Who were we before 9-11

The following was printed about 1 month before 9-11

It speakes for itself.

Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

August 16, 2001, Thursday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section A; Page 3; Column 1; Foreign Desk

LENGTH: 784 words

HEADLINE: U.S. 'Inaction' Weakens Arab Moderates, Egypt Aide
Warns

BYLINE: By JANE PERLEZ

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Aug. 15

BODY:
Egypt's top foreign policy official warned today that the Bush
administration's "inaction" in the Middle East could allow
extremists to take hold in moderate Arab countries. This would be
a consequence far graver than the administration's apparent fear,
he said, of risking its prestige with an Israeli-Palestinian
peace initiative.

The official, Osama el-Baz, said in an interview that an American
notion of "assist but not insist" -- a phrase used by Secretary
of State Colin L. Powell earlier this year to describe how the
administration would help, but not push, the Israelis and the
Palestinians toward peace talks -- was insufficient.

In addition to its effect on Arab states, Mr. Baz said that the
United States approach in the region was helping to weaken the
forces of moderation in Israel, where many people were hoping
that the Bush administration would take what he called "a
clear-cut position to check the mad spiral of violence."

Mr. Baz, the national security adviser to President Hosni Mubarak
for the last 20 years, is making a high-profile round of visits
at the White House, the State Department and the Central
Intelligence Agency in order to encourage the administration to
play a more active role in trying to bring peace to the region.
He said the time had come for Washington to stop being "a
bystander" and to shed its fear of failing in the event it tried
a new peace initiative.

It is not new for moderate Arab leaders to suggest that the
United States take a more active role in the search for a Middle
East peace settlement and to urge American administrations to
exert more pressure on Israel. But Mr. Baz's comments underscored
a growing fear among some Arab leaders that the failure of the
Bush administration to become involved would severely diminish
American influence in the Middle East.

"This is going to hurt the strategic interests of the United
States," Mr. Baz said. "In the most moderate Arab countries the
perception of the general public is that the United States
doesn't care about what is happening -- or does not want to
confront the Israeli government because you have your eyes
focused on the domestic program."

Mr. Baz arrived here on Tuesday after a recent conversation
between President Bush and Mr. Mubarak in which they agreed that
their aides should consult more closely.

His meetings here came as the administration grappled with what
to do about the Israeli-Palestinian situation that is
deteriorating daily.

When the Bush administration came into office it was unsure how
much attention to give the Middle East conflict, in part because
of what Bush advisers saw as a legacy of missteps and
overinvolvement by President Clinton. At the time, Bush officials
said they wanted to build a wider regional policy in the Middle
East and make up for what they called the recent neglect of
friendly Arab states.

But increasingly, it has become clear that the two tracks -- the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict and relations with many Arab
countries -- are intertwined in ways that were not previously
obvious to the new administration, Mr. Baz suggested.

In Albuquerque today, President Bush took time from touring an
elementary school to tell reporters that he thought that peace
would prevail over war.

"I'm confident that the leadership there will understand that war
is avoidable and will work to bring peace," Mr. Bush said. "The
parties must -- must -- make up their mind that peace is
preferable to war."

The president made the case, again, that his administration was
engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian situation, saying: "My
administration is constantly in touch with the parties. I spoke to Secretary Powell
this morning. We're working with the appropriate folks."

Mr. Baz, who had just completed a tour of Arab states, said
anti-American feeling was growing rapidly in countries where the
United States had enjoyed "the best possible image."

"In all the gulf countries, you should take a look at what is
being said about the United States in the mosques," he said. The
current approach by Washington, he added, would result in the "
growth of fundamentalist trends in the region. If this happens it
will seriously hurt United States interests."

Mr. Baz said he wanted to persuade the administration to more
clearly define to both sides in an even-handed way what was
needed to proceed with implementation of a report by the former
Democratic senator, George J. Mitchell. "The United States is not
going to risk anything by adopting an activist policy," he said.
"No one wants to expose the United States by adopting a policy
which would be an anti-Israeli policy. That's not what we are
looking for."