[A-List] Iraq invasion 'will be with us for decades' - Vancouver Sun April 09, 2003

["Ralph Johansen" <michele@xxxxxxxx>]

Iraq invasion 'will be with us for decades'
Tariq Ali says Arab nation will react to what he calls a slap in the
face, but he hopes the resistance is national and not religious

Dan Rowe
Vancouver Sun (Wednesday, April 09, 2003)

The American-led war on Iraq will inevitably lead to a resistance
movement in that country and the rest of the Arab world similar to the
French resistance movement during the Second World War, says author and
commentator Tariq Ali.

"I do not believe the Arab nation will take this insult lying down. It's
a total slap in the face," said Ali, the editor of the New Left Review
whose latest book, The Clash of Fundamentalisms, was released last year.

"Sooner or later, the resistance will begin. My only hope is that it's a
nationalist resistance, not a religious one," he said.

Ali, who lives in England, was in Vancouver Tuesday to address students
at the University of B.C. and deliver a speech downtown at St.
Andrew's-Wesley Church.

The visit concluded a tour across the country that included appearances
at a Toronto book festival, a speech at an anti-war rally in Toronto
last weekend and appearances on CBC television.

When The Clash of Fundamentalisms was released last year, Ali said, many
people thought he may have gone too far when he wrote of "American
imperial fundamentalism."

But, Ali said, the U.S. "has shown its colours very clearly now."

"It's an event -- the invasion and occupation of Iraq -- that will mark
the 21st century. And its consequences will be with us for many, many
decades."

Ali said it is not a question of if there will be a resistance, but how
that opposition will define itself.

"It should not be done by religious fundamentalism, in my opinion. I am
equally hostile to them. I think the way to oppose them is in the name
of a secular democratic national resistance which calls for an elected
constituent assembly to determine the country's future," he said.

The resistance that Ali foresees will spill over into other countries in
the region.

"The other thing that will happen is that I think the Egyptian and Saudi
and Jordanian regimes, which went along with the invasion and actually
supplied help, will be punished," he said in an interview Tuesday.

"How will al-Qaida use this? Just ask yourself that and the answer is
obvious. They will go and say the Arab regimes let you down, they
allowed the Americans to take Iraq. Whether or not Osama bin Laden is
alive or not, terrorist groups will flourish. Others will emerge. People
will say let's go and hit them. That's the tragedy."

On Tuesday afternoon, news came out that an audiotape with a message
said to come from Osama bin Laden was released. The message repeatedly
referred to the Koran and called for suicide bombers to attack the
American and British troops and the governments in Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan, Kuwait and others.

Ali believes that when American troops eventually seize full control of
Iraq, the Americans and their coalition should be left alone to deal
with post-war Iraq.

"This is an American operation backed by the Brits," he said.

"They've taken this country, let them run it. They're the ones who took
it. Why should the rest of the world go and give them a cover?"

Ali also denounced France, Germany and Russia for their "weakness" in
opposing the war.

"If you are going to oppose the war, you oppose it the whole way. You
don't allow your bases to be used, you don't allow your hospitals to be
used, you don't allow your airspace to be used. And you then try and
stop it. You go to the United Nations to seek a Security Council
resolution to condemn [the war]. In other words, you build the
pressure."

Instead, Ali said that, one-by-one, they began expressing a small amount
of support for the war after it had already begun.

He said he would be highly skeptical of any efforts by leaders of
countries who did not initially support the war, particularly French
President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and
Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"These are very opportunist politicians who will now jump on the
bandwagon and try to get a share of the loot. But the Americans are so
angry that I don't think they will give them a share of the loot," Ali
said.

When he arrived in Vancouver on Monday, Ali visited the peace camp that
has been set up across the road from the U.S. consulate.

He said it is indicative of a new generation of protesters, different
from those involved in the protests he helped lead in Europe during the
1960s.

drowe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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