Arab Papers Comment on Bush Iraq Speech

The Middle East Times, an English-language daily published in Cyprus and distributed throughout the Middle East, provides this review of Arab press commentary on President Bush's recent statements on Iraq:

"Review of Arab Editorials" - the Middle East Times (Cyprus), 22 March 2006

Jordan's independent Al Ghad said in a March 21 commentary that America would not be harmed if it admits its failure in Iraq.

The mass-circulation daily argued that if the US admitted its failure, it would "save what can be saved" and this would contribute to improving the US image in Arab eyes.

It said that while not many Arabs would forgive the American blunders that pulled Iraq into an historic crisis, they would respect an admission of mistakes and see it as a brave moral move....

Bahrain's Al Ayyam daily on March 21 commented that US President George W. Bush was following the famous Arabic saying of "keep lying until you believe yourself" as he continues to insist that the war on Iraq has been beneficial and necessary.

The pro-government paper said that Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld insist that the war is good despite the American majority's opposition to it as "they watch the coffins carrying American soldiers flying into US airports everyday."...

"[Bush] said he wants to spread democracy in Iraq and save it from dictatorship, but he is causing a sectarian civil war and creating more dictators" around Iraq, [Al Ayyam] complained.

London-based Al Quds Al Arabi on March 21 said that when the United States sent its forces to invade Iraq three years ago, the country was not facing a civil war, there was no Al Qaeda on its territory, no weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqi regime was fully cooperating with international arms inspectors.

The independent Palestinian-owned daily insisted that three years of occupation did not bring Iraq anything except a "group of crooks who spread corruption, stole its resources, destroyed its heritage, distorted its image and dismantled its people."...

Oman's Al Watan on March 21 said that Iraq has spent the worst three years of its life under American occupation, adding that it was impossible to try to sanitize the massive destruction this country and its people have been witnessing.

The pro-government daily said that the official motives for invading Iraq vanished in the first hours of the occupation, adding that it was no longer a secret that toppling Saddam Hussein and his regime, destroying the Iraqi state and its institutions came to serve giant American corporations in their aim to exploit Iraqi money and oil....

London-based Ash Sharq Al Awsat on March 21 said that although former Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi's comments that Iraq is in a state of civil war shocked the world, it is where the country is headed if conditions remain the same.

The Saudi-owned daily said that Allawi's statements put the reality into perspective, because there is a fear of talking openly about the death squads, militias, executions and armed threats.

It added that there are certain forces that want to see an all-out civil war in Iraq, such as Al Qaeda and others that share the network's objectives and interests.

"But these forces cannot achieve their objectives unless they find the right atmosphere to spread this poison that will ultimately destroy Iraq as a state and spread violence to the entire region," the paper warned.

An atmosphere that is not conducive to sectarian strife will be achieved when the state is strong in its political and security institutions, which should be the only parties allowed to bear arms, the paper said....

The London-based Al Hayat on March 20 commented that three years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, there will be no other people in the world willing to hand over their fate to the United States to save them from a bloody dictator and threaten them with civil war.

The Saudi-financed daily said that US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld did not learn anything from differences with friends and allies, from the scandal of the Abu Ghraib prison torture, from the continuing deterioration of security in Iraq or from the destruction of Fallujah.

The review includes more extensive quotes from editorials on Bush's Iraq speech, and several editorials on the recent Israeli Jericho prison raid.