The following selection of quotes are from an article that appeared in the October 8th edition of the L.A. Times:

Arab Regimes Breed Discontent and Anger at U.S.

Analysts Say Washington is allied with repressive governments and hasn't pushed democracy. by T. Christian Miller

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- "Even the rich are willing to sacrifice their lives. They may be wearing jeans or speaking English, but they'll go to the holy war, even if our government tries to stop them."

Even before the U.S. attack on Afghanistan on Sunday, a burning hatred of the U.S. simmered in much of the Arab world--including here, one of the most cosmopolitan and moderate Arab nations.

The explanation for the anger caroming through cafes and marketplaces is the same as elsewhere in the Arab world: the U.S. support of Israel and its alleged indifference to the Palestinians killed in the year-old intifada, and long-term sanctions against Iraq blamed for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of women and children.

But deeper than those obvious reasons, analysts and ordinary citizens say, is another factor, an uncomfortable reality long ignored by the West: The governments of the Arab nations are among the most repressive in the world.

In most of the countries, there is no free press. There is no freedom of association. Dissent is crushed. Torture is common. Opposition parties are weak or ineffective.

As a result, the rulers of Arab countries are often out of step with their people. So although most Arab leaders have pledged cooperation in the U.S.-led battle against terrorism, their people are far less supportive.

Even worse, some analysts argue, the lack of a democratic outlet in Arab countries fosters a breeding ground for Islamic extremists such as Osama bin Laden and allies in his Al Qaeda terrorist network.

In a taped statement aired hours after Sunday's attack, Bin Laden tried to exploit the split between Arab governments and their people.

U.S. alliances with repressive regimes during the Cold War often wound up exploding, such as the U.S.-backed dictatorship in Nicaragua, which was ousted by the Marxist Sandinistas, or the U.S.-supported shah of Iran, whose ouster gave rise to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Now, at the start of a new war on terrorism, some analysts fear that the U.S. may be on the verge of repeating past mistakes, supporting authoritarian governments whose people may one day rebel and set fire to the Middle East.

As the U.S. embarks on what President Bush calls a fight to preserve values of freedom and democracy, it is rushing to seek closer ties with governments that are largely hostile to just such values.

But it is also because the U.S. has more important concerns in the region than democracy, analysts say. "There's a long-standing tradition to look away from human rights and democracy to protect oil and Israel," said Les Campbell, the Middle East regional director for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, a bipartisan group promoting democracy throughout the world. "When you cut through it, it's those two things."

The lack of democracy benefits the countries' leaders, who often have vested interests in maintaining the region's stability--to preserve personal oil fortunes, for example.

This, in turn, backfires against the United States by stirring outrage and postponing meaningful, long-term solutions, experts say.

"It's a false stability," said Arian, the leader of the outlawed Egyptian group. "We call it the fire under the ashes."

Mahfouz Azzam, the vice president of Egypt's Labor Party, said Mubarak's ruling party controls the polling places, voter lists and ballot boxes, enabling it to manipulate results. Of 454 seats in the People's Assembly, fewer than two dozen are controlled by opposition figures.

Street protests are routinely quashed throughout the region. In many Arab countries, for instance, police constrained protests on the one-year anniversary of the Palestinian intifada in late September with rows of riot police or bans on public gatherings.

Many Arab countries have an extensive apparatus of secret police. In many nations, groups that advocate a civil society or human rights simply do not exist. It's a recipe for a society in which anger builds but has no place to go.

The Arab world itself is proof of the problems repression can bring. Its long history of crushing opposition groups partly explains its fertility in terms of extremist organizations.

In fact, the original aim of Bin Laden and many other terrorist leaders was to overthrow Arab governments they considered illegitimate. When those governments cracked down, the groups turned to attack the United States, accused of propping up the authoritarian regimes, as well as supporting Israel.

"Who is protecting these regimes? It's their uncle, Uncle Sam," Azzam said.

Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Ti mes