The US role in Mideast travails
Extremists' rise can be traced in part to Bush policy, analysts say.
from the June 18, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 4
• A large and growing youth population that is frustrated with dismal economic horizons and feels "shut out."
• Mushrooming and apparently copious sources of financial support for causes, particularly radical movements.
• The elevated stature of Iran.
• The perceived success of Al Qaeda and "other practitioners of asymmetrical warfare."
• The deepening failure of governments to meet practical needs "and so to win the loyalty of their people."
Indeed, some of the radical organizations in the region, such as Hamas in Gaza, have done a better job of delivering services, with less corruption, than governments.
"There's more than enough blame to go around for the predicament [the region] is in. But you have this undeniable situation among the Palestinians where those who are moderate are not effective, and those who are effective are not moderate," says David Makovsky, an expert in the Middle East peace process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Added to this list of contributing factors is US policy, according to some analysts. Gerges, who has been a Carnegie scholar for the past year teaching in Egypt, says US involvement in Iraq has earned it the image of occupier, even as it abandoned its traditional role as catalyst for the Middle East peace process.
Alterman concurs that people in the region have increasingly perceived the US in a different way. "Arabs don't see the US as taking a hands-off approach. They see the US protecting the status quo, by supporting and legitimizing unpopular governments. They see US support for internal security services that practice torture," he says.
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