US troops secure the site where a car bomb exploded outside the election commission office in south of the Baghdad killing three policemen and wounding 10 civilians, 17 July. The blitz of suicide bombings in Iraq showed no sign of abating after a bomber drove a tanker of liquified gas into a southern town killing at least 71 and wounding 156. PHOTO: AFP

For more than half a century the epicentre of chaos in the Middle East has been the Palestine-Israel conflict, where hope and despair live side by side. To this has been added the invasion of Iraq by the US and Britain. Add to that the 9/11, and terrorism has taken the centre stage. Indeed the world looks like a rudderless ship.

If we start our narration from 9/11, we witness the most fundamental change in the world. The sole superpower US loses that privileged position because for the first time in her 200-year old history she is hit on her seat of economic power -- the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. And this happens in broad daylight before TV cameras and the whole world watches the spectacle in disbelief. The culprit -- Osama Bin Laden -- is quickly identified and his hideout, Afghanistan, where rules a pariah regime -- the Taleban -- is attacked by the US, with her willing ally, Pakistan, the creator of the Taleban. Mollah Omar, the Taleban leader is ousted but Bin Laden remains beyond reach. One interesting side effect of the invasion of Afghanistan is the once again warming relationship between President Bush of the US and the military dictator of Pakistan Gen. Pervez Musharraf, till then in the dog house because he had ousted an elected government of Pakistan. The US goes one step further.

She wants to transplant diplomacy in the rocky, barren terrain of Afghanistan but continues her camaraderie with dictator Musharraf.

Then comes Iraq and it is by no means finished yet. A huge propaganda was launched through the mighty media machine of CNN and BBC that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and this posed a threat to the whole world including faraway Britain. UN inspectors passed through a fine comb all possible evidences and came to the conclusion that there were no such weapons. President Bush was determined to launch an attack on Iraq. It is possible to speculate that Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon, who was a frequent visitor to the White House may have egged on President Bush to launch the attack on dictator Saddam Hussein. That would leave Israel the supremacy of the Middle East for Saddam continued to be a thorn in the flesh on Sharon's policy of destroying Palestinian ambitions for statehood.

Like in Afghanistan, from ousting the Taleban regime to import democracy, in Iraq too the overthrow of Saddam has been followed by establishment of 'democratic institutions' which fail to get acceptance by the people. On the contrary blood letting in Iraq has assumed horrendous proportions and the world is in total chaos. The US in order to involve other countries in her misadventure in Iraq, has brought in tow the British and several other countries, who have contributed troops. This has landed those governments in serious trouble with their own electorate. Thus we have witnessed that in Spain the government has lost elections to a contender, who openly campaigned for withdrawal from Iraq, and Zapatero won the elections and has withdrawn his troops. And Spain is a valued NATO ally of the US. There are other countries like the Philippines, who have done likewise and many others are tottering on the brink. The Al- Qaeda has become a feared name and from almost under every brick an Al-Qaeda operative emerges. Suicide bombing has become commonplace and is taking place daily in Iraq or elsewhere.

The latest and the most daring such exploit is no doubt the London bombs, whose fallout is continuing. London police has taken a high profile role, since they had remarkable success in identifying perpetrators of the crime. In Britain and in Europe there are several million Muslims, who live life of law abiding citizen, who do not have remotely any connection, with terrorism of any variety. Yet in Madrid, the French Home Minister in presence of his Spanish counterpart, threatened the Imams of French mosques that they should be careful with their preaching or they could be expelled from France! He was no doubt doing his campaigning for his election to the highest post of President of France. Yet he was playing with fire! That a large body of people like the Muslims in the west should feel nervous about their fate is not a sign of health. It is remarkable that the Al-Qaeda feel so strong that they can take on Britain, the most valued ally of the US in this global confrontation.

From the misadventure in Iraq, the chaos appears to spread world wide. The Iraq crisis from US official stance appears to be open ended. In spite of rising voices in the US, due largely to the loss of lives of young US soldiers daily, President Bush did not seem inclined to listen to any idea of a pullout. Yet there seems no way out than a withdrawal from Iraq now. It may not be the most honourable way out of the terrible mess created by the invasion, but there does not appear to be any other alternative.

In the midst of so much turmoil, the Palestine-Israel negotiations continue haltingly. Israel seems to be preparing to withdraw from Gaza and hand over the territory to Palestinian authority. That Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is facing resistance from Israeli settlers can be easily understood. Palestinian Authority boss Mahmoud Abbas is facing resistance from Hamas, who fear a diminution of their authority.

It will be a miracle if in a world of chaos, a Palestine state is born. We must keep our fingers crossed.

Arshad-uz Zaman is former Ambassador and Acting Secretary General, OIC.