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Mood in US turns ugly<FONT color=maroon
face=helvetica,arial size=1 ,>Johannesburg | Sunday
ACCORDING to a survey conducted by United
States broadcaster CBS and the New York Times, a majority of Americans
seem willing to impose on others sufferings very similar to those they have so
recently endured themselves.The <A
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,311417-412,00.shtml";>poll
indicates that 68% of Americans are prepared to see innocent people killed in
any actions taken in retaliation for the attacks on the World Trade Centre and
Pentagon.67% are prepared to go to war with a nation harbouring those
responsible, and 60% will support retaliatory attacks even if it means that
"many thousands of innocent civilians are killed."An informal, unscientific
poll on CNN currently shows that 70% of 63 000 respondents would be
prepared to change US law to allow the assassination of "hostile foreign
leaders".
Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden on Sunday denied any involvement in last week's
terrorist attacks on New York and Washington."The US is pointing the finger
at me but I categorically state that I have not done this," bin Laden said in a
statement sent to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency.
Liberation fighters have no need to attack civilians, President Thabo Mbeki
declared on Sunday, recalling the "moral" war against South Africa's apartheid
regime."Even as our enemy and its friends denounced our movement as
terrorist, we took strict measures to avoid the use of terror against the
people," Mbeki writes in a letter due to be posted this week on the African
National Congress (ANC) Internet site in reaction to the attacks on the United
States."Our movement insisted that to resort to terrorism would be to
dishonour our struggle and to destroy its morality," he says.Mbeki writes
that the ANC opposed attacks on so-called soft targets but accuses the white
rulers of the time of having no hesitation in resorting to terrorism to entrench
their minority regime.He also calls for the restoration of the rights of the
Palestinians.Nelson Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president
with the end of apartheid in 1994, meanwhile urged the United States to show
caution."The United States must avoid any course of action which will be as
unpopular as that of the terrorists," he said on a visit to Kimberley."The
United States' response must not be allowed now to raise or to intensify, hatred
against the Arab nations and the Muslims."The countries, both the
masterminds and those who have executed this action, must be accurately
identified and punished, most severely."
Egyptian Foreign Minster Ahmed Maher said on Saturday his country is
cooperating with the US in the investigation in the September 11 attacks on the
US, on a condolence visit to the US embassy here.According to investigation
documents, one of a team of suspected plane hijackers who steered passenger jets
into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, Mohamed
Atta, was born in Egypt."There is cooperation between Egypt and the United
States in the inquiry underway," Maher told reporters at the US embassy, adding
that there had been "an exchange of information."Maher said he had thanked
US President George W. Bush for having reacted swiftly to xenophobic incidents
against Arabs and Muslims in the United States in the wake of the attacks, in
which Arab Muslims are implicated.Bush said Thursday that Americans "must be
mindful that as we seek to win the war that we treat Arab Americans and Muslims
with the respect they deserve."
But Maher accused Israel on Saturday of exploiting the aftermath of attacks
on the United States to block moves towards peace with the Palestinians."It
is clear from the statements made by the Israeli Prime Minister (Ariel Sharon)
since the attacks on New York and Washington that he wants to exploit the
situation by any means to avoid any progress," Maher told reporters.The
Egyptian minister warned Israel on Wednesday not to "complicate the situation"
by stepping up attacks on the Palestinians.Maher said that Sharon's remarks
comparing Arafat with Osama bin Laden, the US's prime suspect in the September
11 attacks, were "part of his attempt to block (peace moves) and part of his
erroneous policies."
Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood said Saturday that all Arabs and Muslims
would support the extradition of Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan to the United
States if his involvement in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington
is established.But Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Maamun al-Hodeibi said the
United States would be committing a "terrorist act" if it launches strikes on
targets in Afghanistan without proof that bin Laden was involved in attacks on
the US. -- DM&G reporter, Sapa, AFP
FEATURES:<A
href="http://www.mg.co.za/mg/za/features/shattered.html";>Shattered World: A
Daily Mail & Guardian special on the attack on the US
OFF-SITE:<A
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/wtccrash/0,1300,550197,00.html";>The
Guardian's special report on the
attacks
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