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Voices of Peace
America
and Anti-Americans
by Salman Rushdie
February 4, 2002
New
York Times
LONDON -- They told us it would be a long, ugly struggle, and so it is. America's
war against terror has entered its second phase, a phase characterized by the storm
over the status and human rights of the prisoners held at Camp X-Ray and by the frustrating
failure of the United States to find Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar. Additionally,
if America now attacks other countries suspected of harboring terrorists it will
almost certainly do so alone. In spite of the military successes, America finds itself
facing a broader ideological adversary that may turn out to be as hard to defeat
as militant Islam: anti-Americanism, which is presently becoming more evident everywhere.
The good news is that these post- Taliban days are bad times for Islamist fanatics.
Dead or alive, Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar look like yesterday's men, unholy
warriors who forced martyrdom on others while running for the hills themselves. Also,
if the persistent rumors are to be believed, the fall of the terrorist axis in Afghanistan
may well have prevented an Islamist coup against President Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan,
led by the more Taliban-like elements in the armed forces and intelligence services
- people like the terrifying General Hamid Gul. And President Musharraf, no angel
himself, has been pushed into arresting the leaders of the Kashmiri terrorist groups
he used to encourage.
Around the world, the lessons of the American action in Afghanistan are being learned.
Jihad is no longer quite as cool an idea as it was last fall.
(Paragraphs deleted..... go to New York Times for full text.)
It would be easy for America, in the present climate of hostility, to fail to respond
to constructive criticism, or worse: to start acting like the overwhelming superpower
it is, making decisions and throwing its weight around without regard for the concerns
of what it perceives as an already hostile world. The treatment of the Camp X-Ray
detainees is a worrying sign. Secretary of State Colin Powell's reported desire to
determine whether, under the Geneva Convention, these persons should be considered
prisoners of war was a statesmanlike response to global pressure - but Mr. Powell
has apparently failed to persuade President Bush and Donald Rumsfeld.
The Bush administration has come a long way from its treaty-smashing beginnings.
It should not abandon consensus-building now. Great power and great wealth are perhaps
never popular, yet, more than ever, we need the United States to exercise its power
and economic might responsibly. This is not the time to ignore the rest of the world
and decide to go it alone. To do so would be to risk losing after you've won.
Salman Rushdie is the author of ``Fury: A Novel'' and the forthcoming essay collection
``Step Across This Line.''
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