Only ourselves to blame?
              Jordan Times
              by Musa Keilani

              IT IS Not a spur of the moment decision but part of an orchestrated drama that the US has put a Patriot
              anti-missile battery in Germany on alert for possible deployment to Israel citing fears that Iraq might try to
              launch missile attacks against the Jewish state.

              The truth is that the US is circumventing its own procedures to meet Israel's demands for military aid in
              return for making peace with the Arabs. In the bargain, this move also serves the purpose of revving up its
              anti-Iraq campaign, and helping Vice-President Al Gore's bid for the White House in the November
              elections is an added bonus for the Democratic administration in Washington.

              We have heard and known for some time that Israel had put in a demand for military aid worth tens of
              billions of dollars to the US in return for its willingness to make peace with the Arabs. We also know that
              there may not be enough warmth among members of the US Congress to meet the demand at this point in
              time.

              So one way of starting to meet the Israeli demand is to build an air of Israeli vulnerability by creating an Iraqi
              `threat'. That is what we saw in the last few months, with increased focus on a perceived Iraqi build-up of
              weapons of mass destruction. The campaign started with details attributed to unnamed sources and carried
              by some of the most prominent US newspapers that Iraq is using the absence of UN weapon inspections to
              build missiles.

              We wonder how the US, with so many satellites bristling with advanced spying equipment in space, decided
              to let the Iraq build such missiles. Why did the US not use its mighty military capability to hit anything
              anywhere in Iraq? Why did it allow the situation to build up as is alleged by senior US officials?

              It would have been a matter of pushing a few buttons for the US military wizards to take out the purported
              Iraqi facilities building the so-called long-range missiles. Why should it move anti-missile batteries to Israel to
              counter the alleged missiles?

              We have seen Rolf Ekeus and Richard Butler, both with a well-known record of anti-Iraq sentiments, going
              on and on in the international media about the alleged Iraqi build-up. We also heard Butler recently on a visit
              to Israel dusting off his theme that Iraq is definitely targeting Israel for attacks. But we also know that Butler
              has no credibility whatsoever after it became clear that he had a personal anti-Iraqi agenda and also kept a
              blind eye towards members of the UN inspection team using their presence in Iraq to spy on that country. It
              was more so the case with Ekeus, who is also bitter that his reappointment as head of the UN inspectors
              was trounced by objections by several world powers which have seen through the US efforts of using the
              UN in its war against Iraq.

              How could anyone rule out that the reports in the US media coupled with the efforts of Ekeus and Butler
              were aimed at creating the scenario that is being played out today?

              Indeed, the delivery of Patriot missiles disguised as temporary deployment would help the Clinton
              administration in more ways than one. It would assure Israel and its friends in the US that Washington is
              indeed moving as promised to meet Israel's demands for advanced weaponry even without congressional
              approval; it would help the US objective of keeping the focus on alleged Iraqi military threats to the region,
              and it will also give a boost to Vice-President Gore among the powerful pro-Israelis in the US in his race for
              the White House.

              In all fairness, it could be seen as a bilateral issue between the US and Israel, and nothing that should
              concern others. But not so when an Arab country is used to serve US political interests.

              Let us face it: The US has been a friend of the Arab world for a long time. We can not really find fault with
              the US on that count, because it is acting to protect its strategic economic and political interests in the
              Middle East. The pity is that some Arab countries have allowed themselves to be part of the US system and
              seem to enjoying the thrills of the trip. And those Arab countries are now being used to undermine Arab
              interests. The lukewarm response that the urgent calls for an Arab summit has met at this crucial juncture in
              Arab-Israeli peacemaking is clearly indicative of US pressure applied among the Arabs against collective
              action in ensuring that Arab and Palestinian interests are protected in any final Israeli-Palestinian agreement.

              As such, we should be looking at the Arabs askance rather than the US for explanations for the sad state of
              affairs in our midst today. And as we think closely about the situation, a sense of despair is spreading
              because the concept of a united Arab world has all but disappeared, and there seems to be little chance of
              collective Arab action on any count. We have seen it happening with such an important issue as the future of
              Arab Jerusalem, and that dampens hopes, if any existed at all, of the Arabs getting together and deciding
              that they do not like the American stand anymore.