Review of the Arab press

AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 21:

The United Arab Emirates' al-Khaleej said Thursday that President George W. Bush has finally admitted for the first time that his forces are not winning in Iraq after having repeatedly declared victory to his people. The pro-government daily added in its editorial that just as Bush is seeking to find a way out of the Iraqi quagmire, he nevertheless seeks to continue his "occupation scheme by linking not winning with talk about sending more troops, as if telling his people that winning is tied to more forces." However, it opined, the U.S. generals will not "fall for his trick" because they know the war is not between the American army and another, but between occupiers and a people who refuse to succumb to hegemony. The mass-circulation daily said the problem with the American political elite is they have not yet determined how to withdraw from Iraq without losing everything. Sending more troops, it said, would be sending the message to rest of the world that if no one helps the Americans collect the gains of the war, it will escalate the fighting. "But it seems the repeated U.S. failures in other parts of the world have immunized other countries from such blackmail," it commented, "and if America continues its approach, it will only sink itself deeper in Iraq and its crisis."

The Oman daily said the Iraqi crisis is no longer confined to its borders as it has spilled over to the rest of the Arabs. It added perhaps those who created the crisis had sought to spread it as such: A crisis that consumes Iraq and "knocks on the doors of its neighbors and the Arabs." The pro-government paper said in a commentary the official Arab regimes did not oppose the American plans for Iraq and the so-called political process that ensued, leading to the chaos and sectarian strife of today. Iraq has gained nothing from its invasion, it argued, but has lost everything, including its entity as a state, national unity, stability and hundreds of thousands dead and injured. "The invaders promised liberation from dictatorship, but they liberated (Iraq) from its statehood and unleashed division and fragmentation," it complained. The paper went on to say the Arabs who were eager to liquidate Saddam Hussein's regime are today suffering from the fruits of this liquidation. It insisted the Arab regimes had contributed to creating the Iraqi crisis in the past 15 years, saying they were coerced by the Americans into endorsing policies against Saddam's regime and are today asked to sanction American policies against the Iraqi resistance so that the U.S. forces don't leave Iraq in defeat. It said all the Arabs have to do to stop endorsing American policy is look at the threats of sectarianism.

Lebanon's al-Anwar said while Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa is a veteran and wise politician, his relentless efforts with Lebanese political rivals is not achieving their objectives to resolve the political crisis in the country. The daily, which describes itself as independent, added in a commentary it was concerned that rather than Mousa pulling the politicians into his logic, the rivals were pulling him into theirs. It said the Arab League chief was listening to each side's demands and explanations without discussion and trying to apply both in a country where this does not work. "The secret word in Lebanon is accord," the commentator said, "and it would have been better if Mousa launched his efforts from this point." It added that at the start of his mediation efforts, he should have asked each party if they want accord or not. "If the answer was yes, then the road to agreement is dialogue. If they refused to return to the dialogue, Mousa should have put them (rivals) before their responsibilities and headed to the airport to take care of more useful missions," it remarked.

The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi said it hoped that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' statement he is ready to resume dialogue with Hamas to form a national unity government is a new awakening that leads to calm between the rival factions. The independent Palestinian-owned daily added that Abbas made a huge mistake when he listened to those "inciting confrontation with Hamas" by calling for early presidential and legislative elections. "Returning to dialogue is returning to reason and a retraction from the option of bloody confrontations," it said, "but it should be done in a new spirit and mentality, based on a genuine desire to succeed." The paper, distributed in many Arab capitals, said the past days in the Palestinian territories were full of lessons that Abbas should learn well, mainly that the majority of Palestinian organizations, as well as many Arab countries, are against early elections. It insisted the Israeli-American-British support for Abbas and promising to support him financially after declaring a confrontation with Hamas does not serve him, it argued, but it will become a burden on him in the future. The daily argued when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he will release $600 million of frozen Palestinian moneys to Abbas, "it can be interpreted as a reward for clashing" with Hamas and encouraging him to take additional measures in this direction. The paper said it supports Abbas' call on the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to exercise self-restraint, "but we demand that he stops issuing initiatives that lead to more tension and confrontation."

The London-based ash-Sharq al-Awsat published a cartoon ridiculing street protests and clashes in parts of the Arab world through a conversation between a young boy and his father. The disheveled father, with cigarette between his fingers, holds a transistor radio to his ear, listening to a newscaster saying: "The crowds continue to take to the streets." The boy, holding a soccer ball in his hands, asks his father, "Dad, please let me go down to the street, I want to play a bit." The father replies: "When the adults finish playing in the street, I'll let you go down there."