Islam and the West: an unholy war?

Students in Islamabad burn American flag in protest at US strikes

By Middle East and Islamic affairs analyst, Roger Hardy:

President Clinton made a point of saying the missile attacks against targets in Sudan and Afghanistan were not directed at Islam or at Muslims in general.

But the US administration clearly fears some form of Muslim backlash.

There has already been a strong reaction from countries hostile to the United States, such as Libya and Iraq.

More worrying for the Americans is the indignant response from allies such as Pakistan and the angry reaction of the Taleban movement in Afghanistan, now more determined than ever not to hand over Osama bin Laden - the dissident Saudi the Americans say was behind the bombing of their embassies in East Africa two weeks ago.

Muslims denounce America

Elsewhere, Muslims who share bin Laden's deep hostility to America are likely to agree with the Sudanese authorities in denouncing the Clinton administration for aggression.

Many will demand evidence of the Americans' claim that the factory they attacked in Sudan was producing ingredients to make the deadly nerve agent, VX - thereby helping bin Laden add chemical weapons to his arsenal.

Sudanese officials say the factory was making children's medicines.

Without proof to the contrary, many will be unwilling to take President Clinton's accusations on trust - and may fall back on the cynical view that he is simply trying to distract attention from the Monica Lewinsky affair.

Clinton points finger at bin Laden

In justifying the missile attacks, the President went much further than US officials have done in the past in linking Bin Laden to specific terrorist attacks - including, not just the two attacks against US embassies this month, but also earlier attempts to assassinate the Egyptian president and the Pope.

He called Bin Laden the world's "pre-eminent organiser and financier of international terrorism" - a big claim, and one the Americans have yet to justify in anything but the most general terms.

The response the US administration clearly fears most is retaliation by Bin Laden or by a group sympathetic to him. Its problem is that it cannot easily predict where, or in what form, such a response might come.

Bin Laden has already declared all Americans - military or civilian - legitimate targets.

Meanwhile the events of the last fortnight will have strengthened the view of those who believe the world is witnessing a "clash of civilisations" between Islam and the West - or, as President Clinton put it, a battle between freedom and fanaticism.