[b]How do we (the U.S.) rally support with evidence such as this?[/b]
22 Nov. 2002
"The seething anti-Western anger in the Islamic world in general and in West Asia and S.E. Asia in particular shows no signs of abating.
On the other hand, it has become even more intense as one saw during the recent elections in Pakistan on October 10, 2002, where a coalition of pro-Taliban and pro-Al Qaeda Islamic fundamentalist organisations scored impressive victories in the sensitive tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. When bin Laden formed the IIF in 1998, it viewed the USA and Israel as the principal enemies of Islam.
Since then, it has started viewing the UK and Australia too as enemies of Islam. While the anger against the USA is mainly due to its post-1991 role in the West Asian region, including the stationing of US troops in Saudi territory, its role under Operation Enduring Freedom and its threatened military strike against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, the anger against the UK is Iraq-related and against Australia related to the role of Richard Butler, the Australian national, as the head of the UN inspection team in Iraq in the late 1990s and Australia's role in East Timor and its increasingly high-profile stance in S.E Asia in the war against terrorism."
TERRORISM: Enduring Threats & Uncertainties
by B. Raman
(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-Mail:
[email protected] )