SHARM EL SHEIKH (Egypt): As British Prime Minister Tony Blair had an informal meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday, senior Egyptian officials had a warning for the West: The Arab world is not prepared to tolerate a broad-brushed Western-led attack on terror cells within its own domain. It wants to conduct its own war, on its own terms, in its own backyard.

“Egypt favours cooperation with other countries in the fight against terror,” said Egyptian Foreign Minister Ali Maher. “Some other countries believe in confrontation, but we don’t. We think that expanding the military operations beyond Afghanistan at this point into any Arab country would be counterproductive.”

Indeed, while Arab criticism of the Western approach has remained mostly muted, Arab nations, led by Egypt, are drawing a line when it comes to the US plans to widen the war against terror to other Arab and Muslim states.

In a separate interview, Egypt’s Prime Minister Atef Abeid said he favoured the idea of “dialogue” with the regime of Saddam Hussein instead of a new war against Iraq. “There is no doubt that Al Qaeda cells exist in different countries around the world, but that is no reason to start a war. All countries in the Middle East are against terror, and their governments can handle the problem if they are given the proper assistance from the West.”

In the last year, Egyptian officials have become increasingly critical of Western policy toward Iraq. Publicly, Egypt still backs the United Nations “oil for food” sanctions. But privately, Cairo has encouraged increased trade and cooperation with Iraq. “The information that we have about Iraq’s involvement in terror is very iffy at best,” Dr Abeid added.

In contrast, US officials are talking about the “unfinished business” of overthrowing Saddam, whose weapons policies they say are a growing threat to the Middle East and the world. The US military is also asking for an “on the ground” role in fighting terror in Yemen, where the government is conducting its own hunt for Al Qaeda suspects to stave off American intervention.

As one of the Arab world’s most Western-leaning states, Egypt is a strategic linchpin for future US and European efforts in the war against terror. While Egypt’s harsh measures against radical Muslims have undoubtedly driven hundreds, if not thousands, of radicals abroad, Egyptian officials hope to promote what they call their own “anti-terror success story” to other countries.

Even if the US is set on its own version of the war against terror, officials hope the Europeans will see things their way. The Egyptian foreign minister praised what he called a circumspect British view of future Western-led military action. ”Some countries are jumping to accusations, but we don’t believe that our British friends share these opinions,” Maher said.

Britain has said publicly that it has still seen no hard evidence linking Iraq to Osama’s Al Qaeda network. France and Germany have publicly stated their own opposition to all-out efforts to overthrow Saddam.

Even the view of Al Qaeda differs. Whereas most Western officials say the Sept 11 attacks were “against civilization,” many Arab politicians acknowledge the attacks were carried out by terrorists as a symptom of the imbalances created by pro-Israeli policies in the West.

Senior Egyptian officials say the West needs to let the Middle East take the lead in the war against terror. Officials here say the US government is still balking at their efforts to lead an international conference on fighting terror. —Dawn/LATS Service (c) Christian Science Monitor.