War Here but U.S. Isn’t Ready to Attack, Ex-Nasser Aide Says

A leading adviser to the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser said in an interview published Sunday that he believes that war in the Persian Gulf has already begun even though no shots have been fired.

Mohammed Hassanein Heikal also said that the United States has delayed a military strike against Iraq because it is still learning how to operate its sophisticated military equipment in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.

“If we look at the realities on the ground, we can see clearly that the war has already begun,” Heikal told the weekly Cairo magazine October. “There is already political mobilization, an economic blockade and the deployment of U.S.-led troops in the gulf.”

Heikal’s late boss Nasser sent Egyptian troops to Yemen in the 1960s to support anti-Western forces, and Iraqi newspapers have compared Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the Egyptian nationalist leader.

Heikal, former chief editor of the semiofficial Cairo daily Al Ahram and considered one of the brightest journalists in the Arab world, said he does not believe a lack of adequate ground forces is delaying a U.S. attack on Iraq.

“I believe the Americans are waiting not because of the United Nations or through lack of enough troops, but because they lack a clear picture of the nature of (military) operations in the Saudi desert, and they are also unsure about their political, social and strategic bases in the Arab world once operations begin,” he said.

The United States has deployed more than 200,000 troops in the gulf as part of an international force to confront Iraq after its Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait.

“The use of armed force needs a solid political base, both socially and economically,” he said.