Letter from Saudi Arabia: Worst war fears are coming true

It was the usual iftar gathering, so very common throughout the region these days. People from different walks of life - professors, engineers, pharmacists, senior business executives - were all represented in the gathering. At the dinner table, before and after the traveeh prayers, discussion continued on varied subjects, ranging from plans to celebrate Eid holidays to the Iraq imbroglio.

And there was the major news from Iraq that day. Eighteen American soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash, the biggest loss of US lives after the "mission accomplished" announcement in Iraq by US President George W. Bush.

Conflicting views were on the table that evening, representing the varying shades of this society. It seemed people present that day, the intellectual and the professional lot, did realise that the worst fears expressed before the advent of hostilities in Iraq were coming true. Instability, if it persists in Iraq, will definitely have an adverse effect on the entire region.

Saudi Arabia would be no exception. People both in the corridors of power in Riyadh and elsewhere in the region, and even the common people, had been expressing the possibility of disastrous consequences of the war in Iraq. Things seem to be moving in that very direction now.

Catch-22 situation

However, people out there, and perhaps the governments in the region too, appear to be in a catch-22 situation.

On the one hand, most people did not want the US to succeed, hoping Washington would suffer for its arrogance for taking on Iraq in the face of so much opposition, for its unequivocal support for Israel and last, but not least, due to a certain fear that an easy victory in Iraq might translate into the US embarking on the project to change non-yielding governments elsewhere in the region, if required. Syria, Iran and even Saudi Arabia could be the targets.

And this cord of argument seems to be running across the region. Columnist Jihad Al Khazen, writing in Al Hayat daily after the rocket attack on Al Rashid hotel in Baghdad said: "I was happy that Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defence, survived the bombing of Al-Rashid Hotel, as I wish him and the rest of the neo-conservatives to live long enough to witness the consequences of the crime they have committed against Iraq and its people under the pretext of overthrowing a criminal regime."

Israeli hegemony

In an interview, Al Khazen later said that "many people are happy" that the United States is now getting its nose bloodied in Iraq.

The desire to see the US lose face also stems from the common argument in the region that the war on Iraq was fought at the behest of the pro-Israeli Jewish lobby in the US. Some argue it was to ensure Israeli hegemony in the region so that no Arab nation could ever even think of challenging the Jewish state. Hence the argument goes that an easy success would mean the end of Arab self-respect.

Arab nationalism, some argue, seems to be at work, for the first time in decades now.