Bombing of Iraq causing problems at home for Arab leaders

AMMAN, Jordan -- As bombs pound Iraq, Arab leaders from Egypt to the Persian Gulf must cope with seething reaction from people at home who overwhelmingly oppose the war.

The angry mood crystalizes over images of smashed buildings and wounded or dead civilians broadcast by Al-Jazeera, the Arab television network headquartered in Qatar.

At the extreme, Muslim zealots demand holy war, terrorism, severed diplomatic ties and a boycott of American and British products.

Thousands of people chanting "Death to America" have spilled from their mosques, fired up by radical imams.

But even among those who go quietly about their business and those who see Saddam Hussein as a tyrant, the widely held view is that foreign armies have no business killing innocent Arabs.

In a spare living room near Amman, Sabha Um Hilmi, a 68-year-old Palestinian, offered tea to a visitor and spoke in a low voice of events she followed on a flickering TV screen.

"May God burn all Americans in an eternal fire for what they are doing," she said. "They care only about the Jews, the oil, and their power in the Middle East."

Political analysts are divided on how this unequivocal public opinion -- known widely as "the Arab street" -- might immediately affect the leaders of kingdoms, emirates and limited democracies.

But most agree that if civilian casualties mount and Iraq puts up a strong fight against coalition forces, most Arab governments will feel constrained to distance themselves from Washington and London.

Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, in a televised news conference Tuesday, struck a chord by criticizing what he said was Arab leaders' inaction.

"Why don't they stop the flow of oil to the countries of aggression?" he asked. "Why don't they close their airspace and the waterways to the aggressors?"

At another point, he said: "The Arabs are not Swedes, they should up the tempo. We know the Arab people are aware of what their duty and role is."

The Saudi royal family forbids public demonstrations, but diplomats there describe a strong undercurrent of dissent, fed by radical Islamic leaders.

Although Saudi rulers monitor the mosques, some Muslim clergymen use the Internet to call for violent reprisals against the United States and its allies.

Khalid al-Maeena, editor of the English-language Arab News in Saudi Arabia, says Middle Eastern governments that acquiesced to the Bush administration now find themselves under tremendous pressure.

"We will see 1,000 new Osama bin Ladens because of American injustice and Arab apathy," he said.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Prince Saud of Saudi Arabia told reporters the kingdom had made a peace proposal to Iraq and the United States. On Wednesday, however, the kingdom said it had offered "general ideas" and not a formal initiative.

Although reliable polls are scarce in the region, Mustafa Hamarneh of the Strategic Studies Institute at the University of Jordan, is widely seen as an expert on Arab popular opinion.

"Iraq has won round one big, very big," Hamarneh said. "Bombing had a tremendous impact on people. It's a whole different ball game. Iraq is seen as truthful, and Americans are seen as liars."

He said Iraqi resistance at Umm Qasr and elsewhere raised Saddam's stature and fed sympathy for an underdog Arab brother. "He is a hero," Hamarneh said, "and the Americans have a big problem on their hands."

He estimated opposition to war at nearly 100 percent in most Mideast societies. In January, he said, a poll showed only 2 percent of Jordanians thought King Abdullah II should assist the United States against Iraq. Now, he said, even that tiny fringe has evaporated.

"Anyone who supports the American position is now in hiding," he said.

In Yemen, where a march Friday on the U.S. Embassy left three dead, heavy security protects diplomatic missions of the United States, Britain and Spain, as well as American oil company offices.

In Oman, a Gulf state that rarely sees protests, 2,000 people emerged from mosques to chant angry slogans. "Bush and Blair are God's enemies!" they shouted. "No surrender, no disgrace, and no to American bases in Oman!"

Tension is mounting fast in Egypt, the largest Arab nation, where President Hosni Mubarak clamps down hard on Islamic extremists but also allows some expression of popular dissent. Thousands battled police on Cairo streets for two days last week. Riot troops used tear gas and truncheons, as they did in Jordan and in Yemen.

Ali el-Samman, adviser on interfaith affairs at Egypt's Al-Azhar Mosque, sees little immediate danger but warns of a growing risk if civilian war deaths climb.

He urged that Bush and other world leaders push hard for a comprehensive Palestinian settlement to keep a smoldering situation from bursting into flame.

"I don't think anger is coming specifically over Iraq," he said. "The real core is Palestine. We need proof -- not words -- that the United States and Britain are working for a solution."

In a March 14 address, President Bush declared that "the moment" offered an opportunity for peace between Israel and the Palestinians -- a peace that would allow both sides "to live in dignity, under free and honest governments."