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| Middle East |
| Conflict casts shadow on Arab League |
| 2003-04-05 |
| The U.S.-led war on Iraq has cast a shadow over the Arab League, which for 50 years embodied the aspirations of millions of Arabs for unity but is now under fire for failing to stop the latest Gulf war. Disappointment at its failure to stop the war has sparked talk of scrapping the 22-member Or trading it in on a dog and shooting the dog... Libya this week revived a request in October to withdraw from the League, in the most overt display of frustration. Other members are said to be equally unhappy. Western diplomats in Saudi Arabia said the country was distressed at the League's ineffectiveness and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz was keen to see it reformed. "The future of the Arab League is now hanging in the balance," said Hassan Abu Taleb of Egypt's Al Ahram Centre for Strategic Studies. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak raised the need for change when he said in a speech this week that it was time to start thinking about the Arab structure to make it more effective. Arab League officials acknowledge that the body is under great pressure to change but insist it should stay in business. "I mean, we need jobs, too!" "Replacing the Arab League with another body is not easy because the League is what brought the Arabs together despite their differences and affiliations," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters on Monday. He noted that other international organisations such as the United Nations, Nato and the European Union Since then, it's all been downhill... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 The Arab League is a political thing?... I thought that was some sort of ethnic specific bowling club... silly me... It never occured to me that a bowling league would care about some dictator hijacking the tenets of the principle faith of the Arabic world (Islam) in order to subjugate, torment, starve, and bully a rather large group of its own religious and ethnic brothers... That's why I hadn't wondered why they didn't do something about Saddam... But, now that I know they ARE political, uh, I'm kinda asking that question. Does the Arab League care about Arabs at all???? |
| Posted by: Steve W. 2003-04-06 01:06:28 |
| #2 If they really want to reform the Arab League they should dump the Designated Hitter and raise the pitchers mound six inches. Just kidding, what they should do is issue a statement and policy of recongnition of the State of Israel, affirm the basic rights of individuals to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, universally condemn the fanatisism that has gripped the region for far to long. require member states to endorse multi-party elections and republican or palimentary forms of government |
| Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire 2003-04-05 18:08:23 |
| #1 The Arab League irrelevant? How could such a thing be? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-04-05 13:47:40 |