DAR AL ISLAM - EGYPT: SUNNIS OPPOSE, ALMOST UNANIMOUSLY, ANY ATTACK ON IRAN BY THE UNITED STATES

Sunni Arab view of US-Iran tensions
There's virtually unanimous opposition to a US attack on Iran.
By Helena Cobban

CAIRO - As the level of tension rises between the US and Iran, I am very concerned that the Bush administration is trying to paint a scenario of the probable consequences of a possible US military action against Iran that is far more rosy than the situation warrants.

One key example: Both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley have talked about the great threat that Sunni Arab countries perceive from Iran, which is predominantly non-Arab and Shiite. Some advocates of an attack (in the US and Israel) have argued that a US strike on Iran would be welcomed in Sunni-dominated nations and would therefore generally bolster the region's forces of stability. My current tour in Egypt contradicts that. The Egyptians I've talked to so far – including retired diplomats, experienced political analysts, and journalists – have expressed unanimous opposition to any US attack against Iran.

The social researcher and former liberal presidential candidate Saad Eddin Ibrahim recalled the arguments Bush supporters made in early 2003 that the US invasion of Iraq (which he discreetly supported at the time) would be "a cakewalk," and noted that it has turned out to be anything but. He warned, "A US attack on Iran could spread the same chaos we now see in Iraq to a number of other Arab countries. No one wants that."

A former Egyptian ambassador rebutted Mr. Hadley's claim that Arab countries feel deeply threatened by Iran's nuclear program. "We have lived beneath Israel's nuclear weapons for many years, so even if Iran gets nuclear weapons it wouldn't be anything new. Anyway, they are not that close to it," he said.

It is not just in Egypt that prominent voices in the (Sunni) Arab discourse have countered the Bush officials' claims. One very high-level Saudi executive told me he thought a US attack on Iran would be "disastrous for the whole region" and implored Washington to find a way to resolve its differences with Tehran through diplomacy. Even in US-friendly Kuwait, the government-sponsored Al-Rai newspaper has begun to publish stridently anti-US editorials.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Sunni Arab view of US-Iran tensions