The Foreign Service Journal, June 2003

that the Arab educational system is a disaster — in effect, a school for religious fanatics and suicide bombers fund- ed not just by crazy imams and their wealthy followers (such as Osama bin Laden) but also by governments who are the supposed allies of the U.S.” Despite massive oil reserves, the Arab world is also falling behind economically. Already, 14 million Arab adults lack the jobs they need to provide food and take proper care of their families, and 50 million more Arab youths will enter the already crowded job market over the next eight years. The average GDP of the 260 million Arabs is already less than that of 40 million Spaniards, and falls further behind with each passing year. Other than in the energy sector, the countries of the Middle East are also largely absent from world markets. They generate barely 1 percent of the world’s non- oil exports. Only 10 Middle Eastern countries belong to the World Trade Organization. As the Cairo daily Al-Ahram reported in its Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 2002, issue, Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak warned his cabinet minis- ters during a 90-minute meeting in December 2001 that, “Giving a boost to exports is a mat- ter of life or death.” For all these reasons, Arab leaders must awaken to the fact that they cannot continue to muzzle their own peo- ples, denying them basic freedoms: freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of religion, and of electing their own leaders. Now, in the post-Saddam period, would be an opportune moment to begin pushing the Arab world toward change. Every war brings with it fresh winds of change, and the war on Iraq should be no different. The ground is ripe for new initiatives. If the U.S. can harvest that ener- gy in a positive manner by moving the “Middle East Road Map” forward, it should be able to reap positive benefits from the war. The Arab street, however, remains very suspicious of America’s real intentions in the Middle East. The onus is now on the Bush administration to prove it is serious about settling the Palestinian issue, and not, as many Arabs believe, going after Iraqi oil. There are indications that an awakening for change is beginning to seep through the region’s entrenched cul- tural barriers that for years have blocked progress. The signs are faint and need to grow greatly in strength, but they are there. In an unprecedented acknowledgement echoed in the Arab press (the Feb. 1 edition of ArabicNews.com , among others) that not all is rosy in the Arab world in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, no less prominent a fig- ure than Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah declared in February 2003, that “the Arabs need to reform.” While this point might seem blindingly obvious to many in the West, it is virtually unprecedented for such a key Middle Eastern figure to concur publicly. The U.S. Role But the U.S. needs to get serious about helping change come about in the Middle East by going beyond cheap rhetoric and half-hearted measures. During a speech at the Heritage Foundation on Dec. 12, 2002, Secretary of State Colin Powell announced plans for a U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative, which he said “will provide a framework and funding for the U.S. to work together with governments and peo- ple in the Arab world to expand eco- nomic, political and educational opportunities for all. It will commit the U.S. to $29 million in initial funding for pilot pro- jects in support of reform in each area listed above.” Powell correctly observed that, “Today, too many peo- ple there lack the very political and economic freedom, empowerment of women, and modern education they need to prosper in the 21st century. Barely one person out of a hundred in the Arab world has access to a com- puter. Of those, only half can reach the wider world.” Well-intentioned as the initiative is, many in the Arab world found the amount of $29 million proposed by Powell to be almost insulting. “That amounts to just about the price of 6 M1A1 Abrams tanks and some spare parts,” says one Arab business executive in Washington, who is engaged in fostering closer Arab-American rela- tions. “It amounts to roughly $8.90 per inhabitant, less than the price of a movie ticket. Powell would have been better off not putting forward a figure,” he comments. At the same time, U.S. bias in dealing with the Arab- Israeli issue needs to be re-evaluated and corrected, a move that will win the American government many badly needed friends in the Arab and Islamic world. The U.S. cannot hope to win the war on terrorism while continuing to infuriate millions of people in one of the most volatile parts of the world. J U N E 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 53 All parties to the conflict must make some hard choices.