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Anti-American attacks acts of resistance, say Arab comentators
Khaleej Times, (AFP)
29 October 2003
CAIRO - Arab commentators on Tuesday justified a wave of anti-US attacks in Iraq as acts of resistance against foreign occupation, comparing the deadly campaign to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.
US authorities have dismissed the attacks as the work of `dead-enders' loyal to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein or non-Iraqi Arab fighters.
"What the US administration has forgotten is that all the Iraqis, except the traitors and agents, look at the presence of US forces as an invasion, a colonisation and occupation, despite all that's being said on assistance, reconstruction and promotion of democracy," wrote Galal Dawidar, chief editor of the Egyptian daily Al Akhbar.
His editorial appeared after several suicide bombings against US-backed police stations and the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Baghdad on Monday killed 43 people and wounded more than 220 others. The Jordanian daily Al Arab Al Yom said "the operation demonstrated the effectiveness of the resistance and its level of organisation."
In Beirut, Walid Jumblatt, an influential Lebanese politician and leader of its Druze community, triggered US outrage on Monday when he expressed regret Mr Wolfowitz was unhurt in the rocket attack.
"We hope the firing will be more precise and efficient (next time), so we get rid of this microbe and people like him in Washington who are spreading disorder in Arab lands, Iraq and Palestine," Mr Jumblatt said in a statement.
Mr Jumblatt called Mr Wolfowitz a `friend of Ariel Sharon', the hard line Israeli prime minister, `and one of the main architects of ... the destruction of Iraq' even before the war to topple Saddam.
Mr Dawidar also compared the situation in Iraq with that in the Palestinian territories.
Arabs also refute the US argument that the attacks are orchestrated by isolated pockets loyal to Saddam or by foreigners who are members of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network. "The theory that everything is tied to Bin Laden does not stand up to scrutiny," according to Hasni Abidi, who heads the Geneva-based Centre for Research and Study of the Arab World and the Mediterranean.
"One has to admit one is in the midst of an Iraqi resistance which, by attacking institutions like the United Nations and the Red Cross, wants to send a message: `we are attacking all those who want to give a human face to this war'," the Algerian-born Mr Abidi said.
"It's about discouraging foreigners from coming and demonstrating that the donor conference on Iraq, which ended in Madrid, is meaningless because it is impossible to ensure security," he said. "The resistance groups are numerous" in Iraq, said an editorialist at Al Ahram, Mohammed Sid Ahmed.
"It's a bit like Afghanistan at the start of the Soviet invasion, where everybody joins in the resistance, because the occupation justifies a consensus," Mr Sid Ahmed said.
Al Akhbar said the message was clear: "The only way to disentangle from this deadlock in which the US finds itself is to speed up the hand over of power to Iraqis."
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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