| The key to our war on terrorism is not support from the Middle East governments. It is the long term support of the Muslim people in the Middle East. If they don't support the United States actions they will not support their government's support of the same. Then we will have a real problem. The intial reactions don't seem to be very supportive of the United States.
Robert Fisk: Bush and Blair have already lost the talking war across the Middle East
Messrs Bush and Blair may tell the world they are going to win the "war against terrorism" but in the Middle East, where Osama bin Laden is acquiring almost mythic status among Arabs, they have already lost.
Whether it be a Lebanese minister, a Saudi journalist, a Jordanian bank clerk or an Egyptian resident, the response is always the same: Mr bin Laden's voice, repeatedly beamed into millions of homes, articulates the demands and grievances – and fury – of Middle East Muslims who have seen their pro-Western presidents and kings and princes wriggling out of any serious criticism of the Anglo-American bombardment of Afghanistan.
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Asem Mustafa Awan: Why my nation burns with anger against Mr Blair
As people in Britain are no doubt aware, some have taken to the streets in violent protest at the air strikes. At around midnight on Sunday night there was a massive anti-bombing demonstration outside the news building of The Jang, the daily Urdu-language newspaper, in Rawalpindi. I made my way there to cover the demonstration for my own paper.
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This anger has the potential to topple governments. And the flash point is still Palestine. This time Arrafat isn't making the same mistake he did during the Gulf War when he supported Iraq. Now, for Gulf W. War, he is supporting the United States war on terrorism and trying to control his fellow Palestinians like the Israelis and the United States want him to. But the rock and the hard spot that he is caught between is becoming much rockier and much harder.
Arafat faces internal crisis after his security forces kill three Palestinians
Yasser Arafat's security forces turned their guns on demonstrators in the Gaza Strip, killing at least three, including a 12-year-old boy, as the missiles fired at Afghanistan blew open the rift between the Palestinian authorities and "the street".
The spectacle of protesters being shot dead by their own police – as opposed to trigger-happy Israeli troops – caused an explosion of popular anger and precipitated Mr Arafat's most serious internal crisis for six years.
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