US-Iraq Crisis and Arab Situation 　　Since last December when the United States and Britain launched massive attack against Iraq, there has appeared new turbulence in the Middle East situation. Bill Clinton has announced that the ultimate goal of US military attack on Iraq is to eradicate the Saddam Hussein regime. At the same time, the United States and Britain have instigated Iraq's oppositions to conduct subversive activities. New changes have also taken place within the Arab world, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other nations are at odds with Iraq, attacking each other and even issuing the call for changing Iraq's leaders. 　　The Iraqi crisis contains contradictions in two aspects: one is the US conflict with Iraq and, in fact, also with the Arab world, this is the main contradiction; the other is contradiction among Arab countries, it is mainly manifested in contradiction between countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia with Iraq. These two interwound contradictions have complicated the Middle-East situation. 　　From the historical point of view, for many years, the United States, in order to protect its strategic interests in the Middle-East region, has consistently adopted a policy of containing Arab nationalism, splitting the Arab world and bolstering up Israel. 　　Recently, the United States attempts to use the dual tactics of peace and war to demonstrate to the Arab countries that Israel is not the main obstacle to Middle East peace, and that efforts should concentrate on dealing with Iraq. In doing so, the Clinton administration aims to further weaken and contain Arab momentum countering the United States, so as to solidify its leading position in the Middle East. 　　From the late 1970s when Arab countries were in a state of serious division, to the late 1980s when Egypt returned to the Arab ranks, the Arab world had experienced many major events and changes. 　　After the Gulf War in 1991, there was a surge in the anti-US sentiment in the Arab and Islamic world, and the anti-Iraq alliance rapidly disintegrated, the US plan to set up a NATO-type military group in the Gulf region was declared abortive. In the 1990s, Arab countries further readjusted their relations, so as to cope with US ambition to dominate the Middle East after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and its preparation to organize a political alliance. To varying degrees, Iraq also improved its relations with Iran, Syria and most Arab countries. An article published late last year in the US Washington Quarterly stated that in recent years the US influence and prestige in the Middle East region has almost continuously been frustrated and attacked. In recent years, Arab countries have been plagued by the repeated occurrence of Iraqi weapon inspection crisis. Generally speaking, Arab countries oppose the use of force by the United States and advocate that Iraq should strive for an early removal of sanctions through observance of the UN resolutions. At the Arab Union Foreign Ministers Conference held on January 24, Arab countries, after repeated consultations, stressed the need to support Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose other countries' interference in its internal affairs, They called for a solution to the Iraqi crisis through diplomatic way and UN resolutions and an early removal of sanctions against Iraq. 　　True, Iraq's contradictions with some Arab countries continue to exist. The development of Arab history has indicated that there is nothing surprising that contradictions and differences of one kind or another exist among Arab countries due to the fact that their situations are different and their interests are not completely the same. However, their common interests and factors do have often functioned. The basic contradiction in the Middle-East region is Arab's national contradiction with the United States and Israel, this contradiction covers the whole situation and will exert influence and play a restrictive role for a fairly long period of time in the development of the Arab situation. WorldNews 1999-02-11 Page6 Full Story in Chinese