By Salama A Salama Sales of William Blum's Rogue State have rocketed hours after the release of a Bin Laden audiotape message. In that tape, the international terrorist threatened to kill Americans in their homes unless they exit Muslim countries. Bin Laden offered a long-term truce on what he called just terms: he would stop fighting on US territory if the US stops fighting in Muslim lands. Quiet for over a year, many assumed Bin Laden was dead or dying. Seems not. Bin Laden advised the Americans to read Blum, the left-wing author who opposes US intervention overseas. He quoted Blum as saying that had he been the US president, he would have ended US intervention abroad and apologised to all the widows and orphans and the victims of torture. But Washington was in no mood to listen to that particular advice. US officials interpreted Bin Laden's remarks as a further attempt to intimidate Americans. He had offered a similar truce to the Europeans after the Madrid bombings, but since then terrorist operations had picked up. Washington may feign contempt for Bin Laden, but it is taking his remarks seriously. After all, Washington must know by now that its anti-terror policy has only exacerbated terror. The US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have helped the cause of terror and brought new recruits to people such as Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi. Terror is not confined to Iraq and Afghanistan. It has hit several Islamic and European countries with a vengeance, claiming a heavier toll than that of 9/11. The US has no right to accuse others of terror. Hours before Bin Laden released his tape, US planes attacked a Pakistani village, killing 13 villagers, including children. The US said the target was a gathering involving Ayman Al-Zawahri, but that excuse turned out to be untrue. The US is using torture and other illegal, degrading and inhuman methods on the pretext of fighting terror. It is imprisoning people indefinitely without trial. It is using secret prisons in European and Arab countries where confessions are extracted through violence. It is killing innocent people in air raids. US actions encourage hatred and terror. The US Middle East policy is spreading the kind of hatred terrorists need to advance their careers. The US is supporting Israeli terror against the Palestinians. It is interfering in Lebanese domestic affairs and trying to undermine Hizbullah and Palestinian factions. It is trying to strangle the Syrian regime. It is doing all it can to deprive Iran of nuclear technology. All this is done in order to help Israel dominate the region, not for the cause of peace. US Vice-President Dick Cheney has recently visited Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and news reports about the visits suggest that the US is still contemptuous of everything the people of the region cherish. The White House rejects Arab mediation between Syria and Lebanon. And yet Washington wants the Arabs to help it find a face- saving exit from Iraq. After all that the US has done to undermine the Arab identity of Iraq, why would the Arabs want to help it now? There is reason why people like Bin Laden and Al-Zawahri are coming out of their lairs. France's Jacques Chirac recently said he was contemplating the use of nuclear weapons if his country or Europe were attacked. To my knowledge, no one is threatening France in any way. But when major powers say such things, people like Bin Laden rise to the challenge, first with words, and ultimately with deeds.
