'Iraq for sale'
Dubai's hosting of the IMF/World Bank meeting drew the UAE city into the limelight, right alongside Baghdad, writes Amira Howeidy
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Without the help of multi-national forces, the United States finds itself carrying the Iraqi burden all by itself, Habib Haddad of Al-Hayat.
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The surrender of Iraqi Defence Minister Sultan Hashem earlier this week received a good deal of attention -- and an equal measure of scepticism -- in the Arab press this week. Rumours of a deal between Hashem and the US-led occupying forces were so widespread that the attempt earlier this week on the life of Akila Al-Hashimi, a member of the Iraqi Interim Governing Council, took a relative back seat even though it, too, made news.
In its 20 September issue, the widely-read pan-Arab London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi ran a front page article headlined, "The deal of Hashem's surrender triggers speculation on his role in the fall of Baghdad". It stated that the minister gave himself up as part of a deal that included "being treated well and getting his name taken off the wanted list". The paper quoted Hashem's brother as saying that US forces treated him "with respect" and expressed hope that they will live up to "their end of the bargain". Speculation was rife, said the article, "on the relationship between Hashem and the Americans in light of his statements during the war which predicted that US forces would overrun Baghdad within five to 15 days". It added that the Americans "might seek the help of Hashem in combating the resistance operations in return for a speedy release".
This was an occasion for Al-Quds Al-Arabi's editor, Abdel- Bari Atwan, to assess the decision of Iraqi officials, wanted by the United States since the fall of Baghdad in April, to give themselves up. In his 20 September column, "Surrender of the General" Atwan put it this way: "it's shameful by all means. We were deceived by these people and their demagogic statements on fighting until death in defence of the homeland, in the battle of honour and dignity. When disaster struck, each one of them thought of nothing except his own personal safety as they sought the American detention centres.
"We can understand why Mohamed Said Al-Sahhaf sought refuge in Abu Dhabi and we try to empathise with Tarek Aziz and his surrender after illness took its toll. But what I have difficulty understanding is the minister of defence's decision to hand himself over in return for a personal, cheap and humiliating price: having his name struck off the most wanted list."
As the Iraqi resistance operations escalated this week, killing three American soldiers and one Iraqi, the role and future of the coalition's occupying forces continued to be a major issue in headlines, editorials and political analyses. While many editorials expressed admiration for the operations, this discourse seemed to take new forms other than support.
Under the telling title, "Iraq and the ghost of Vietnam", Hussein Abu-Orabi in the independent Jordanian Al-Arab Al- Youm argued that "the national resistance has passed the stage of shock that usually follows any occupation, and has turned the US strategy upside down, dashing the hopes of Bush and his administration of controlling Iraq."
Days before the opening of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) and World Bank meeting in Dubai, the Iraqi Interim Governing Council's announcement in the EAU city -- that the American-appointed administration was opening up all sectors of the economy to foreign investors -- gave the meetings a political hue. This started, albeit a bit sheepishly, with the Arab press' emphasis on Israel's participation and the hoisting of the Israeli flag in this Gulf country for the first time.
The mood was best captured by Talal Salman, editor of the independent Lebanese daily As-Safir in his 22 September column, "On the road, Iraq for sale and oil for the occupier". "The most important item on display in Dubai's market right now, and against the will of its people, is Iraq, all of Iraq... The American governor sent a few of the 'ministers' he appointed to form the 'interim governing council', to the [IMF/ World Bank] meetings where the tycoons and magnates... are assembling, to offer Iraq for sale! Just like that and with full honesty, the 'minister' of finance in occupied Iraq, Kamel Al- Kilani, announced that total foreign ownership in all sectors is allowed in Iraq. But Al-Kilani, who rang the bell announcing the start of the auction, did not forget the American governor's counsel and announced clearly that everything in Iraq is for sale, except the oil." Questioning the legitimacy of both the chief American administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer and Al- Kilani, in giving away Iraq in Dubai, Salman argued that Iraq under the occupation, with a destroyed infrastructure and a hungry population, is "too weak to be a partner or even a decision-maker in any deal that is made".
Following weeks of front page ad campaigning that preceded the broadcasting last week of Iraq's former Minister of Information Mohamed Said Al-Sahhaf's serialised interview on the Abu Dhabi TV station, which attracted millions of Arab viewers, the first part came as a disappointment to many. Al- Hayat described the show, called "Al-Sahhaf's War", in this headline: "the night Al-Sahhaf's star dimmed" while the Kuwaiti Al-Watan daily predictably lashed out at both the former minister and the TV station in Sadek Badr's column, "We heard nothing but lies!" "He hasn't changed," wrote Badr. "[Al- Sahhaf] remains the lying parrot of the Saddam regime. He didn't utter one word or offer one piece of information that viewers could believe while watching 'Al-Sahhaf's War' in Abu Dhabi TV. It should have been called 'Al-Sahhaf's lies'."
Spain's indictment in the ongoing story of Tayseer Allouni, a Syrian-born Spaniard and ace Al-Jazeera TV reporter, received even more space this week following the release of a 700-page indictment which accuses Allouni of being affiliated with Al- Qa'eda. The allegations were received with shock in the Arab press most of which devoted front page space and inside editorials and columns to the Allouni case. The editor of the widely circulated London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat, Abdel- Rahman Al-Rashed, might have surprised his readers by apparently coming to Allouni's defence. "The prosecutor claims that Allouni paid money to members of Al-Qa'eda. If this is true, then it's justified and acceptable, in my view, in light of the difficult circumstances the Al-Jazeera correspondent has been forced to work in. Many reports and tapes are not given to reporters for free and some [press] institutions turn a blind eye and allow their correspondents to pay money to obtain such documents. And what Al-Jazeera broadcast during that period was worth a price -- if indeed payments were made -- for its journalistic values... Allouni was also justified in his dangerous mission back then, dealing as he did with members of Al- Qa'eda, as long as it didn't include carrying weapons or harming any of the warring parties. He had every right to mix with high-ranking officials of the network in several countries... his mission demands that he remains in touch with them and to maintain a good relationship with his sources, even if that seems too intimate a relationship in the eyes of the prosecutors."
In the same issue, Ahmed Al-Rebei' wrote "Tayseer Allouni's innocence", a column in which he attacked unnamed correspondents from various Arabic TV stations "who are not innocent of the charge of misleading public opinion and who attempt to impose twisted facts. This triggers several questions about the dishonest relationship between them and the profession to which they belong. And it is clear that the way they chose to defend the Taliban or Saddam Hussein's regime on some satellite channels triggers important questions on the honesty and objectivity of some."
The independent Algerian press went on strike on 22 September, protesting against what it called government pressure -- such as demands for the newspapers to pay off their debts to the government -- and the hounding of its editors which included the brief arrest of the French-language Le Matin's editor last month. The independent Al-Khabar's 21 September front page splashed a huge photo of three faces in see, hear and speak no evil poses announcing the strike. "The nature of the conflict between the independent press and the state runs deeper than the announced financial issues," wrote the paper's S Hafeez. "The arduous birth of the independent press comes during one of the most difficult times in the political and economic progress of Algeria. This has definitely placed the independent press in the heart of political calculations witnessed in this country from the 1990s till this day."
Algeria's power struggle made the cover story of Al-Hayat's weekly supplement Al-Wassat. The story argued that "one issue has been resolved in the coming presidential elections in Algeria, that the president will be a civilian and not from the military establishment which has underlined its ability to read and deal with external political changes."
The article listed the names of three people whom it said are likely to contest the April 2004 presidential elections: Ali Ben- Flis, who resigned from his post as prime minister and who is now secretary-general of the National Liberation Front (FLN), former Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Taleb Al-Ibrahimi, a highly respected politician, and Abdallah Gaballah, head of the Islamic-oriented Al-Islah Party.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi: http://www.alquds.co.uk
Asharq Al-Awsat: http://www.asharqalawsat.com
Al-Hayat: http://www.daralhayat.com
As-Safir: http://www.assafir.com
Al-Arab Al-Youm http://alarab-alyawm.net/
Al-Khabar: http://www.elkhabar.com
