Even 12 months on, the sense of horror at what happened on Sept. 11, 2001 is as strong as it was when the news broke. Nothing then, or since, justified the attack — not America’s unrelenting support for Israel, not its policies toward Iraq, not its efforts to impose a Pax Americana on the rest of the world, whether the world wants it or not. To snuff out the lives of some innocent 3,000 people was an act of barbarity.
It hurts that men whose convictions have nothing in common with those of the overwhelming bulk of the world’s Muslims tried to hijack Islam and presumed to destroy in its name. The burden of being associated with such wickedness has been for many too great to bear. That is why so many, particularly here in the Kingdom, have simply refused to accept that Muslims, let alone Saudis, could have been involved, preferring instead to believe that it was someone else’s — anyone else’s — doing. It is a defense mechanism, nothing more.
All that decent, thinking Arabs who feel betrayed and outraged by the attacks can do is say that we reject this crime being committed in our name and the name of Islam. That is why we have said, many times over, that we reject Bin Laden and his cohorts and we reject the evil they espouse. It must be destroyed, not least because it makes a mockery of Islam.
Yet, there is no point pretending that these have been an easy 12 months since then. It has seemed at times that Arabs and Muslims hate America and that Americans hate Arab and Muslims, although such impressions are largely thanks to the minuscule minority of bigots on either side whose views have been blown out of all proportion by a sensation-seeking media. What is forgotten by the hate warriors on both the sides is that an American can be black, brown, white or any color; that he can be a Muslim or an Arab. Arab- Americans account for one percent of the US population and Muslims considerably more. For all the recent difficulties, they are proud of being Americans. Arab and Muslim Americans were there helping in the rescue after Sept. 11. Are they to be hated and killed too?
The best way to ensure that such tragedies do not happen again is to look ahead with a sense of realism. Neither we, nor the US nor the rest of the world can afford for US-Arab relations to stagnate and rot. Sept. 11 showed how much we live in a global village. We both need each other. We should use this tragic anniversary as an opportunity to rebuild the relationship. Let us forget talk about clashes of civilizations — grandiose nonsense in any event — and work together to find root causes of terrorism and to wipe them out. We ought to remember that the US has, despite its backing for Israel, long been the friend of Muslims. Without its support, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan would not have ended; it is thanks to it that Bosnia and then Kosovo were liberated; and no one can seriously deny that the situation in Afghanistan has been radically improved as a result of the American-led overthrow of the Taleban. We need to get back to a working and friendly alliance, not stare at each other with sullen suspicion. It is the only way to resolve the region’s difficulties, but it is also good in itself: bitterness merely destroys he who is bitter. What better monument to those who died than a new constructive relationship between the US and the Arab world.
