Gaddhafi Sympathizes With Bush

By Hassan A. El-Najjar

4/24/02

In an interview with Abu Dhabi TV, the second popular in the Arab World after Aljazeera, the Libyan leader Mu'ammer Al-Gaddhafi expressed his sympathy with the US President, George W. Bush. The host, Jassem Al-Azzawi, was surprised. But Gaddhafi told him that Bush deserves sympathy from anyone in the world. He is as helpless as Yassir Arafat. The Zionist influence over the US government is so big that the President of the United States seems to be able of doing nothing to challenge it. President Bush kept repeating his demands that Sharon should withdraw, withdraw now, withdraw immediately ... etc., etc., etc., The only answer he got from Sharon was that he would withdraw only when he completes the job. The job was the massacres of Jenin and Nablus.

Gaddhafi was not the only Arab leader who has come to this conclusion. Almost all Arab leaders have. The King of Morocco, Muhammed VI, was so outraged by the US inaction that he was undiplomatic with Colin Powell. Apparently, he is in Washington to ask Powell to forget what he told him when he was angry in Morocco, as he said publicly. President Mubarak of Egypt was so appalled that he cancelled his meeting with Powell, at the end of his failed mission. Most Arab governments encouraged TV financial campaigns (telethons) to assist the Palestinian people. More important, the average Arab citizen in the street also has come to the conclusion that the US government is incapable of stopping Sharon. This has changed many basic assumptions about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Arabs now are more alarmed than ever before by the power and intentions of Israelis and their supporters. Arabs are not only angry against Sharon and his massacres in Palestine, against the US inaction to stop the Israelis, but also against their leaders, who trusted the US. Their anger was reflected in what they said against the three in their continuous demonstrations.

Dr. Hassan A. El-Najjar is the Editor of www.aljazeerah.info and author of "The Gulf War: Overreaction & Excessiveness." (2001).