The Washington Post October 5, 2001 Friday
In Mideast, Rumsfeld Makes the Rounds
Defense Chief Projects Image of Unity to Rally Arab Support for U.S. Campaign
By Howard Schneider and Thomas E. Ricks
There in the picture was Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, munching dates with Sultan Qaboos bin Said in a red tent in the Omani desert. The traveling U.S. official could not have asked for a better image to help him bring wary Muslim states into the new U.S. campaign against terrorism: We are, the picture said, all in this together.
But moving from the easy grace of Qaboos's desert hospitality to the cold practice of a military campaign is proving to be one of the Bush administration's toughest tasks as it seeks key Arab and Muslim support. This is the region that provided the money, manpower and ideology for Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network -- and whose leaders must justify any support for the United States to a public that is skeptical of Washington's aims and angry over its support of Israel. For the last two days, Rumsfeld has tried to navigate that maze with a routine that has grown familiar over the decade since U.S. officials made the Mideast rounds on the eve of the Persian Gulf War: Hold photo opportunity meetings with loyal Arab allies. Smile and speak indirectly, letting the role played by each Arab state remain ambiguous. Issue statements in which what is not said is usually more significant than what is, in which deference to local political concern is more important than the facts.
At a midnight news conference Wednesday with the Saudi defense minister, Prince Sultan, Rumsfeld went out of his way to say that the United States is not making war on Islam. Sultan, sitting at his side, was clearly pleased.
"This is not an issue of any religion, Muslim or otherwise," Rumsfeld said, and the prince nodded in appreciation. "It is not an issue of any country or any group of people," Rumsfeld continued, and the prince nodded again. "It has to do totally with terrorism," Rumsfeld concluded, and the prince smiled.
Behind the image-making, however, a division of labor is emerging this week for what Rumsfeld has characterized as inevitable military action.
Saudi Arabia, which was the first stop on Rumsfeld's tour, will play the most prominent role, quietly providing command-and-control facilities and headquarters for U.S. military operations in the region. It is a role that will let the Saudis say truthfully that attacks are not being launched from their soil, an important point in a country that is a seat of Muslim orthodoxy.
Egypt, where Rumsfeld arrived today, will not be expected to contribute materially to any attack, officials said, despite a comparatively powerful military largely rebuilt through billions of dollars in U.S. assistance. But it will fall to President Hosni Mubarak to serve as a spokesman to help shore up the coalition in the Arab world.
Then there is Oman, a small sultanate where Rumsfeld held his desert meeting this morning between the Saudi and Egyptian stops. Little known in the United States, the small sultanate is poised to become a main staging area for U.S. troops. With none of the local political issues that dog Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other Arab nations, Qaboos's family dynasty would more easily weather the likely influx of U.S. troops and planes.
Because of its proximity to Afghanistan and Pakistan, "The country, of course, is important from a strategic standpoint," Rumsfeld told reporters after returning from the desert, where he lingered with Qaboos in an incense-laden tent.
Although still somewhat closed, Oman has hosted U.S. military activities for more than 20 years. Today, the United States flies reconnaissance, transport and refueling aircraft from Omani bases. It operates a signals interception facility on the island of Masirah, according to the Federation of American Scientists. Part of the aborted attempt in April 1980 to rescue American hostages in Iran was launched from Masirah. The Air Force also has positioned food, equipment and spare parts to supply a force of about 25,000 troops, according to GlobalSecurity.org, a defense consulting firm.
The secure nature of Masirah, the stockpiles already there and its communications gear make it likely that the island will play a major role in the coming weeks and months as a staging point for U.S. actions in Afghanistan.
The issues Rumsfeld has faced in Saudi Arabia and Egypt involve more than just politely listening. Muslim extremists have considered the government of Egypt an "infidel" regime since the late President Anwar Sadat signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979. In Saudi Arabia, the presence of dozens of U.S. warplanes and about 4,000 troops to patrol southern Iraq is seen as an affront to Islam in the place of its birth.
In addition, violence between Israelis and Palestinians over the last year has made officials in both countries impatient with U.S. military support for Israel and its unwillingness to pressure the Jewish state to end the occupation of territory in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Top Saudis had become vocal about the issue in the weeks before Sept. 11 -- "every drop of Arab blood has its price," Crown Prince Abdullah said in July -- while Mubarak dispatched aides to Washington recently to urge President Bush to engage.
However, for all the complaints about support for Israel, U.S. military and political assistance to Saudi Arabia and Egypt have been substantial and sustained, too deep, in fact, to ignore. The average Saudi might feel uncomfortable about American troops in the kingdom. But they are there at the government's invitation, not just because of Iraq, but also to help train the Saudi air force, committed to U.S. weapons systems and alliances for 20 years.
Military aid to Egypt has been roughly $ 1 billion annually. Without mentioning the United States, Mubarak referred to that today in his annual speech to officers and troops commemorating a 1973 battle with Israel that began a process that led to the return of the occupied Sinai Peninsula.
The next stop on Rumsfeld's tour is Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic that poses its own set of challenges. Contrasted with the familiar, if difficult, politics of the Middle East, bringing Uzbekistan into the coalition "clearly would be a new relationship," Rumsfeld said.
Copyright 2001 The Washington Post
