A roundup of commentary from Arab newspapers September 21.
Badly directed, acted Saddam movie
Jordan's Al Rai said in a commentary the Americans can take toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from his prison cell and execute him or anyone else they want to kill, especially when thousands of Iraqi corpses are found in the streets of Iraqi cities.
The mass-circulation daily added that Saddam's trial was a detail in a long American feature film, adding that exchanging judges and kicking out lawyers has turned "this film into a farce."
The events in Iraq and the trial, it opined, reflect the "misery of the director, who doesn't know how to direct his actors and win over the audience, for the occupation of Iraq and killing hundreds of thousands of its people after two decades of starving them, and the trial of Saddam Hussein, will not give the Americans justification and legitimacy."
The paper, partially owned by the government, insisted it was not defending Saddam because he doesn't need more defense advocates, adding the former leader is demonstrating "legendary patience as his living corpse is being exhibited." This is a humiliation for the Arabs, it stressed, saying only the Iraqis have the right to decide whether to topple him, try, condemn, or absolve him.
A thumbs down to Bush speech at UN
Syria's official Al Thawra daily said US President George W. Bush oversimplified, threatened, and twisted Middle East issues during his speech to the UN General Assembly.
The state-run paper said the US president portrayed the region as enjoying stability due to the help of his administration, but mentioned Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian territories, and Sudan as points of concern. The newspaper insisted that Bush failed to see that these countries he mentioned "constitute the majority of the Middle East."
It said Bush's "ignorant" statements failed to mention that Israel was among the "extremist forces and does not consider that his own administration includes extremists who are pushing the region and the world towards more conflicts."
All Bush sees, it argued, was that anyone who opposes his and Israel's plans is an extremist and terrorist who doesn't want peace and democracy. The paper expected this continued policy to bring more turbulence in the region.
Abbas in US sabotaged by bickering at home
The Palestinian Al Quds newspaper said in its editorial that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' diplomatic efforts in New York to break the political and economic sanctions against his people appear to be making slow progress.
The mainstream daily said the Middle East conflict seems to have taken priority in the ongoing 61st session of the UN General Assembly meeting, but that the main complication is regarding a Palestinian government - whether a national unity one or otherwise - to meet Western demands on recognizing Israel and the previous agreements signed with Israel, as well as renouncing terrorism.
It added that Abbas had thought Hamas' tacit recognition of previous agreements and paving the way for a national unity government would open the way for breaking the sanctions. "But he confronted, in his talks with US President [George W.] Bush yesterday, the same complication, which is [the US' demand for] Hamas' clear and public recognition of Israel and renouncing terrorism," it said.
The Jerusalem-based paper said the American and Israeli "word" therefore appeared to be stronger and urged Russia, as a member of the Quartet peace committee, to bring the sides closer together.
It described as "unfortunate" that Abbas did not enjoy a stronger position during his meetings in New York as Hamas leaders issued contradictory statements over a national unity government.
"It is unfortunate that the situation on the Palestinian ground has deteriorated, while Abu Mazen [Abbas] is at the UN, prompting us to ask in whose interests this is happening," it said. The newspaper stressed that the world would not "respect us if we don't respect ourselves, especially when there are those who are fishing for pretexts and justifications."
Helpful focus on Arabs, Israelis
Lebanon's An Nahar said that the Arab-Israeli conflict took the forefront of international attention during the UN General Assembly meetings. It said that US President George W. Bush repeated his call for a two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and UN chief Kofi Annan mentioned that resolving the regional conflict is of the utmost importance.
It described this attention as relatively positive since the peace process has been in a coma. "But whoever thinks the road is open to revive the process should slow down," it said, adding that bringing it back to life required conditions - a united Palestinian, Israeli, and Arab position - that were not available.
The anti-Syrian mass-circulation daily said that Washington was not ready to deal with a Palestinian national unity government and persisted with its three conditions on Hamas to recognize Israel and previous agreements, and to renounce terror. But Hamas continues to refuse, the paper said.
So there is nothing new as the Security Council meets Thursday, it stressed, adding that America had put its war on terror as top priority and fails to realize what it means to revive the peace process.
'Using' the UN
Egypt's Al Gumhuriya said that US President George W. Bush remembered the credibility of the UN when he asked the General Assembly to send international troops to Darfur in Sudan.
But, it complained, he ignored "the fact that he had hurt this credibility by disregarding international consensus against war on Iraq, the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, and Palestinian bloodshed."
The mass-circulation daily insisted the true credibility of the UN lay in protecting small countries from attacks by bigger ones and from threats that sought to break the wills of populations.
The semi-official paper said the UN's job was to protect small nations from allowing stronger ones from imposing their hegemony on the world.
"But, unfortunately, the powerful states have succeeded in taming the international organization in their favor to impose their plans and raise its [UN] flag above the forces of repression and aggression," it said.
Review of Arab Editorials
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