Official warns anti-U.S. mood is growing

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Official warns anti-U.S. mood is growing
17
Thu, 11-20-2003 - 12:12pm

Not suprised at all.


http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Germany%20Terrorism


Thursday, November 20, 2003 · Last updated 8:48 a.m. PT


Official warns anti-U.S. mood is growing


By TONY CZUCZKA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


PULLACH, Germany -- Anti-American and anti-Western sentiment is growing out of anger at the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Germany's foreign spy chief said Thursday.


August Hanning, head of the Federal Intelligence Service, said the U.S. occupation of Iraq has become a new rallying point for a resurgent al-Qaida.


"Successes on the military front alone will not lead to a solution," Hanning said in a speech to a conference on the Middle East in Pullach, near Munich, where his agency is based.


"We are in the process of losing the battle for people's minds."


Thursday's deadly bombings of the British consulate and the offices of a British-based bank in Istanbul, Turkey, bore the hallmarks of an al-Qaida attack, Hanning later told a news conference.


Al-Qaida has "regenerated" after being scattered and weakened by the war that drove the Taliban from power in Afghanistan and the capture of key members, Hanning said.


"Now they are once again able to carry out attacks on a major scale," he said.


Bin Laden's day-to-day role in planning attacks by his terror network is hard to pin down, he said.


"But we believe he still plays an important role in the background," he said. "He communicates with his supporters through his messages. He tries to mobilize them, and of course he uses the situation in Iraq."


Iraq "risks becoming a crystallization point" for the radical Islamic cause, Hanning said. "Much depends on how things develop in Iraq."


But he warned the U.S.-led coalition against pulling out.


"That would be a victory for the Islamists," he said.


Hanning noted that intelligence officials believe Islamic activists eager to fight the occupying forces have been trickling from Europe to Iraq in recent months.


He refused to give details, saying only that the number was "relatively small."


Intelligence agencies also see a growing threat that parts of Southeast Asia - notably Indonesia - and East Africa are becoming terrorist bases, Hanning said.


But he expressed particular alarm about Turkey - a secular Muslim country, NATO member and ally of Israel - after Thursday's blasts and a pair of synagogue bombings in Istanbul last Saturday.


"These are clear signals that targets are being attacked that signal Turkey's cooperation with the West and with Israel," Hanning told the news conference.


Turkey's image of "relative stability" may have been deceptive because of its closeness to the Middle East and Chechnya, he said.


"In that sense, Turkey is strategically very exposed," Hanning said.


In his speech, he portrayed the Arab world as explosive because of its social inequalities and growing pool of alienated young people.


Western governments must promote social and economic progress along with democracy, Hanning said.


"Otherwise, the preachers of hate will surge into the void," he said.


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2003
Thu, 11-20-2003 - 12:54pm
Our occupation of Iraq is not the only grievance. It is also the treatment of many US citizens from foreign countries that have been detained in accordance with the Patriot I act. This is the difficulty I had in Indonesia--the government is angry with the US treatment of their citizens. Another year with growing anger with Bush is going be bad, if we reelect him, it will get worse.
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-14-2003
Thu, 11-20-2003 - 1:31pm
If Germany is so worried about it, then why can't they help out a bit more?

Miffy

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Thu, 11-20-2003 - 6:12pm
I don't think I understand your question.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-14-2003
Thu, 11-20-2003 - 10:47pm
Like I said, if they are worried about it, they should help out more.

Miffy

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2003
Fri, 11-21-2003 - 12:47am
this is so obvious it goes without saying. The bumbling fool, DUMBya Bush, has been so helpful to Al_Queada's cause that I sometimes wonder if he is a sleeper agent of theirs.


And yet millions of Americans remain willing to vote for this despicable fraud and fool. What on earth can they be thinking?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2003
Fri, 11-21-2003 - 12:51am
AFter 9-11, all of the US's allies were willing to help out to a great degree. There was a tremendous reservoir of goodwill and friedship that could have been tapped.

But DUMBya Bush, by his arrogant unilateralism, his administration's sneering at anyone who didn't totally obey their wishes, SQUANDERED all that good will. If you are wondering why Germany, etc, aren't helping so much, you have the US president to blame for it.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-14-2003
Fri, 11-21-2003 - 12:54am

So, everyone who is ticked at Bush will just turn a "blind eye" on the Iraq situation, terrorism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

Miffy

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 11-21-2003 - 5:59am

It's going to become more & more

 


Photobucket&nbs

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-05-2003
Fri, 11-21-2003 - 7:06am
the krauts, and other countries, are still willing to help with LEGITIMATe anti-terrorism, up to a point. But why should they risk their troops in DUMBya's Iraq quagmire when DUMBya has sneered at them and ignored all their attempts to get the US to cooperate on issues important to other countries?

btw, for the record, the Krauts have troops in AFghanistan, as do the Canucks and other nations. But don't expect many nations to send forces to a certain doom in Iraq any time soon.

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-14-2003
Fri, 11-21-2003 - 7:37am
Ok, then.

Miffy

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