AMMAN, Jordan, May 8 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for May 8:
Iraq's al-Sabah daily said in a commentary Monday the Iraqis have adjusted their feelings to the wide scale terrorism sweeping their country. The paper, which describes itself as independent, added that if Iraqis are killed by the violence, "they become martyrs and part of the black ashes that have marked the faces of Iraqis for decades." If they survive, it said, they move on and face another day. When the al-Sabah office in Baghdad was targeted in an explosion Sunday, it explained, "everything was taken care of calmly in restoring the damage and taking pictures to capture another battle that makes no sense." The daily, which says it has the largest distribution in the country, said the strategy of terrorism must be well-studied since it is perpetrated by "mysterious people in their thoughts, intentions and methods," especially that it has become a war between terrorism and defenseless civilians.
Lebanon's Daily Star said in its editorial the Arabs have a strong responsibility to help defuse the Iraqi crisis, even it had nothing to do with its creation. The independent English-language paper argued the events in Iraq "stem from circumstances that exist in many countries in the Middle East," where every country "contains some form of ethnic and/or religious mix of the sort that undermines national unity." Like Iraq, it said, the Arab states lack political institutions and necessary legal structures to keep competing interests from erupting into violence. "Should the Arabs continue to sit on their hands, they can expect Iraq's problems to get worse," the paper insisted, "and then they can expect the same problems to spill over into other states across the region." It called for convening an Arab summit on Iraq and invite Turkish and Iranian participation that would allow Iraq's two neighbors to express their grievances "in a responsible manner." A summit, it argued, would contribute to ending the daily sufferings of ordinary Iraqis by addressing their grievances and it might "help reverse some of the damage caused by the refusal of the U.S. and Iranian governments to sit down for what might otherwise be some very productive discussions of how to alter the course of events." If the Arabs continue to do nothing, it warned, "incursions and other forms of meddling by Ankara and Tehran will grow" and only the Iraqi people will suffer the consequences.
The London-based al-Quds al-Arabi said the recent downing of a British helicopter and exchange of fire between gunmen and British troops in Basra are an important development. The independent Palestinian-owned daily argued that Basra has been relatively calm in the past three years of occupation, "making the British boast about their administration and ability to understand the complications of Iraq" in comparison to their American and other foreign counterparts. But the "honeymoon" between the British forces and the southern Shiite people of Iraq, it insisted, is coming to an end because the recent attacks on the British military "show extreme and unprecedented hatred." The paper said the deteriorating relations between the two sides were due to growing tensions between the British government and Iran, as well as growing distress and disappointment among the general Iraqi public over the occupation. "The occupation of Iraq has torn their country apart and deprived them of security and safety," the paper said, "corruption has risen... and many Iraqis are now missing the days of the former regime despite its tyranny." It predicted the coming days will be very difficult for the British forces and will be more difficult if the British government decides to support American plans to impose sanctions on Iran "as a prelude for a military solution to destroy its nuclear program."
The United Arab Emirates' al-Khaleej daily commented the series of failures of the U.S.-British war on Iraq is starting to seriously pressure the administrations of President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair. The pro-government paper said heads were starting to roll in Washington and London, with reshuffles in leadership positions, to protect "their own heads and finish their terms with minimum damage," in reference to Bush and Blair. It accused the two Western leaders of trying to create new crises in the region as they try to dodge from the Iraqi crisis instead of resolving it "within the framework of the Third World War that Bush says he has been waging from 2001 until today." The paper's editorial insisted the reality is showing the growing cracks in the strategy of the American neo-conservatives and their British allies. But the administration does not seem to be interested in reconsidering its strategy because it insists on following through with its plan to serve the "Zionist entity's interests," the paper opined. It predicted the Bush administration will likely continue to suffer more failures because it is persisting in continuing with its belligerent approach, saying it was "behaving with vengeance and might create more pretexts... to continue spreading its fires in the region."
Qatar's al-Watan suggested it was better for Tony Blair to hand over 10 Downing Street to someone else instead of reshuffling his cabinet. The pro-government daily said in a commentary the latest local elections showed that Blair's Labor Party had lost support in the street and that he was paying a price for following Bush's policies "without thinking about what the future holds in terms of setbacks." It complained that since the British prime minister came to power, he did nothing but revoke the independent character of his country and turned it into an obedient follower of unsuccessful American policies. The daily stressed that Blair was now living in a serious political crisis that could cost him his political future because he had bet on a "better international role for his country and economic gains from Iraq's oil revenues."
