A Storm Out of The Gulf

By Jim Hoagland

Friday, September 21, 2001; Page A37

President Bush's opening military moves against international terrorism will come in Central Asia. But that desolate region is only the hiding ground for the assassins and plotters who have declared war on America. This crisis begins in the Persian Gulf, and must end there -- if end there be.

The Pentagon let it be known Wednesday that U.S. combat aircraft were headed toward the Central Asian republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The leak was in itself an effective tool in raising the pressure on nearby Afghanistan to rid itself of prime suspect Osama bin Laden and his camps.

This could help Bush in his effort to get bin Laden running in hopes the terror chief will make a mistake and expose himself to capture or retaliation. That is one of the few clear options the United States has in trying to compel action in the global era's heart of darkness -- the arc of instability that stretches from the deserts and mountains of Yemen to the killing grounds of Afghanistan.

It would be mistaken to think of Afghanistan as a side show in the war on terrorism. The religious and cultural hatreds that propel the movements that have gloried in or are accused of taking part in the mass slaughter of innocent Americans on Sept. 11 animate the Taliban regime as well. Justice would see that regime erased from the face of the earth along with the monsters it harbors.

But it, and they, are extensions of the conflicts of the Persian Gulf, the world's biggest oil reservoir and host to an unsteady but deep American involvement. Bin Laden, a native of Saudi Arabia, has made no secret of his motivation in striking at Americans: He wants to drive U.S. forces out of Saudi Arabia, where they have been stationed for a decade as a shield for the Saudi royal family.

America operates as a political shield as well, for the rulers of Saudi Arabia and of Egypt and other Arab states. Arab media, which are threatened with criminal action if they criticize these rulers, are allowed to denounce the United States government in the vilest terms for opposing Iraq, supporting Israel or promoting globalization. Newspapers and street demonstrators attack the United States as a duplicitous way of criticizing their own rulers.

One outcome of the long and complex struggle the United States must now wage has to be bringing a change in this double standard. Americans cannot be left alone by those we aid and protect to deflect a fury that is ultimately directed at them.

Consider scholar Bernard Lewis's translation of the jihad declaration that bin Laden made to an Arab newspaper in 1998:

"For Muslims the Holy Land par excellence is Arabia. Mohammed lived and died in Arabia. The center of the Islamic world and the scene of its major achievements was Iraq. For Muslims, no piece of land . . . compares in significance with Arabia and Iraq."

It is impossible to separate the strategic context of the Persian Gulf from the dangers Americans face from terror. Bush seemed to understand this when he ordered a full review of the failed policy on Iraq that he inherited.

The shortage of rapidly achievable military options in Afghanistan and the centrality of the Persian Gulf to the terror war give fresh impetus to that review, which was nearing completion when the Sept. 11 disasters struck.

This connection emerged forcefully on Wednesday during a day-long meeting of Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld's Defense Policy Board, a prestigious advisory group that was reportedly overwhelmingly in favor of immediately expanding the military options aimed at Iraq that were already under active consideration.

But others argue that nothing must be done against Iraq now that will make Secretary of State Colin Powell's effort to assemble a broad coalition more difficult.

That argument makes a mockery of Bush's demand for a fresh look at a failed policy. Iraq was an urgent matter before this crisis, and it is more urgent now. It would be folly to put off action on Iraq.

The 10,000 U.S. troops stationed in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait -- the first target of bin Laden and his ilk -- occupy an increasingly untenable position: They are asked to serve as protector of rulers who feel their own survival demands that they move away from this U.S. shield.

Uncertainty, drift and incomprehension in Washington have led to American soldiers being stranded in that deepening strategic quagmire. Afghanistan can be dealt with step by step, measured in time and scope. In Iraq, bold and decisive action is needed more urgently than ever.