U.S. warned against blaming Islamic groups for attacks

JAKARTA (JP): The U.S. government, still devastated by Tuesday's terrorist attacks, is cautioned against pointing the finger at militant Islamic Middle East groups until it has substantial evidence.

Local observers said that the American habit of attributing terrorism to particular religious or ethnic groups was dangerous because it unfairly stigmatized Islam and the Middle East.

Juwono Sudarsono, an international affairs observer, and Sidik Djatmiko, a political observer from Muhammadiyah University in Yogyakarta, recalled that the U.S. was wrong when it publicly accused Middle East groups of bombing an Oklahoma office block in 1995.

The bomber turned out to be a homegrown terrorist who vented his anger on what he perceived was the U.S. government's capitalist policy which neglected the poor.

"The important thing is that they (U.S. officials) should wait until the investigation is completed and the perpetrators of the crime are brought to justice," Juwono said.

Sidik said the U.S. government should leave the habit of blaming terrorist attacks on its interests on Middle East groups.

"Blaming militant Middle East Islamic fighters could not only be misleading but may also embarrass the U.S. if the accusation turns out to be unsubstantiated," he said.

He pointed to the Oklahoma bombing by an American ex- serviceman as proof of how wrong American perception about terrorism could be. This could be the case with the latest terrorist attacks.

"The Oklahoma bombing was carried out by an American psychopath and had nothing to do with Middle East hard-liners. It is unfortunate that the U.S. government has never apologized for implicating Muslim hard-liners before any investigation had even begun."

Sidik, who is chairman of the university's Middle East Affairs Studies, said the U.S. always looked for a scapegoat for anything that threatened its security.

Mochtar Mas'ud, an international affairs observer from Gadjah Mada University, said it would be hard to theorize who might be responsible for the latest attacks because the U.S. had many enemies due to its major role in world affairs.

"It would be naive to hastily blame Islamic groups for the attacks. It's possible that the masterminds come from countries like Cuba, Asia, Africa or even international crime syndicates," he said.

Whoever the perpetrators may be, he said he believed they were people opposed to American policies, such as those on human rights and democracy in other parts of the world.

"For example, the U.S. has adopted double standards in handling the Israeli-Palestinian issues," he said as quoted by Antara.

Aisyah Amini, a House member from the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP) stressed terrorism must be condemned but she urged Washington not to accuse any group before it conducted an investigation.

"The American government should track down the terrorists, arrest them and find out why the attacks happened and learn from the experience," she said.

Military analyst from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Kusnanto Anggoro, expressed concern over hints of U.S. retaliation by President George W. Bush.

He theorized it would not be easy to identify which group the perpetrators may belong to.

He said that in the U.S. alone Osama bin Laden's organization has some 22 cells and each was very autonomous. "Each cell can make its own decision without agreement from Osama. Therefore, to ascertain who is ready responsible for the incident would be very difficult," he added. (02/09/pan)