AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Nov. 15:
The London-based ash-Sharq al-Awsat commented in its editorial Wednesday on the abduction of more than 100 higher education officials in Baghdad by gunmen dressed in police uniforms. The Saudi-owned daily said before this massive crime occurred Tuesday, around 160 Iraqi professors had been assassinated since the U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003. It added that teachers were not the only targets of violence in Iraq, but also scholars, clerics, physicians, pilots and intellectuals. "Such terrorist acts don't at all indicate they are the work of criminal groups or small militias exploiting the chaos in Iraq, but it is clear these terrorist crimes are a result of organized efforts supported by services able to move and hide above the law, and sometimes under the cover of the law," it said. The daily, distributed in many Arab capitals, called on the Iraqi government and political and tribal leaders to assume their responsibilities towards their country and people, as well as to protect the education leadership. It argued that despite the erosion that took place during Saddam's 30-year reign, education -- not oil -- had remained Iraq's fruit. "All Iraqi leaders and the American occupation forces are responsible for the attacks against the minds of Iraq, and providing security for the educational institutions is more important than protecting the Oil Ministry and the Green Zone," it insisted. It warned Iraq's political leaders that history will remain in the minds of the people and when the smoke settles, "they will find themselves before trials more brutal than the trial of Saddam Hussein and his cronies."
Another London-based daily, al-Quds al-Arabi, commented that Iraq has witnessed many black days since the American-led invasion. But the most dangerous incident, it said, was on Tuesday with the kidnapping of more than 100 education leaders and professors by an armed militia while the security forces watched in broad daylight. The independent Palestinian-owned daily added, "They have killed all the scholars and more than 300 university professors, just as they assassinated all the senior leaders of the (dismantled) army, most pilots and highly-qualified military personnel. And now they want to close down all the universities and bring ignorance to the future Iraqi generations for decades to come." It insisted that President George W. Bush has been defeated in Iraq, but his defeat was paid by the blood and minds of the Iraqis, as well as their stability. The paper said it would not be surprised if Bush decides to "run away and to pull out his troops to minimize the losses to prepare for another war against Iran to appease his friend Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert."
Iraq's pro-government as-Sabah daily said the cycle of violence in Iraq continues to escalate to serious levels and is starting to take on new forms with the exchange of mortar rockets between different areas in Baghdad. It said some Shiite neighborhoods were exchanging rocket fire with Sunni districts, saying this serious development could turn into a "war of districts." The mass-circulation paper said suspicions that a third party other than Sunnis and Shiites were firing rockets in order to "ignite sectarian sedition" is no longer viable, especially that a "districts war would not have been possible before the sectarian genocide (had taken place) in each area." When the Iraqis reach this stage, it warned, it is easy to predict the establishment of truce lines and check-points between the districts. It said it is no longer useful to try to "hide the truth that what is happening is a struggle over territory, just as the case with the struggle over the state, power and resources," the paper said. It added these struggles will continue until a historic settlement is reached among all parties, especially between the Shiites and Sunnis, to feel assured that their interests and future are protected.
Egypt's al-Gomhuriya said that President Bush and Israel's Olmert have rejected the idea of convening an international conference to revive the Middle East peace process after the Arabs had proposed such a meeting. The mass-circulation daily added the Arab foreign ministers had called for such a conference after they became fed up with the U.S. role as a sponsor of the peace process for being too biased in favor of Israel. The semi-official paper's editorial said it is understandable why Israel would reject a new international conference in order to preserve the "eternal American support to buy time for digging its feet deeper into the occupied land and try to subdue the resistance and the Palestinian people." But it does not understand, it stressed, why the United States would object to a conference whose objectives would be to save the peace process, " ... unless its objective in its sponsorship is to trick the Arab people into the illusion of a just peace, which will not be achieved except with Arab will, unifying ranks and mobilizing capabilities to support the resistance against the occupation."
Qatar's al-Rayah commented on the launching of al-Jazeera International channel that will start broadcasting Wednesday in English, saying the channel has broken the Western media monopoly. The pro-government daily added that the Qatar-based channel had already imposed its independence and professionalism on an international scale before the English-language launch. It said it became the first channel to worry not only Arab countries and leaders but "also shook the foundations of the international media, where some of the large Western media corporations thought they will never find serious competition." It argued that al-Jazeera is not liked on a political or media scale because it is different than the mainstream media in that it presents a different vision to viewers. "Therefore, the success of al-Jazeera English will depend on the level of its commitment to the mother channel and benefiting from its presentations of the other side in a global language. And we hope it will have an even greater and more serious effect," it said.
