MANAMA:

Crown Prince and BDF Commander-in-Chief Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa yesterday said the attack on America was the start of a war against modernity in which the Arab world and Islam will line up on the side of civilised values.

In an unconditional condemnation of the attack, the Crown Prince told a news conference there must be no misinterpretation of its underlying motives, because it had placed Islam "at a crossroads".

If the perpetrators hoped to ignite a clash of civilisations they had failed, he said.

"This is no civilisation of mine that conducted this heinous act."

Israel's repression of Palestinians would, regrettably, only add to the ranks of the extremists but the attack was not linked directly to the year-old uprising against Israel, he said.

"This took two years to plan," the Crown Prince said.

"It is in opposition to the peace process as a whole. It is in opposition to modernity. It is in opposition to a way of life that would include the Arab and Islamic world as a part of the greater global community.

"I think they've made a large miscalculation. It won't be a clash of civilisations. It will be a clash between the civilised world that includes Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and a very small group of very radical, unethical people."

But last Tuesday's devastating strikes, which killed up to 5,000 people, posed a fundamental choice for the Arab world.

"Every once in a while, a generation gets to choose the values that it defines itself by," he said.

"And for us in the Islamic and the Arab world we must decide whether we condone such an action, whether we feel such actions are justifiable in any case.

"For me the choice is simple. This is unjustifiable under any conditions and we must fight this scourge," he said.

"I think we are at a crossroads and we must choose where we want our faith to go, how we want it to be defined to ourselves and to the international community."

The Crown Prince said Bahrain had as yet received no requests for military co-operation. If the time came, he was sure Gulf states would be consulted in advance.

President George W Bush "has shown restraint, has shown wisdom", he said. "They have been consulting heavily with their friends and allies around the world.

"They are building a case at the present time that we have yet to see, that we would like to see soon. And when they are ready they will act. I don't think this is a knee-jerk reaction."

He said there should be a "a full disclosure of the facts so that people can make up their own minds" before international action.

"You cannot have justice if you do not punish the correct individuals," he said.

The Crown Prince noted that the prime suspect identified by Bush -Osama bin Laden - had already been convicted of terrorist acts and the United Nations sought his handover.

"Islam is not the narrow interpretation of Osama bin Laden. The fundamental ethos behind his Islam seems to be the jihad (holy war), and I will not have a great religion used for such a narrow viewpoint," he said.