With Strong Words, Clinton Assails Arab Leaders.

DOHA, Qatar — Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton delivered a scalding critique of
Arab leaders here on Thursday, saying they
badly needed reforms to jump-start their
economies and overcome dwindling natural
resources, or risk having extremists take root in
their societies.
Speaking at a conference in this gleaming Persian
Gulf state, Mrs. Clinton said, “In too many places,
in too many ways, the region’s foundations are
sinking into the sand. The new and dynamic
Middle East that I have seen needs firmer ground
if it is to take root and grow everywhere. ”
Mrs. Clinton ticked off a familiar litany of criticism:
corruption, repressive political systems, and a
lack of rights for women and religious minorities.
But her remarks were notable for their
vehemence, especially before an audience of Arab
diplomats, business people, and human right
groups.
They also came at the end of a four-day swing
through the Persian Gulf that took Mrs. Clinton
from the autocratic capital of Yemen to the more
open sultanate of Oman. Along the way, she
stopped in the wealthy emirates of Abu Dhabi
and Dubai, before ending up in Qatar, which is
still exulting in its selection as host of the World
Cup soccer tournament in 2022.
While Mrs. Clinton praised signs of progress here
and elsewhere, it was Yemen, with its crippled
economy and flowering problem of Islamic
terrorism, which seemed foremost in her mind.
“If leaders don’t offer a positive vision and give
young people meaningful ways to contribute,
others will fill the vacuum, ” she said. “Extremist
elements, terrorist groups and others who would
prey on desperation and poverty are already out
there appealing for allegiance and competing for
influence. ”
Mrs. Clinton was most scathing about the
pervasive corruption that she said was hobbling
Arab economies. She singled out the elite political
and business classes, saying she did not
understand how they enriched themselves
without recognizing the corrosive effect of
corruption on their people.
“It is a costly, frustrating process to open and run
a business in many countries,” she said. “Trying
to get a permit, you have to pass money through
so many different hands. Trying to open up, you
have to pay people off. Trying to stay open, you
have to pay people off. Trying to export your
goods, you have to pay people off. So by the
time you pay everybody off, it ’s not a very
profitable venture.”
For the most part, her Arab audience listened
quietly, though the foreign minister of Bahrain,
Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, defended his
country ’s performance. Bahrain, he said, was
more open than a decade ago, with rapid growth
in the number of rights groups and labor unions.
Even when Mrs. Clinton was asked about Israel’s
continuing building of Jewish settlements in the
West Bank — an issue that rankles people
throughout the Arab world — Mrs. Clinton
pushed back.
The United States, she said, failed to get a lot of
countries to do what it wanted, despite speaking
out, as it has in the case of Israel. It also bears a
disproportionate burden for settling the world ’s
conflicts, she said.
Mrs. Clinton noted that the United States was the
largest financial donor to the Palestinian Authority
— an implicit rebuke of Arab states, which
champion the Palestinian cause, but in the view of
critics, do too little to support its efforts to build
institutions on the West Bank.



Source: Http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/world/middleeast/14diplo.html?partner=rss&emc=rss