Iraq Press Roundup

The Association of Muslim Scholars' Al Basaer newspaper said Tuesday it is important to analyze the declaration of intent between the United States and Iraq, which it called a declaration of bad intentions.

The paper said that after dealing with the political process, which is a "dead" one, the occupation administration has taken the step of announcing this agreement to keep this "government" in power, and sell the future of Iraq to leaders who will be coming after Bush by setting up permanent bases in Iraq.

"Through time, the occupation theories were built on the basis of domination," the paper said.

The paper said that after the United States announced the reasons for the war on Iraq -- weapons of mass destruction, dictatorship and democracy -- the United States had the U.N. Security Council change the name "liberators" to Multi-National Forces.

"The Multi-National Forces has about 170,000 U.S. troops and few thousands from other countries, countries who are looking for personal interests," the paper said.

The Saudi-based paper said any misuse of the law for the benefit of the occupiers, whether by the Security Council or others, will not deceive the people of Iraq who are against the occupation.

It said that when the occupiers deal with the saying "Those who are not with me, are against me," they drive people to be against them.

"Two groups are present in the Iraqi street: one that refuses the occupation with the help of the tribesmen and the other group that is represented by a gathering of those involved in the crippled political process and unable to even serve the occupiers' interests," it said.

It said that the White House was protecting those "seated on their chairs," revealing the absence of Iraqi sovereignty.

"Those who can't protect themselves are illegible to sign a security agreement. … The Iraqi people won't approve it because it marginalizes the will of the people," it said.

Shabab Al Iraq newspaper on Tuesday carried an editorial titled "The New Iraq."

It said that President Bush, in his last year at the White House, becomes more insistent on achieving some of his foreign policy promises.

The paper said Bush began but did not set up a Palestinian state to achieve stability in the region; distributed democracy in the region as a protection against terrorism; and achieve a free, democratic and stable Iraq that would be a U.S. ally.

"The Palestinians, the Israelis and the Arabs have reached a consistent truth which determines that there is no solution but peace, and those who refused the establishment of a Palestinian state have became a minority," it said.

It said that those who refuse the existence of a state in Palestine are minor figures who want to stay in power. The editorial said that after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Middle East experienced a "spring" of democracy, which didn't last for a long time because "the spring was short" and the soil couldn't handle the nutrition of social and ideological liberalism.

"The spring democracy resulted in a social and political move which resulted in women's rights, and activated internal dialogues," the paper said.

The paper said the liberation of Iraq from its long-term nightmare suited the interest of Gulf countries as well as Iraqis and the international community.

"Sometimes it sounds that the U.S. carried out the war in Iraq to prove its loyalty to the Gulf countries," it said.

The paper said it is important to remember the United States committed many mistakes in Iraq after the "liberation" in that it didn't understand the balance between Iraq's sectarian and ethnic components, and dismissed those who had been loyal to the former regime.