  |
Lebanon crisis seen pushing US credibility in Mideast to all-time low
By David Millikin
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 08 10 06
The United States' credibility as a diplomatic broker in the Middle East has been pushed to an all-time low by the Bush administration's handling of the conflict in Lebanon, experts say.
But despite its dwindling influence, Washington continues to be seen as the dominant player in any effort to ease the violence that has long plagued the region.
The fighting between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia escalated into its fifth week Thursday with diplomats still at loggerheads over details of a UN ceasefire deal and the United States increasingly isolated from its European and Arab allies.
For many analysts, the administration of US President George W Bush -- already badly damaged by its handling of the crisis in Iraq -- has painted itself into a diplomatic corner by siding too closely with Israel in its month-old offensive against Hezbollah.
More than 900 Lebanese civilians have been reported killed in Israeli air and artillery strikes as diplomats have wrangled over the terms of a possible ceasefire, compared to several dozen Israelis who have died in Hezbollah missile attacks.
"There will be a very strong perception that the United States tilted so heavily towards Israel that they showed a lack of concern for Muslim casualties," said Daniel Benjamin, a Middle East analyst for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.
"There's no question that we're not making any friends in the region right now, except for Israel," he said.
Benjamin and other analysts said the Bush administration's influence in the Middle East was already under severe strain because of its failure to bring stability, or even stem sectarian bloodshed, in Iraq more than three years after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.
But its refusal to back international appeals for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and a quick Israeli withdrawal have drawn the ire not only of the Arab public but also of key Middle East allies.
"The problem for the United States is that public opinion, certainly in the Muslim world, the Arab world, is very anti-American, so governments are reluctant to be seen as cooperating with it," said Saadi Touval, a specialist on Arab-Iraeli relations at Johns Hopkins University.
Jordan's King Abdullah, one of the region's most moderate leaders, seemed to express exasperation with the US attitude after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described the conflict in Lebanon as the "birth pangs of a New Middle East" where radicals like Hezbollah will not hold sway.
"I fear for the future of the Middle East," Abdullah said in an interview Tuesday with the BBC during which he also backed calls for an immediate ceasefire.
"I can't read the political map of the Middle East anymore because I see all the heavy clouds over our shoulders," he said.
The fact that even long-time friends like Abdullah are distancing themselves from Washington is a sign of the depths to which US influence in the Middle East has fallen, analysts said.
"The trust that the Arab world has in the United States as being an honest broker has probably hit its lowest ebb, given the perception of the United States as backing what Israel does unconditionally," said Steven Cook, an expert on US-Mideast policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Touval of Johns Hopkins University agreed.
"In modern times, since (the US) became involved in international relations, I think it's influence has never been lower," he said.
But he quickly added that even with the United States' weakened influence, "there's nobody to take its place".
"The US has influence because it has influence on Israel, it still has greater influence than any other country in mobilizing resources, in persuading others," he said.
"The bottom line remains that any mediation, any negotiations that are to happen in the region have to include a strong US leadership role," said Haim Malka, another analyst with the CSIS.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack dismissed as "wrongheaded" any notion Washington had lost its influence in the Middle East.
"The states still look to the United States as an important leader in the region," he told AFP.
AFP 10 0321 GMT 08 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels