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
ARABS AND DEMOCRACY
'Iraq will
cause a
changein
the region
and make
America's
enemIes
•
desperate'
the Middle, East, including "friendly
regimes" such as Saudi Arabia and
Egypt, has helped foster the extremism
, that now threatens US national secu.
rity. Ms Cheney's de~ent is at the
,crux of efforts within the US adminis.
tration to devise a new approach wit~
the Arab world. The reverberations of
that policy debate can be felt in the
Middle East itself, where scepticism of
US motives runs high and political and
business elites grow increasingly wor.
ried about their survival.
.' Not that Ms Cheney gives much' clue
, to the potentially far-reaching under.
taking under consideration. "It's
become clear that we must broaden our
approach to the region," she says,
guardedly. "We have to work.with part-
M
o
C'l
IQ-
By the sound of it, Elizabeth
, Cheney's job is little different
from thework American diplomats
have been doing for
decades in many partS of the world.
From unassuming offices in the Statè
Department in Washington, she oversees
a budget of $SOmdevoted to such
activities as training politicians in
.parliamentary democracy and teaching
women how to participate in election
campaigns.
Yet ,the .work asaigned.to Ma Cheney,
a deputy US assistant undersecretary
of utate and daughter of the vice.
president, is hardly diplomacy as
usùaI. The foeusor her efforts is coun.
, tries in the Arab world. Her newly cre. '
, .ated; post is at the forefront of US
,efforts. to instigate political reform
among' the,:authoritarian regimes long
regarded by Washington as allies.
. September 11 2001opened American
eyes to a long-overlooked reality: that
Some in Washington see the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein as th~ key to bringing
democracy to the Middle East; others fear the
instability that could.follow. Roula Khalaf reports
Ders (there] to address critical issues 01
jobs. education and expanded political period; democracy may not ftdürlsh in
participation for all the people 01 the
Middle East." , .
Iraq. they argue, as rapidly as some
hope.
The State Department coyly relers to
her work, as the Middle East partner.
To maintain this difficult balance,
the realists seek to reassure Arab
ship initiative. Although MBCheney r.egimes that the change 01 policy
has been in place for a year, it was
only last month that Colin Powell, sec.
envisaged is a co-operativeprocess that
will be neither abrupt nor brutal.
retary o,f state, unveiled the pro. Thus far, the State I)epartment,
gramme in a carefully crafted speech to
the Heritage Foundation, a Washington
through MBCheney'soffiee, has pre.
ferred to approach the issue on a small '
think.tank.
Pledging that the US wQuld give
scale. The programmes it sponsors are
limited in scope, reaching only a frac.
"sustained and energetic attention" to
economic, political and educational
tion of the Arab population. Some in
Washington want to go faster; there
reform, Mr Powell said: "The spread of are requests to Congress for an
democracy and free markets. fuelled by increase in funding. "We've got to
the wonders of the technological revo- make this a priority of the US àdminis.
lution, has created a dynamo that can tration, with a huge aid programme,
generate prosperity and human and put resources at the disposal of
well.being on an unprecedented scale. people trying to create change," says a
But this revolution has left much of
the Middle East behind. Too many
former official who supports the State
Department's approach.
people there lack the very political and By contrast, the hawkish neo.
economic freedom, empowerment of
women and modern education they
conservatives, influential at the Penta-
gon and the White House. have the
need to prosper in the 21st century," advantage of promoting a simple mes-
A few weeks earlier, Richard Haas, sage. They envisage using America's
director of policy planning at the State military might to topple regimes.
Department, had delivered a blunter For them, much depends on the evomessage.
,By allowing a "democratic lution of the Iraq crisis. They expect a
exception" to exist in the Muslim change of regime in Baghdad - an out.
world, he said, the US had missed an
opportunity. "It is not in our interest -'
come they ~trongly advocate - to lead
to the creation of a democratic governor
that of the people living in the Mus-' ment. That development, combined
lim world - for the US to continue this with the flexing of American muscle,
exception."
On that much, there is broad agreewill
send powerful warnings to other
regimes, Iran and Syria in particular,
ment in Washington. The differences of two totalitarian regimes seen as
opinion centre on how Arab democrati.
sation should be brought about; on
incapable
within.
of peaceful reform from
how quickly and how far the process The introduction of democracy in
should go. At heart, says one official,it. Iraq will also add to pressure on less
is a "philosophical fight" over the aims threatening regimes, such as Egypt's,
and reach of US foreign policy. producing an acceleration of reforms
"The most generic version of the, there, the hawks say. Development of
vision of the neo.conservatives and Iraq's oil resources will reduce US
that of the Powell camp is the same. dependence on Saudi Arabia, the coun-
The critical difference is howyou get try that produced most of the Septemtl1e.re,"
says a former US official. "At ber 11 hijackers and one that many in
best ;,ne nee-conservatives' approach is Washington see as in the most urgent
uninformed and naive and at worst it's need of reform. The ruling Al Saud
dimgerous - they want to wage a series family would either have to change its
of. wars. But they are advancing a ways or be replaced, possibly by
coherent strategy for dealing with the younger, reform.minded members of
h hi Th the family.
world throug t at perspect ve. e "September 11 is the overflow of the
other camp, that of Powell, is still not
putting forward a coherent st.rategy." region's upheaval, which expressed
itself in anti.Americanism," insists one
For the so-called "realists" at the hawkish official. "It was the result of
,State Department, the US needs to an unholy alliance between al.Qaeda
maintain the suppott of governments
in the region in the. war on terror and
'
and those who were ostensibly our
J._lMM8 fi 'bl mili allies, [such as] Saudi Arabia,"
to secure .ug-....- or a poSSl e . "Redrawing of the Middle East is
.taly cam~ign ~t Iraq. i th f th
,They.envisage the promotion of polit- about redraw ng e nature 0 e
ical reform in the region as part of a region, not the map. Iraq w1ll cause a
broader engagement' that includes US fundamental change in the region and
participation ina comprehensive' make our enemies more desperate. If
Middle East peace Sl!ttlement.They are . we stay iD Iraq and [do] not deal with
also more amenable to replacing Sad. issues of Syria and Iran, they'll kill us
dam Hussein with Il military general or and outmanoeuvre us. Our camp says
a senior official from the ruling Ba'ath we should quickly deal with the probparty,
at least during ,a transition lem of Iran, that something needs to be
2