13 April

By Daniel Kimmage

Britain's "Al-Sharq al-Awsat": Amal Musa warns against misinterpreting images of rejoicing and looting in Iraqi cities.

     "Naturally, views on the war differed, from those who rejected the occupation to those who accepted it as the price of eliminating Saddam Hussein's regime. But the truth is that liberation from Saddam Hussein's regime would have been acceptable if the Iraqis themselves had fought for their own freedom and for the establishment of democracy. Yet this is liberation by proxy, a liberation that confirms our inadequacy. The images that the world saw on 9 April were an expression of this. The world saw frustrated, emotional Iraqis looting and sending out kisses left and right. They forget that the worst is yet to come....

     "...How can [the Iraqis] think that America is a charitable organization, that their freedom is what the hawks have set as their goal. It seems that the images that took us aback -- the images that the Bush administration wanted the world to see -- were only a snapshot in Iraq's ongoing history. But that moment has begun to constitute a new reality, blotting out all those who sacrificed, all those who were bombed, all of the Arabs who gave their lives for Iraq as human shields to prevent its occupation, the theft of its oil, and its subjugation."

Kuwait's "Al-Ray al-Aam": Dr. Shaqiq Nazim al-Ghabra criticizes the Arab media for their one-sided coverage of the war.

     "Amid all this turmoil, we were confronted by an Arab media haunted by the specter of Ahmad Sa'id, whom the Arabs remember from the 'Voice of the Arabs' [radio station] in Cairo before the 1967 war. He spread among the Arabs an imaginary sense of confidence with his constant references to downed Israeli planes and the impending liberation of Palestine, even as three Arab nations were enduring a crushing military defeat. How similar this war was -- many of the Arab satellite-television stations misled the Arab street. They decided to listen only to their emotions. The Arab television stations stood out as the true defenders of the Iraqi people's misery, the continuation of sanctions, and the violence that the Iraqi regime practiced endlessly on its land. Most of these stations concealed the truth, showing no respect for the Arab masses, who deserved to hear a plurality of views and opinions"

Qatar's "Al-Rayah": Muhammad Abd Al-Qaddus argues that the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq will have serious consequences for U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

     "The American and British invaders declared war under the pretext of removing proscribed weapons from Iraq, but those weapons have not come to light in the fighting. They do not seem to exist. It is all a great deception. Clearly, Saddam is not the only one who will disappear from the scene. I suspect that he will soon be joined by his murderers -- President Bush and Tony Blair. I think that their political futures have drowned in Iraq's heaving ocean. They will not be able to save themselves. Military victory will not blot out the mistake of lying to their people. Western traditions do not allow a mendacious politician to keep on, whether as president or prime minister. I believe that Europe and America have not yet lost their minds and are still capable of defending their traditions."