Ali Yassin: The Greater Middle East Project

May 2004

Following the events of September 11, the world started to pay more attention to the worsening situation in the Middle East, and to the inhumane living conditions in most of the region. There, long-standing oppressive regimes still exercise an iron control on their people, who continue to live subject to ossified traditional ideologies. In fact, the mindset and attitudes in the region remain very much the same as they were a thousand years ago.

Arab rulers intentionally reinforced the supremacy of the traditional medieval Islamic legacy, knowing that while exploiting religion to subjugate their people they had little to fear from the religious leaders, whom they knew could be easily contained and controlled. The result of this policy was that conditions continued to deteriorate steadily.

As years went by, a fundamentalist culture developed that exhibited a deep hatred towards the West and its civilization?a hatred that vented itself, for some, into indiscriminate aggression and terrorist attacks, whenever possible. Consequently, the developed world, after years of complacency, woke up to find itself confronted with a dangerous medieval culture that seeks to destroy human civilization as they know it.

As soon as a Middle-East citizen leaves his country and goes to Europe, or the United States or even the fast-developing Third World country of India, he is struck by the huge difference between the kind of freedom and respect for human dignity which he finds there and the state of affairs in his home country.

In his homeland, this citizen remains in the grip of an intolerant religious culture that rejects the other, a culture that believes that it alone is in possession of the absolute truth, in contrast to the other unbelievers who wallow in ignorance.

The question that poses itself is: Why doesnt this violent fundamentalist direct his anger toward his countrys oppressive regimes? The answer is that these regimes have successfully managed to protect themselves against such a possibility, ruthlessly pursuing those who are suspected of opposing them, even if that opposition has not been translated into any overt action. These regimes are concerned exclusively with their own security?a security that protects their hold on power and their personal interests. The former Iraqi regime is a typical example, together with quite a few other Arab regimes. Saddam Hussein imposed an oppressive, familial regime, resulting in the murder of 300,000 Shiite in March 1991, and 182,000 Kurds in 1987-1988, in addition to the thousands detained in prisons, not to mention his war against Iran which caused at least a million causalities on both sides, and cost some 300 billion dollars. After the fall of Baghdad coalition forces discovered, so far, 268 collective graves, but new ones are added to that number daily. Many of the bodies found in these mass graves indicate that these individuals were first subjected to unimaginable torture before being killed. Another example of a highly oppressive Arab regime can be found in Syria, which is governed by a rigid Alawi tribal rule. This is the regime that first started throwing people into acid-filled basins, and in 1982 leveled to the ground with tanks the town of Hamma where an Islamic opposition emerged.

The Saudi regime is another example. The whole country is named after the royal family, and the Shiite in the Eastern regions are denied nationality as well as basic human rights, and are treated as slaves and servants. Indeed, the Saudi regime is nothing but an anachronism in this century.

Both the Egyptian and Libyan regimes might not be as harsh as the previous examples but their inefficiencies are prodigious, resulting in the waste of huge amounts of money. What did Egypt do with the American aid which totaled about 55 billion since 1979?an amount which far exceeds what Europe obtained through the Marshall Project? Libya on the other hand, blessed by enormous oil resources and a very small population, managed to waste its huge fortune on ridiculous large-scale projects that were launched for the sole purpose of enhancing the prestige of the ruler. The American Greater Middle East project was developed to counter and resolve this abysmal MiddleEast situation. Its aim is to establish human rights, and religious freedom, in order to put an end to the oppressive practices of these Arab regimes, which generate the frustration and hatred that breeds terrorists.

Comments:
Mr. Mohamed El Badawi:
The Middle-East is only familiar with political oppression and coercion. The recommendations of Alexandria document were requested by the intellectuals a long time ago.
Dr. Osman Mohamed Ali
History gave us examples of tyrannical fundamentalism: Yazid Ibn Maawia gave himself free license to attack Mecca for three days and hit El Masged El Haram and El Haggag killed 10,000 people in El Koufa.
Dr. Samir Fadel:
Nobody knows anything specific about the American project. The Islamic civilization enriched human life, particularly in dark periods. Currently, the Islamic groups guide and control public opinion in Egypt.
Dr. Hamed Sadik:
Who gave Saddam the weapons he used in the war? The collective graves are not Saddams doing, but were made by the Americans in 1991.
Mr. Gamal Salah El Din
The changes [foreseen in the American Greater middle East Project] are in the interest of the people, but not in the interest of the rulers, this is why they reject them. The Islamic religion doesnt define any specific political structure for the regime, but the rulers exploit religion to justify their actions and their policies.
Dr. Mostafa El Nabarawi:
Egypt should take the initiative and suggest a suitable reform style, the Egyptian regime is in fact a lot better than many Arab ones. Currently, the United States has little credibility in Egypt particularly on the account of the way it is handling the Palestinian cause.
Mr. Sami Diab:
Where is our own reform project? The reform must come from within the society, to be formulated by the intellectuals in a way that respects and protects our culture. The Americans made an error acting the way they did, looking more like an enemy than anything else. What is the real objective of the American project? Is it to take away our identity? This is totally unacceptable.
Mr. Mohamed Mansour:
We live in two major illusions: Western conspiracy theory, and the exceptionalism of the Arab world. We should have two priorities: to establish peace in the region, and to implement financial and economic reform.
Mr. Ahmed Shaaban:
We are way behind in our contribution to the human civilization, we all should head together in one direction, completely guided by the Holy Book, the Quran.
Dr. Ihab Khalil:
The Alexandria document is just a nice faade. The fact is that there are 70 million Egyptians living below the poverty line. The American project aims to implement a real reform, in fact it is not just an American initiative but also Japanese / Russian / and European initiative.