Iraq Press Roundup

The independent New Sabah said Friday in its editorial that after President Bush's visit to the Middle East, several scenarios were being discussed in the region.

The editorial, headlined "An American-Gulf agreement will change Iraqi power agendas," said many see Bush's visit to the Middle East as a plan to negotiate a possible war to end Iran's interference in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The paper cited Bush calling Iran a threat to the world and is a "sponsor of terrorism."

It said analysts believed Bush's statements were a "pressure card."

The paper said the United States cannot carry out a war against Iran after the obstacles it faced in Iraq.

The editorial noted that there were Iranian-Gulf diplomatic exchanges prior to Bush's visit to the Middle East. It said features of the agreements were seen clearly in Iraq and revealed a "delay" in the U.S. plan to bomb or "cancel" the plan if Iran helped Washington settle the security situation in Iraq.

"The Iranians could take part in settling Iraq by discouraging escalation that would give the Republicans their prestige back," the paper said.

It said the people of the Gulf, specifically the Saudis, support the Sunni Awakening Councils that fight al-Qaida.

It said the factors that "improved" the security situation in Iraq were Saudi support for the Awakening Councils, and clashes with Iran on its nuclear program.

"The groups opposed to Tehran's policy and to the way it deals with Iraq's matter have increased after the new agreements between Iran, the Gulf and the U.S.," the paper commented.

The New Sabah concluded that these "agreements" have created new plans headed by Iraqi political powers.

"The coming events will give a bigger role to the relationships between the Gulf and the U.S. that presume changing the government in Iran," it said.

Kulul Iraq newspaper said Friday: "The occupation of Iraq is for geographical reasons as Iraq is between East and West Asia in addition to the oil reserves."

The editorial, titled "Is Iraq going to stay in the security circle?" said the West will cooperate with the U.S. "project" against Iran's bid for "weapons of mass destruction."

"The United States and its allies' justifications to occupy Iraq was the existence of a dictator who 'owned' weapons of mass destruction and now we see the same lie applies to Iran," it said.

The paper said the United States aimed at putting sectarian factions in power in order to keep Iraq in the circle of escalated political violence while it gains. It said the escalated political violence will continue between governing political blocs.

It concluded that a new escalation of Kurdish-Arab or Kurdish-Shiite violence was on its way.