People Turn To Violence, Because They Have

Whether Osama Bin Laden Is Doing It Cynically And Has No Interest In These Matters, Or Whether He's Doing It Out Of Genuine Conviction, His Voice Has A Tremendous Resonance Throughout The Arab World. One Editorial In A Lebanese Paper Said It Is A Matter Of Great Humiliation For The Arabs That The Only Man Who Can Outline, Truthfully, What Our Humiliations Are Is An Arab Who Has To Say It From A Cave In A Foreign Country.

The Violence Stems From Injustice, Because People Feel They Have Been Treated Unfairly In The Middle East, Whether That Means Military Occupation, Starvation Under U.n. Sanctions, Whether It Means That They Have A Dictatorship Imposed On Them, Propped Up By The West. This Is Why People Turn To Violence, Because They Have No Other Avenue Left.

The Sheer Violence Of It, The Howl Of Air Raid Sirens And The Air-cutting Fall Of The Missiles Carried Its Own Political Message; Not Just To President Saddam But To The Rest Of The World. We Are The Superpower, Those Explosions Said Last Night. This Is How We Do Business.

Unfortunately, Osama Bin Laden Puts His Finger On The Other Longstanding Injustices In The Arab World: The Conying So. And, Tinued Occupation Of Palestinian Land By The Israelis; The Enormous, Constant Arab Anger With The Tens Of Thousands Of Iraqi Children Who Are Dying Under Sanctions; The Feelings Of Humiliation Of Millions Of Arabs Living Under Petty Dictators, Almost All Of Whom Are Propped Up By The West.

When I Arrived In Beirut From Europe, I Felt The Oppressive, Damp Heat, Saw The Unkempt Palm Trees And Smelt The Arabic Coffee, The Fruit Stalls And The Over-spiced Meat. It Was The Beginning Of The Orient. And When I Flew Back To Beirut From Iran, I Could Pick Up The British Papers, Ask For A Gin And Tonic At Any Bar, Choose A French, Italian, Or German Restaurant For Dinner. It Was The Beginning Of The West. All Things To All People, The Lebanese Rarely Questioned Their Own Identity.