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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Mamoun Fandy

Aired February 22, 2004 - 09:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: A new TV channel is on the air in the Arab world. It is called Al Hurra meaning the free one. It is a U.S.-sponsored satellite TV station, and it debuted with an interview of President Bush. Al Hurra says that it intends to convey better understanding of the United States, as well as democracy, in the Arab world. Initial reaction to Al Hurra is mixed, some of it positive, and of course some of it scathing. Arab newspapers criticize U.S. policies in the Middle East region.
Well, perhaps Al Hurra television will appear in positions on some hot-button political and social issues in the Arab world. An expert in Middle Eastern politics and lifestyle is Mamoun Fandy. He's the senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He joins us from our Washington bureau. Very good to see you again this morning.

MAMOUN FANDY, SENIOR FELLOW, U.S. INSTITUTE OF PEACE: Good to see you, Marty.

SAVIDGE: I understand you've just recently returned from your home country in Egypt.

FANDY: Right.

SAVIDGE: Of course, Egypt is considered to be a pillar in the Arab world. It reflects many of the views that you find throughout the Arab world. And I'm wondering what you find there, especially in sort of the post-war era we are now in after Iraq.

FANDY: Well, I think that the way Egypt goes, so goes the Arab world in many ways, and I think there are major trends that one can identify in Egypt that reflect, probably, certain mood in the region, namely the issue of openings and reforms that are happening throughout the region. When I was there, I noticed that Egypt practically started some independent body for monitoring human rights in the region, and that included prominent people like the former U.N. chief, Boutrous Ghali, 21 of these prominent people in Egyptian society that looks at the record of the government on human rights. So this is a major development that's engaging the Arab world now. Human rights is a big issue. There is the issue of women, also, that's becoming very prominent there. And there was also a national council for women, also to look at issues of equality, gender equality in the region.

SAVIDGE: Well, these are all, it sounds, very positive sort of developments, and yet you hear from many fundamentalist organizations that things are just basically falling apart in the Arab world when it comes to the post-Iraq era that we're now in. FANDY: Well, I mean, the challenge for the Arab world is really those fundamentalists nowadays. If you look at a place like Egypt, Egypt really was the test case. Egypt fought fundamentalism from 1990 to '95, and it was a major campaign. And it was fought in a way that's instructive for this war on terrorism here that we are leading in the United States is that it fought it with three ways. It did not tolerate the fundamentalists very much. It fought it with security, but it fought it with also war of ideas, that the Egyptian society still engaged in most intensely and that focuses also on issues of women, equalities that the fundamentalists refused to give, and it focuses on human rights issues for a variety of segments of Arab societies, so the basic issues for Egyptians is the fundamental challenge and they seem to have defeated it in 1995 through a program that can be constructive for the United States through its moderate Islam that was basically an alternative for the Islam of the fundamentalists.

SAVIDGE: Well, we've only got a little bit of time left. Is the Arab world better off as a result of what President Bush says was a successful military campaign in Iraq? I mean, has this filtered out throughout the Arab world in positive ways?

FANDY: Well, there is at least one positive thing is that the Arab world now engaged in a serious debate about the internal developments of the Arab world. They're part of the deal. What went wrong in the Arab world that led to the rise of fundamentalism and terrorism and why the Arab world is failing. And that debate is very intense in Egypt and also reverberating throughout the Arab world. I mean, Egypt really sort of a trendsetter in many ways, and it led in peace, and I think now leading in that debate about internal reform, about the Arabs sort of taking responsibility for their share of the problem in terms of the rise of fundamentalism and terrorism.

SAVIDGE: Well, it's very interesting and also good to hear positive there. Mamoun Fandy is senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Thank you very much for joining us this Sunday morning.

FANDY: Thank you, Marty.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 22, 2004 - 09:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: A new TV channel is on the air in the Arab world. It is called Al Hurra meaning the free one. It is a U.S.-sponsored satellite TV station, and it debuted with an interview of President Bush. Al Hurra says that it intends to convey better understanding of the United States, as well as democracy, in the Arab world. Initial reaction to Al Hurra is mixed, some of it positive, and of course some of it scathing. Arab newspapers criticize U.S. policies in the Middle East region.
Well, perhaps Al Hurra television will appear in positions on some hot-button political and social issues in the Arab world. An expert in Middle Eastern politics and lifestyle is Mamoun Fandy. He's the senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He joins us from our Washington bureau. Very good to see you again this morning.

MAMOUN FANDY, SENIOR FELLOW, U.S. INSTITUTE OF PEACE: Good to see you, Marty.

SAVIDGE: I understand you've just recently returned from your home country in Egypt.

FANDY: Right.

SAVIDGE: Of course, Egypt is considered to be a pillar in the Arab world. It reflects many of the views that you find throughout the Arab world. And I'm wondering what you find there, especially in sort of the post-war era we are now in after Iraq.

FANDY: Well, I think that the way Egypt goes, so goes the Arab world in many ways, and I think there are major trends that one can identify in Egypt that reflect, probably, certain mood in the region, namely the issue of openings and reforms that are happening throughout the region. When I was there, I noticed that Egypt practically started some independent body for monitoring human rights in the region, and that included prominent people like the former U.N. chief, Boutrous Ghali, 21 of these prominent people in Egyptian society that looks at the record of the government on human rights. So this is a major development that's engaging the Arab world now. Human rights is a big issue. There is the issue of women, also, that's becoming very prominent there. And there was also a national council for women, also to look at issues of equality, gender equality in the region.

SAVIDGE: Well, these are all, it sounds, very positive sort of developments, and yet you hear from many fundamentalist organizations that things are just basically falling apart in the Arab world when it comes to the post-Iraq era that we're now in. FANDY: Well, I mean, the challenge for the Arab world is really those fundamentalists nowadays. If you look at a place like Egypt, Egypt really was the test case. Egypt fought fundamentalism from 1990 to '95, and it was a major campaign. And it was fought in a way that's instructive for this war on terrorism here that we are leading in the United States is that it fought it with three ways. It did not tolerate the fundamentalists very much. It fought it with security, but it fought it with also war of ideas, that the Egyptian society still engaged in most intensely and that focuses also on issues of women, equalities that the fundamentalists refused to give, and it focuses on human rights issues for a variety of segments of Arab societies, so the basic issues for Egyptians is the fundamental challenge and they seem to have defeated it in 1995 through a program that can be constructive for the United States through its moderate Islam that was basically an alternative for the Islam of the fundamentalists.

SAVIDGE: Well, we've only got a little bit of time left. Is the Arab world better off as a result of what President Bush says was a successful military campaign in Iraq? I mean, has this filtered out throughout the Arab world in positive ways?

FANDY: Well, there is at least one positive thing is that the Arab world now engaged in a serious debate about the internal developments of the Arab world. They're part of the deal. What went wrong in the Arab world that led to the rise of fundamentalism and terrorism and why the Arab world is failing. And that debate is very intense in Egypt and also reverberating throughout the Arab world. I mean, Egypt really sort of a trendsetter in many ways, and it led in peace, and I think now leading in that debate about internal reform, about the Arabs sort of taking responsibility for their share of the problem in terms of the rise of fundamentalism and terrorism.

SAVIDGE: Well, it's very interesting and also good to hear positive there. Mamoun Fandy is senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Thank you very much for joining us this Sunday morning.

FANDY: Thank you, Marty.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com