Iraq Press Roundup

The Association of Muslims Scholars' Al Basaer Newspaper highlighted in an editorial titled "A superpower or a gang?" the United States and its relationship with the chaotic situation in Iraq.

The editorial said the failure of the U.S. occupation is a sign the term "superpower" doesn't apply to it anymore because the U.S. presence has turned out to be no more than a joke. It said the United States spent more than $600 billion to invade Iraq but the security, political and economic situation in Iraq is worse today than during the first years after the occupation.

Despite the death of U.S. troops and thousands of injuries, the United States can't control any city or even the Green Zone, the most "secure" area in Baghdad, the paper said.

"The U.S. uses 160,000 troops, 170,000 foreign mercenaries and 250,000 militia mercenaries who work for the Iraqi government of occupation," it said.

It said these large numbers are still incapable of making any real progress to save the lives of the innocent people of Iraq or in providing for their simple needs. The paper also said the United States as a "superpower" purposely pushed Iraqis to carry out elections to result in a Parliament that consists of members who sold themselves and their country to the "devil."

"The political process failed in presenting even one political bloc that gains any respect because they were well-known for being untrustworthy," the Sunni newspaper said.

It said after the militias within the Iraqi government fought each other -- a reference to the latest clashes in Basra -- the "superpower" couldn't find any solution except to beg Iran to interfere and end the clashes.

It said Gen. Kevin Bergner, special assistant to the president and senior director for Iraq, admitted in a briefing March 26 in Baghdad that Iran had a major influence in Basra and northeast cities of Iraq, and called upon Iran to intervene in order to end the violence among the Shiite Mahdi Army militia, Iraqi forces and other Shiite militias related to the Shiite Dawa and Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council parties.

The paper said five years after the occupation of Iraq and the loss of thousands of soldiers and millions of dollars, the United States is asking for the help of a neighboring country that is, according to the White House, an enemy or at least a threat to U.S. interests.

"A superpower is super if it can change the reality in a place, impose its experience on others or impose its will and not by begging others for interference," it said.

The reality of the situation is that the United States is no more than a state of gangs that plans and thinks and operate with a gang's mentality, it said. There is no difference between the U.S. administration and Congress or its journalists and experts who all talk loud when an incident is about to occur, but who become silent when it fails, it said.

"No matter how strong a gang is, it is impossible to consider it as a superpower," it said.