Originally posted by Rorix
Post war (after April 2003) actions of Middle-East countries:
Iran:
-forfeited their nuclear weapons development program to IAEA inspection
-sealed the Iran-Iraq borders and announced that they would arrest and prosecute any fleeing Iraqi officers
-stopped 4 suicide boats laden with explosives and destined for the Iraqi coast
-have detained and are currently holding hundreds of members of ansar al-Islam and al-Queda (rumors indicate that Iran holds some top al-Queda leaders)
Syria:
-agreed not to harbor Iraqi leaders after Assad was asked by Bush
-is cooperating with US sealing Iraq-Syria border to prevent militants from crossing
-has cracked down (to a degree) on extreme Islamist groups within Syrian borders
Libya:
-has decided to end their nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programs. Qaddafi quoted as saying, "I don't want the same fate as Saddam."
-have agreed to pay compensation to the families of the victims on Pan Am flight 103
Saudi Arabia:
-unprecedented cooperation between Saudi secret services and US intelligence services combating terrorism in Saudi Arabia
-first elections (albeit symbolical) in history were held in Riyadh
Jordan:
-has supported us in efforts to track down and shut off funding of terrorism
Jordan and Saudi Arabia are both subservient lackeys of the US. Both regimes are propped up only by US political and economic support - if Bush wished to root out terrorism in either of these nations, he could do so with a click of a finger. That he, and Bill Clinton before him, chose not to do so is a seering indictment of imperialist hypocrisy in the so called "war on terrorism".
Iran has long been on a path towards disarmament and democracy, even before september 11. Elections were held to elect the President, who supports secularism and is steering the country towards democracy. If anything, the United States has given vent to the fundamentalists there by its self-serving "axis of evil" claims. The best way to ensure that democratic elements are sidelined in countries like Iran is to make the entire nation feel like its under military threat - which is precisely what the US is doing. So, wittingly or unwittingly, the theocracy is being strengthened by US foreign policy.
Syria is a classic case of the US heigtening tensions in the Middle East. You'll recall that the Bush admin gave full support to the illegal Israeli incursion into Syrian territory earlier this year, the first in over 20 years. What this clearly illustrates is that lunatics of the Bush admin are not so much concerned with stability or peace or disarmament, but with ensuring the hegemony of the United States over the entire oil-rich Arab region, using its satellite state Israel as a tool.
Libya, like Iran, has not been a threat to the world community for a long time. Gaddaffi gave up the terrorist many years ago, its just that this is the first time he's put it in words. Worst of all, by heiling Gadaffi a "brave stateman" and giving his dictatorship legitimacy, Bush and his allies have actually strengthened Gadaffi's position as Libya's leader. Whatever chances of internal democratic opposition overthrowing Gadaffi have now been all but sapped.