War in the Egyptian press
Highlights of the Egyptian press this week included Iraqi civilian casualties, a visit by the British ambassador to Al-Akhbar, and calls for reviewing the 'strategic' ties between Egypt and the US,
writes Aziza Sami
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Iraqi Information Minister Mohamed Said Al-Sahhaf at a press conference on Monday, before he and other senior Iraqi officials disappeared Wednesday morning; the Iraqi Ministry of Planning was hit by a US A-10 jet on Tuesday
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President Hosni Mubarak's statement at a meeting with the third field army that Egypt "cannot close the [Suez] Canal in the face of [American military] ships except in case of war by virtue of its international obligations" was highlighted in all the dailies on 1 April. "The 1888 Treaty of Constantinople stipulates the neutrality of the Suez Canal and the right of all ships to pass through. If we try to close it now they might pass by force, and we would expose ourselves to many problems," Mubarak said.
LEGITIMATE CLOSURE: The independent weekly Al- Usbou' on 7 April published an article by the head of Cairo University's International Law Department, Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Hadi, who wrote that "Egypt is bound by international law to close the Suez Canal to American military ships. The Treaty of Constantinople must be looked at within the context of the development of international law and agreements which Egypt signed after 1888. The Brian- Kellogg Charter of 1928, stipulating non-aggression as a binding principle, the 1945 UN Charter and the 1950 Agreement for Joint Arab Defence [all include obligations] that override the Treaty of Constantinople. Since the current aggression is an illegal one unauthorised by the UN Security Council, it is Egypt's right, in fact its duty, to close the Suez Canal to American military ships passing on to the Gulf." The same argument was echoed in Al-Arabi, the weekly paper issued by the Nasserist Party, which on 6 April published an article entitled, "International law experts: American warships passing through the Canal are a threat to Egypt's security."
Al-Arabi in the same issue published an article entitled "Slogan of the Era: Repression, Torture and Detention", surveying politicians, none of whom are members of the ruling NDP, and concluding that, "The Egyptian government is in a real crisis, feeling that popular anger against the invasion of Iraq can spill over internally because of the never-ending economic crisis suffered by Egyptians, such as poverty and unemployment, etc. It is inevitable that the ongoing repression will result in an explosion. This government lacks a legitimate basis for its actions. It feels its own isolation and impotence versus its people, and so tries to abort mass-based initiatives expressing views on public issues. The irony is that the current 'war on Iraq', which claims to instill democracy, is making the Arab regimes -- with their obsolete government apparatuses -- become all the more repressive."Al-Arabi also interviewed veteran politician and head of the Labour Party Ibrahim Shoukry, who last week travelled to Baghdad. Shoukry, 85, who comes from a generation of Egyptians who fought against the British occupation, also travelled to Lebanon, Libya and Sudan when these countries were undergoing siege, bombardment or civil conflict. All these countries, Shoukry said, have been faced by onslaughts from the US, Israel and Zionist influences, whose objective is, ultimately, "to efface the Arab and Islamic identities of these countries".
A WISE NOTE: The weekly Akhbar Al-Yom's editor-in- chief Ibrahim Se'da on 5 April criticised what he called the Arab media's "double standards" in covering the Palestinian and Iraqi crises. "Confronted with war on the Palestinians, we do nothing but lament and condemn Sharon, whereas the Iraqi war has shaken the Arabs and the world, inducing massive anti-war protests. Relegating the news on Palestine to the inner pages and to the tail-end of news bulletins is an added injustice which the Arab media, whether unwittingly or not, is doing to the Palestinians." The weekly magazine Rose Al-Youssef's editorial on 5 April commented on the reconciliation process with the US that European countries are now engaged in. "When the 'dispute' between these countries and America was at its height, some harboured the illusion that 'France is more Arab than some Arabs'. Perhaps such observers will now review their 'judgement' and know that this will be a unipolar world guided by one dominant power for a long time to come." The fall was the caption on the front page of Al- Arabi, accompanying a photograph depicting a Kuwaiti citizen kissing the American flag.
WAIT AND SEE: Editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine Al-Mussawar, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, wrote on 4 April of "The Hawks of Washington in a Crisis, after the American Entanglement in Iraq". Speaking of "far- reaching and serious" changes in the global order resulting from the war that is still in its initial stages, Ahmed said that "future schisms with Europe will arise because of America's increasingly obvious intention to monopolise Iraq's fate and oil wealth." He then queried what the Arab countries will do, "in view of reported plans by administration hawks to widen the 'war' to include countries like Syria and Iran. Will the Arab order totally disintegrate, or will it be a starting point to overcome its differences? We can only wait and see."
WHAT HEARTS AND MINDS? Al-Akhbar on 2 April published on its front page a photograph of an Iraqi POW blindfolded and stumbling as he was led along by a coalition solider. A photo-spread inside depicted Iraqi casualties with the caption, "Horrific War Crime". Al-Ahram on 3 April gave prominence on its front page to a photograph of an Iraqi woman weeping in front of the wreckage of her bombarded home in Baghdad.
On April 3, Al-Akhbar's Editor-in-Chief Galal Doweidar wrote of a visit to his office by British Ambassador John Sawyers, who, "having procured several issues of Al- Akhbar", said that the prominent display of Iraqi casualties had "contributed to rousing public opinion against the US and Britain". Doweidar responded that these photos had been relayed by American and British news agencies and satellite channels.However, "the ambassador continued with remarks," Doweidar wrote, "that were unacceptable from the point of view of the freedom of the Egyptian press and of its national and pan-Arab responsibility. Nor were they congruent with international law and human rights." Doweidar then asked the ambassador why the US and Britain had overlooked the danger posed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the Arabs and the Middle East, given his long list of violations and illegal occupation of territory. "Do you want us to attack Sharon?" asked the British ambassador, to which Doweidar responded "and why not?" A lengthy discussion ensued over "the lack of seriousness of claims by the US and its allies to be resolving the Palestinian problem that has continued for 50 years, while East Timor gained its independence within two months because of pressures exerted by the US and Britain". The visit ended with a "rather crestfallen Sawyer," Doweidar wrote, "saying that he would relay the picture to the British authorities."
BURYING THE FACTS: Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama wrote on 1 April that, "The Anglo- American troops have still not found WMD or chemical and biological weapons. We will not be surprised, then, if they announce the discovery of a chemical or biological weapons factory buried underground in Iraq to prove that they were right to invade it. Media deception, obscuring facts, and censorship, have become the policies the Pentagon is pursuing to save face in front of the world."
Al-Ahali published on its front page on 2 April that "Reda Helal, assistant editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram is at work as usual at the Al-Ahram central desk," adding that he had told Al-Ahali that "his responsibilities are like those of any other reporter, and that he had written articles 'condemning' the US aggression on Iraq". The newspaper had mentioned Hilal by name last week in reporting on "the expulsion of America's supporters from Al-Ahram's central desk".
STRATEGIC TIES RETHOUGHT: Prominent left-wing intellectual and professor of mathematics Abdel-Azim Anis wrote in Al-Ahali on 2 April that in view of the Palestinian and the Iraqi crises, Egypt must "review its strategic thinking, which is based on a total dependence on ties with Washington." Anis stressed that he was "not calling for enmity towards the US, but, rather, for the creation of other political and economic leverages that would balance our relationship with Washington, so that it will not reduce Egypt's foreign policy to virtual ineffectiveness". Anis said that "the Egyptian official position, [in negotiating both crises], has displayed vulnerable points because of this 'strategic' relationship. It would be beneficial if the government called upon the major political parties to discuss these issues, provided that there was sufficient willingness on its part to listen to the opposition and to implement its suggestions where useful."
COMMUNIST NORTH KOREA, CAPITALIST MALAYSIA : On a similar note Hussein Abdel-Razeq wrote in the opposition daily Al-Wafd on 4 April that, "for three decades ties between Egypt and the US have been conducted on the premise of the congruence of strategic interests. Throughout, the US has manipulated its economic assistance and evoked 'strategic ties' with Egypt to influence political decisions. What the Egyptian government does not realise is that there has been a change in the American policy whose cornerstones were laid out in 1973 by [then] US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the late President Anwar El-Sadat. These were based on maintaining Arab regional security, pursuing the Middle East process, etc," and which no longer hold true.
"The US has postponed talk of an FTA with Egypt, asking for economic reforms. To this request, it has now added the condition of 'democracy' in all Arab regimes. Such arguments aside, the US has clearly shown itself to be a traditional colonialist power, whose invasion of Iraq has shaken Arab and Egyptian national security to the core. It is no longer acceptable to say in defence of such 'ties' that America is the world's strongest power, whom no one should cross. Egypt and the Arab world are not weaker than communist North Korea, or capitalist Malaysia. Each gave priority to its interests when they conflicted with those of America and with the savage globalisation which it is trying to impose upon the world."
On 7 April, the newspapers' banner headlines described the confrontations that had already started between the Anglo-American invading forces and the Iraqi army around Baghdad, signalling a new phase of battle. On the same day, Al-Ahram published on its third page a photograph of 12-year-old Ismail Abbas, a resident of Baghdad who had "lost both arms because of American missiles", the caption read. Abbas had also lost his father and brother. Meanwhile, Al Akhbar's front page carried a photograph relayed by Reuters of the bereaved parents of an American soldier grieving over their son's coffin, which had just arrived in Florida.
