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How to turn a criminal to a hero
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The U.S. strikes against Osama bin Laden have unleashed a backlash among moderate Arabs already fearful that "globalization" is another word for U.S. imperialism.
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BY JONATHAN BRODER
WASHINGTON -- In the wake of the U.S. cruise-missile attacks against Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Sudan, a predictable wave of anti-American fervor is sweeping the Middle East and the Muslim world. What is unusual is that the anger is coming from political moderates who loathe bin Laden and his brand of violent Islamic fundamentalism as much as the United States does.
Behind the images of angry mobs burning effigies of President Clinton is a vast hinterland of outrage and reluctant sympathy for bin Laden, populated not only by the poor and disenfranchised but also by articulate middle-class Arabs and Muslims who have the most to lose from the challenges posed by the wealthy Saudi-turned-Islamic warrior.
Railing for the removal of American forces from the Persian Gulf and a return by Middle Eastern governments to strict Islamic law and values, fundamentalists like bin Laden are widely regarded by Arab moderates as threats to the stability of their societies. To illustrate the consequences of bin Laden's vision, moderates point to the civil war in Algeria, where fighting between militant Muslims and government troops over the past five years has left at least 80,000 dead. In Egypt, where Islamic militants have attacked tourists and intellectuals and tried to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak, there is broad support among middle-class Egyptians for the government's crackdown on violent fundamentalist groups.
Yet in response to the American attacks on bin Laden, Sanaa Al Said, a columnist for the Egyptian newspaper Al Wafd, wrote: "Overnight, the man has been transformed from an outlawed criminal on the run into a national hero standing against a hated superpower ... which has come to our region and wreaked its own havoc here ... Changes are on the way. U.S. hegemony will, one day, come to an end, and then the world will breathe more freely."
Moderate Arab governments, many of them U.S. allies with terrorist problems of their own, have studiously kept quiet about the attack. But in their silence, other Arab commentators have echoed the same themes as Al Said: America's clumsiness in dealing with bin Laden, its double standard when dealing with Israeli violence and its tendency to use force and embargoes when dealing with Arabs and Muslims. While such sentiments have long formed the core of Arab intellectual thought, the American attack has brought this anger to the surface, where it is likely to influence government leaders -- and future U.S. policy.
"Among the Arab and Muslim middle classes, there is a lot of resentment toward U.S. policies, toward the status quo; and tremendous frustration that their governments can't do anything," says Shibley Telhami, a professor of Middle Eastern affairs at the University of Maryland. "Therefore someone like bin Laden, who challenges the status quo, is seen by the middle classes as a sympathetic figure, even if they don't like him or his agenda."
N E X T+P A G E+| The "Wag the Dog" theory
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PHOTOGRAPH: AP/WIDE WORLD

T A B L E+T A L K Should we just say yes to hemp? Discuss the plant's bad reputation and multiple uses in the Science and Health area of Table Talk D A I L Y+Q U O T E Diana's legacy in the press R E C E N T L Y Aging hormones By Mollie Dickenson Why Washington's elderly elite hate Clinton (08/25/98) Kenneth Starr, porn legend! By Gary Kamiya The all-amateur skin flick that's revitalizing the adult-video industry (08/25/98) The other grand jury begins By Murray Waas Now it is Kenneth Starr's inquiry that is the object of a secret federal grand jury probe, as the plot continues to thicken (08/24/98) Salon editorial By David Talbot It's time for the American system to usher Ken Starr from the stage (08/21/98) False Witness, Part 5 By Michael Haddigan and Murray Waas Why there will never be a Whitewater Report from Ken Starr (08/21/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		How to turn a criminal to a hero The U.S. strikes against Osama bin Laden have unleashed a backlash among moderate Arabs already fearful that "globalization" is another word for U.S. imperialism. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BY JONATHAN BRODER WASHINGTON -- In the wake of the U.S. cruise-missile attacks against Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Sudan, a predictable wave of anti-American fervor is sweeping the Middle East and the Muslim world. What is unusual is that the anger is coming from political moderates who loathe bin Laden and his brand of violent Islamic fundamentalism as much as the United States does. Behind the images of angry mobs burning effigies of President Clinton is a vast hinterland of outrage and reluctant sympathy for bin Laden, populated not only by the poor and disenfranchised but also by articulate middle-class Arabs and Muslims who have the most to lose from the challenges posed by the wealthy Saudi-turned-Islamic warrior. Railing for the removal of American forces from the Persian Gulf and a return by Middle Eastern governments to strict Islamic law and values, fundamentalists like bin Laden are widely regarded by Arab moderates as threats to the stability of their societies. To illustrate the consequences of bin Laden's vision, moderates point to the civil war in Algeria, where fighting between militant Muslims and government troops over the past five years has left at least 80,000 dead. In Egypt, where Islamic militants have attacked tourists and intellectuals and tried to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak, there is broad support among middle-class Egyptians for the government's crackdown on violent fundamentalist groups. Yet in response to the American attacks on bin Laden, Sanaa Al Said, a columnist for the Egyptian newspaper Al Wafd, wrote: "Overnight, the man has been transformed from an outlawed criminal on the run into a national hero standing against a hated superpower ... which has come to our region and wreaked its own havoc here ... Changes are on the way. U.S. hegemony will, one day, come to an end, and then the world will breathe more freely." Moderate Arab governments, many of them U.S. allies with terrorist problems of their own, have studiously kept quiet about the attack. But in their silence, other Arab commentators have echoed the same themes as Al Said: America's clumsiness in dealing with bin Laden, its double standard when dealing with Israeli violence and its tendency to use force and embargoes when dealing with Arabs and Muslims. While such sentiments have long formed the core of Arab intellectual thought, the American attack has brought this anger to the surface, where it is likely to influence government leaders -- and future U.S. policy. "Among the Arab and Muslim middle classes, there is a lot of resentment toward U.S. policies, toward the status quo; and tremendous frustration that their governments can't do anything," says Shibley Telhami, a professor of Middle Eastern affairs at the University of Maryland. "Therefore someone like bin Laden, who challenges the status quo, is seen by the middle classes as a sympathetic figure, even if they don't like him or his agenda." N E X T+P A G E+\| The "Wag the Dog" theory - - - - - - - - - PHOTOGRAPH: AP/WIDE WORLD