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Arab Countries Support Coalition Action

GUY RAZ, host:

Joining me now on the line is Shadi Hamid. He is the director of research for the Brookings Doha Center. And he is in Doha, in Qatar.

Welcome to the program, Shadi.

Mr. SHADI HAMID (Director of Research, Brookings Doha Center): Thank you.

RAZ: Give me a sense of the reaction in the Arab world right now to what's happening.

Mr. HAMID: Well, I think this is what people were waiting for. There was a big question in the past week to two weeks, where is the West? Where is the international community? Libyans are being slaughtered. Gadhafi's forces are moving towards the east. I mean, there was a sense that something wasn't done. This would be the end, for the rebels at least.

So I think that's when we started to see an Arab consensus developing in favor of intervention where the Arab League supported, but also the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Organization of Islamic Conference. So the three biggest most relevant organizations here.

But also, if we're talking about Arab public opinion, there's a real deep sympathy for the Libyans' struggle for freedom and democracy, and this is coming after Tunisia and Egypt, where Arabs really feel solidarity with each other. They want to support each other. And this is very much a pan-Arab democratic moment that we're seeing. And, you know, obviously, there are uprisings in most of the countries of the region right now.

RAZ: Shadi Hamid, speaking of pan-Arab, Moammar Gadhafi was - recently gave a speech, just moments ago, on Libyan state TV, apparently saying - calling on -and this is a quote - "on the peoples and citizens of the Arab and Islamic nations and other nations to stand by the heroic Libyan people to confront this aggression." Is there, I mean, is there any way, in your view, that that could have appeal to people in the Arab world who might see this as Western meddling, or colonialism, or imperialism, or any of the other kinds of accusations that have been leveled when Western forces do intervene in Arab or Muslim countries?

Mr. HAMID: Well, first of all, no one really in Arab world face Gadhafi seriously, but there is a real concern that considering America's checkered history in the region, the Iraq War, there's always going to be a concern about Western military intervention. And that's been part of a discussion here.

But I think at some point, it really - if you're bleeding, you don't really care who saves you. You just want to be saved. And I think that's what we're seeing here.

Yes, it would be nice if the U.S. and the West didn't have to lead this, but there's no other option. The Arab League can't implement a no-fly zone and so on. So I think there's optimism and support for this intervention in the Arab world, but that's also coupled with a fear that Western intervention might take this in a different direction. There's obviously fears about ground troops, and that's why I think Secretary Clinton has been very adamant in saying that's not going to happen here.

RAZ: Shadi Hamid, in just last 15 seconds, any chance in your view that Arab countries will send their own military forces?

Mr. HAMID: I think what we're more likely to see is logistical support, but it's really difficult to see Arab nations playing a major military role where, for example, they're launching airstrikes, that's not really something they're used to doing. And I'm not sure there's a need for them to do that, especially when you have the U.S., U.K. and France playing this major role already.

RAZ: That's Shadi Hamid from the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar.

You're listening to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.