Could a U.S. attack trigger a united Islamic jihad?
I feel a little less concerned about that than I did because the Saudis are now saying, after a great deal of arm-twisting, that they would allow American bases in Saudi Arabia to be used. The Iranians have said, in that wonderfully Iranian way, that they would not seek to exploit the situation. Reading between the lines, they’re not prepared to come in on the Iraqi side. Frankly, a month ago a lot of people didn’t think there was any real reason to believe that Saddam was making weapons of mass destruction. Now there is a lot more credibility to that claim. And that, even in the Muslim world, strengthens the American hand. Our prime minister is among those saying that global inequity and Western arrogance are at least a contributing factor to Sept. 11. I think they’ve only been a contributing factor in a propaganda sense. I don’t think they’re directly connected. That’s to say, yes, the injustices of the world, the inequity in distribution of resources, the Palestinian issue – particu
