By Mohammad Baali
Albawaba.com - Cairo
Egypt’s willingness to take part in a US-organized global coalition against terrorism is looking shaky, with questions arising as to the Arab state’s official response to the US call.
These inquiries have grown, particularly in view of the fact that the proposed coalition could launch attacks on Afghanistan or any other country in the Middle East accused of harboring terrorists.
“My country is cooperating with the US in the current investigations and is exchanging information to reveal the secrets behind the attacks which targeted the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher announced on Saturday, cited by AFP.
After extending his condolences to the American ambassador in Cairo, Maher said, “Egypt condemns all attacks on civilians and terrorism with all its forms and sources, and renews its call for holding an ‘international conference’ to issue a ‘mandatory’ declaration to take the necessary measures to confront terrorism.”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian minister has been cited by Al Jazeera satellite channel as denying that Egypt had discussed or had been asked to join a US-led coalition to confront “terrorism.”
“The Americans have not asked us for any military facilities,” said Maher, adding that Egypt stood against terrorism, but not with coalitions that lacked an understandable legal definition.
Mohammed Faraj, a leader of the leftist Assembly Party, told Albawaba.com that his party rejected any Egyptian participation in a military coalition with the US, even if the objective was to fight terrorism.
“The Egyptian government is embarrassed because of its official commitments to the US and the hatred among the public towards the US for its policies and bias in favor of Israel,” said Faraj, adding that if the US attacked Afghanistan, contradictions would come to the surface between the interests and commitments of the ruling elite and the Muslim feelings for the Afghans.
For his part, the spokesman for the Popular Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada, Abdel Aziz Al Husseini, said that “the participation of Egypt or any other Arab country in the American anti-terrorist coalition will not be accepted by the public. If this coalition attacks any Arab or Islamic country, it will instigate feelings against these regimes.”
“Egypt should have extended its condolences to the American people only because the American administration has been involved in the Israeli massacres of the Palestinians and in the embargo and starvation in Iraq,” added Husseini.
The committee organized demonstrations last Monday, one day before the attacks in the US, at Cairo’s largest square, Tahrir, to protest against the American policy in the Middle East. The committee calls the US stance completely biased in favor of Israel.
Meanwhile, some Egyptians expressed delight at the terrorist attacks in the US, because of American support for Israel and its aggression against Arabs and Muslims.
However, politicians and opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, denounced the attacks as violating the spirit of Islam, which protects civilians lives, even in war.
AFP analysts said that the recent attacks in the US revealed a deep gap between Egypt’s official stance, Washington’s strategic ally, and Egyptian public opinion, which is harshly critical of the US policy in the Middle East.
