Iraq Press Roundup

Many observers predict U.S. President-elect Barack Obama will face many obstacles during his term that have the potential to endanger the American reputation.

Shebab al-Iraq news service said Thursday the recent developments in Iraq and Afghanistan might be the first test of the campaign platform of the Obama administration.

Obama and the impossible options in Iraq and Afghanistan

Obama said using the German government as a mediator in negotiations between Washington and Tehran might be the best strategy. But his policy in Afghanistan is inconsistent with that policy, as he supported bringing Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in for direct negotiations with the government in Kabul.

And while U.S. President George W. Bush turned his attention toward Iraq instead of hunting down al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, Obama pledged to merge those two agendas.

Obama also promised to bring American troops home from Iraq, though the situation on the ground paints a different picture. The fact that Obama supported the Bush plan on the U.S.-Iraqi security arrangement suggests there may be few changes in the policies of the next administration.

U.S. President George W. Bush has left a heavy burden for incoming President-elect Barack Obama, but it is debatable whether or not the next administration will be able to solve the chaos created by the Bush White House.

Al-Sabaah al-Jadeed newspaper Thursday highlighted some of the problems Bush has created for Obama.

Obama and Bush's heavy leftovers

The inability of the Bush administration to resolve any of the crises he created puts Obama in a precarious situation. People in the Middle East are looking for Obama to find solutions to a growing list of issues, which could cause major regional problems if left unresolved.

Among the legacies of the Bush administration are the endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the ongoing global war on terror, the Iranian nuclear issue and the failure to reach a peace settlement between Israel and Palestine.

Meanwhile, the American public is facing one of the worst economic crises in history due to the policies of the Bush administration and the failure of the financial bailout to make any headway. In the international arena, relations between Russia and the United States have soured to Cold War levels as Obama hinted at the possibility of building missile bases in the Czech Republic and Poland.

Several Iraqi newspapers discussed why change was necessary for the United States. The Sunni al-Basaer newspaper of the Association of Muslim Scholars, for example, said Thursday it was the resistance movements that changed the American government and led to the election of Barack Obama.

The U.S. elections: The resistance imposed the change

Fighters for the resistance carried their weapons of liberation to oppose the U.S. domination of Iraq, Afghanistan, southern Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories. Americans heard their message when Obama won the U.S. presidential elections.

This change would have taken longer if the U.S. objectives in the region were to prevail. Now, the next U.S. president will have to negotiate with leaders of the Arab and Muslim countries face to face.

Obama needs to take heed of the concerns from these countries in order to rescue the United States, or face further regional complications.

Arab countries, meanwhile, are conditioning their support for the Obama administration on the possibility that his call for change is genuine, the newspaper said.

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(Edited by Daniel Graeber)