Arabs Say Report Shows Bush's Failure
Dec 07 8:22 AM US/Eastern
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
Associated Press Writer
CAIRO, Egypt
Many Arabs on Thursday interpreted an American advisory panel's bleak assessment of President Bush's Iraq policies as proof of Washington's failure in the Middle East.
But others worried about the consequences if the U.S. follows the Iraq Study Group's suggestions, warning that the report could fuel insurgents and others vying to fill Iraq's security vacuum.
"This report is a recognition of the limitation of American power," said Abdel Moneim Said, head of Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic studies in Cairo. "In the short term, America will highly suffer the loss of its reputation and credibility in the region."
The bipartisan study, written under the leadership of former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton, painted a dire picture of the situation in Iraq more than three years after the war started.
The report suggested the United States should find ways to pull back most of its combat forces by early 2008 and focus U.S. troops on training and supporting Iraqi units. The U.S. also should begin a "diplomatic offensive" by the end of the month and engage adversaries Iran and Syria in an effort to quell sectarian violence and shore up the fragile Iraqi government, the report said.
Mustafa Bakri, an outspoken critic of the U.S. and editor of the Egyptian tabloid Al-Osboa, told a state-run television show that the report indicated "the end of America."
Bakri, who supports Syrian President Bashar Assad and the former regime of Saddam Hussein, urged Arab countries to "capture the moment as America now is in its weakest period."
The Iraq Study Group's report was the top headline in many Arab newspapers on Thursday, including the Egyptian opposition daily Al- Wafd, which declared: "Bush confesses defeat in Iraq."
The paper's editor-in-chief, Anwar el-Hawari, predicted that at the very least, the Middle East will not hear from Bush for the coming 24 months.
"Practically, this means that this is the real end of Bush rule, his policies and the neo-conservative groups. This also means that the coming two years left in his term will be a period of a political vacuum," he wrote.
Joseph Samaha, editor-in-chief of Lebanese opposition daily Al-Akhbar, said that, even before the study group's report found shortcomings in the Bush administration's Iraq policy, Arabs had already concluded that Iraq had turned into a "holocaust for American claims."
But others warned that insurgents and countries including Iran were taking advantage of Bush's failures and the spiraling violence, and their influence would increase if the U.S. leaves.
"Al-Qaida must smell victory, but its a negative victory that comes from the defeat of America in Iraq," Said of the Al-Ahram center said.
In Jordan, Al Arab Al Yawm editor-in-chief Taher al-Adwan suggested that Iran could "fill the vacuum" in neighboring Iraq if Arab countries don't step up and counter U.S. failures.
"Will the noise of this bullet (the report) reach the Arab capitals, especially the neighboring countries ... to push them to formalize a unified Arab position toward Iraq and fill the vacuum by Iraqi national forces who are against the occupation and the Iranian influence," he wrote.
Arabs Say Report Shows Bush's Failure
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