By our own hands
The national press this week criticised the continued US presence in Iraq, while the independent and opposition papers highlighted new arrests of anti-war activists, writes Aziza Sami
The editors-in-chief of the national dailies Al- Ahram and Al-Akhbar this week directed sharp criticism at the continued US presence in Iraq, describing it as illegitimate. The editor of the national magazine Al-Mussawar, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, also argued that Egypt "is above" being accused of recognising the legitimacy of the Anglo- American occupation, if it decides to deal with whatever transitional government is formed in Iraq, since the aim will be to restore order to the chaos created by the US there. Ibrahim Se'da editor-in- chief of the weekly newspaper Akhbar Al-Yom also launched a scathing attack on the Iraqi Ba'ath Party, demanding that it be "banned" from any future government in Iraq.
THE ISRAELI NEXUS: The banners of Al- Ahram and Al-Akhbar on 15 April highlighted the summit held in Cairo between President Hosni Mubarak and King Hussein of Jordan, which called for "the withdrawal of foreign troops and the formation of a government chosen by the Iraqi people". Al-Ahram's headline on 16 April stressed that there is "An Arab Consensus that Iraqis should rule their country", while Al-Akhbar emphasised that "No Arab country agrees that foreigners should rule Iraq". The rapprochement between Egypt and Syria in the face of US threats to Damascus was also reflected in the banners of both dailies, with Al-Ahram stating that "Mubarak and Assad exchange Messages on War in Iraq, and the Campaign of Accusations Against Syria".
On 15 April, Al-Ahram's Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Nafie wrote in his daily column, "Facts" published on the newspaper's back-page, that "The public- relations campaigns of the American media empire will not remove the impact of war from the people's psyches, even in countries allied to the US. If America wants to revert to peace, justice, democracy and human rights, we expect it to undertake actions transforming these concepts into reality". Nafie on 16 April also wrote of the need to help Iraqis set up a national government made up "of their own people", and not headed by an American governor.
On 17 April Nafie wrote of Syria, "which is not like Iraq" and "its targeting by the extreme right- wing in Washington, which will promote neither the interests nor the image of the US to the Arabs or to the world." Nafie wrote that "the only benefactor from creating a crisis with Damascus is Israel, which has already accused Syria of having chemical weapons smuggled from Iraq last December. If Washington is led astray by these accusations, it will lose any credibility as regards its war on Iraq"
Al-Akhbar's Editor-in-Chief Galal Dowidar also launched a sharp attack on the US, writing on 15 April that "It is not in doubt that the US, suffering from a complex born of its lack of a history or of a human civilisation, shows little sympathy, or interest, in preserving culture or the semblances of life in Iraq. Iraq's real problems will now grow and become worse, both for the state and people, as well as for the occupying forces. This will mar the invaders' preoccupation with devouring the 'oil cake'. The Middle East will suffer from Israel's crimes, which are intensifying because of America's conspiracy with it"
Dowidar also expressed the view that American plans were congruent with Israel's objectives in a column published on 16 April, whose title was, "We have become a target for Israel".
Editor-in-chief of the national weekly magazine Al-Mussawar, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, wrote that "[in the face of chaos and plunder] it is no excuse to say that the Americans were not prepared for what happened. They embarked upon their campaign in Iraq solely to obtain a quick and easy military victory. Iraq's future, and who will rule it in the transitional phase, remains a matter of sharp contention within the US administration. The hawks think that what worked in Afghanistan will work in Iraq: a tribal, sectarian system of self-rule in the Iraqi provinces that will help the US control Iraq by splitting up its demography and political unity. The consequence of this mistaken assumption is that civil war could erupt, as is obvious from rising tensions between Kurds and Arabs in the north, and growing opposition by Iraqis to the Pentagon's partiality for Ahmed Chalabi. Chalabi, who is not above suspicion, has been sentenced for fraud and is seen as no more than a disreputable American stooge accused of embezzling aid offered by Washington to support the Iraqi opposition."
Ahmed continued that "Saudi Arabia's call for a meeting between Arab countries in Riyadh is an important opportunity, enabling the Arabs to assist the Iraqi people, even if only by a transitional arrangement not accepted by everyone. Egypt, which still has an embassy in Baghdad, must assist the Iraqi people, even if only by sending a peace-keeping force under UN auspices. Cairo is above being intimidated by the stupid charge that helping the Iraqi people under these conditions constitutes acceptance of the legitimacy of the American invasion."
The theme of an "Israeli-Iraqi nexus" as the objective of current American policy in Iraq was also reflected in the weekly article written in Al- Ahram on 15 April by prominent Islamist writer Fahmy Howeidy. Howeidy cited former CIA Director James Wolsey's recent speech at UCLA in the United States, in which he said that America was embarking on "the fourth world war" against "the mullahs of Iran, the fascists in Iraq and Syria, and Islamist extremists like Al-Qa'eda. In the process, America would "stand by" democratic movements (and against repressive governments) in the Middle East," Wolsey said .
Howeidy highlighted the relationship between the "liberation" of Iraq and Israel's interests by quoting Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery, who described the American military ruler of Iraq, Jay Garner, as "a Zionist general" and an article in the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper, which described him as the first ruler of Iraq who "recognises Israel". Howeidy also mentioned reported plans to resume pumping Iraqi oil from Mosul to Haifa, and the strong ties cultivated between Jewish organisations in America and some Iraqi opposition figures, such as Ahmed Chalabi and Kanan Makiya. Howeidy concluded that there was "a difference between hopes and designs and what will actually happen. Groups have formed within Iraq calling for armed resistance against the Americans. Those who speak of normalisation and Israeli infiltration are ignorant of the nature of the Iraqi people and the depth of their Arab and Islamic affiliation."
Nabil Zaki, editor-in-chief of the left-wing opposition weekly Al-Ahali, writing on 16 April on "The New Baghdad Pact", said that "now that Iraq is occupied, Israeli voices are demanding the conclusion of a new Baghdad Pact conspiring against any Arab country that defies the American project in the region and liquidating the Palestinian problem in favour of a greater Israel". Zaki wrote that "the demand is no longer that Israel withdraw from Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese lands, but that Syria withdraw from Lebanon! Members of the US Congress have moved to revive what is known as the 'act for the accountability' of Syria, paving the way for enforcing sanctions on Damascus."
Zaki continued that "Israeli analysts see in Bush's statements on Syria a real 'turning point' in the US's position. American officials now want to see a new Middle East and different Arab 'behaviour' that is submissive to American and Israeli demands. Moderate voices in the Arab world now appear, to America and Israel, to be 'extremely militant' when they seek to deal with America as allies, and not as subordinates implementing Zionist plans in the region."
NOT A MERE GEOGRAPHIC EXPANSE: The banner of the national weekly newspaper Akhbar- Al-Yom on 19 April read that "Egypt and Neighbouring Countries assert the Necessity of Protecting Iraq's Independence." Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Se'da wrote of "the despotism of the Ba'ath Arab Unified Socialist Party, which was an awful catastrophe, not just for the Iraqi people, but for all Arab countries that suffered from it. I do not think the Iraqi people's affairs will improve if they allow torturers affiliated to the Ba'ath Party to continue their destructive activities. I hope the hatred of the Iraqi people (for Ba'athists) translates into decisive and quick decisions bringing to account every Ba'athist who violated Iraqi rights and banning the Ba'ath Party and its activities in the awaited Constitution. The first decision by Germany after its defeat [in World War II] was to ban the Nazi Party and bring its members to trial. Nazi, or Ba'athist, there is no difference: they are the two sides of one coin!"
In the independent weekly newspaper Al- Osbou' on 21 April editor-in-chief, Mustafa Bakry, wrote that "Ahmed Al-Garallah, editor of the Kuwaiti paper Al-Siyasa, has started a campaign paving the way for an attack on Syria by comparing Bashar Al-Assad to Saddam Hussein and inciting the Americans to change this pan-Arab regime. We know that American embassies are at work, and that Kuwaiti delegations are touring the region, buying off journalists that offer themselves to the highest bidder. But you need only to look at such writers, and at the fortunes they have amassed and their past records, to know why they are selling out the history of their own nation."
Bakry also wrote that after Iraq and Syria, Egypt would be next in line, referring to the criticisms directed by the European Parliament to sentences passed on homosexuals in the famous "Queen Boat" case in Cairo. The retort by the head of the People's Assembly, Fathi Sorour, to the European Parliament, had been highlighted in Al-Ahram on April 20. Bakry wrote that, "I do not find it far- fetched to suppose that armies will one day be positioned, and warships proceed, armed with UN Security Council resolutions, against an Egypt that 'persecutes homosexuals'!"
Al-Osbou's coverage took the view that Saddam Hussein had been betrayed by the Iraqi military command at the highest levels, publishing a report that appeared in the New York Times in which eye- witnesses in the Sunni neighbourhood of Al- Azzamiya in Baghdad spoke of how Saddam had prayed among them on 9 April, the day Baghdad fell, and how his tone indicated that he knew that mass desertions had occurred amongst his troops.
Al-Ahali published news of the arrests of six anti- war activists in Egypt, saying that the security forces had arrested three of them when they were on their way to the Journalists' Syndicate in Cairo. The security forces, Al-Ahali wrote, had also attacked the Al-Horreya coffee shop in Bab Al-Louq, dragging Ramez Gihad, a law student, into the street, beating him up and speeding him off in a car to an unknown destination. Wa'il Wafik was also arrested in the same manner, while reporter Ibrahim El-Sahhari, formerly arrested then released, once again "received a visit at dawn" by security forces, which took him in for questioning.
Al-Ahali also reported on a meeting, whose title was 'Solidarity', where prominent public figures of a mostly secular and leftist orientation lambasted autocratic regimes that "surrender their own people". The paper highlighted the fact that "Afghanistan is Welcoming Normalisation with Israel," and published a news item posing the question, "Will General Garner attend the upcoming Arab Summit?"
The independent weekly Sout Al-Umma's banners on 19 April read: "British Sources say: Saddam is in Cuba with $20 million;" "The Sexual Hideouts of Saddam Hussein;" and "A Surprise from London: Saddam Crossed the Syrian Border with the Knowledge of the American Forces and Flew to Cuba". Sout Al-Umma also reported a "Complaint to the Prosecutor-General: Stop the Torture of Opponents of the American Aggression". Editor-in- Chief Adel Hamouda wrote an article entitled "The season for playing with Arab regimes", in which he wrote of the Zionist lobby's plans to "enforce" regime change in the Middle East under the guise of spreading democracy.
"Most Arab regimes were keen to recommend to Saddam Hussein that he leave Iraq in order to save his nation. Why don't they now direct this recommendation to themselves? Why not undertake democratic reforms, by their own hands, and not those of the Zionist lobby within the Pentagon," Hamouda asked.
A special supplement issued by Sout Al-Umma featured former Iraqi Information Minister Said Al- Sahhaf as a character comparable to certain comedy greats, such as the immensely popular Egyptian actor Ismail Yassin. The supplement also displayed photographs of US President G W Bush as a pin-up girl, with a two-page spread comprising popular jokes about Arab rulers from the late Presidents Nasser and Sadat to the current Gulf rulers.
Al-Arabi the weekly mouthpiece of the Arab Nasserist party on 18 April published banners that read: "Intellectuals respond to President Mubarak: yes, we ask, where is Egypt?" This was in response to the president's statement, published in Al-Ahram on 16 April, in which he had said, "I tell the Arab world: it is not possible every time there is a crisis to ask: where is Egypt? Where is the Agreement for Joint Arab Defence?"
Another banner in Al-Arabi read, "America accuses Egypt of being 'involved' in the manufacture of Syrian chemical weapons," and "An American document: Iraq a tactical objective: Egypt, the Grand Prize." Al-Arabi also highlighted the arrests of Egyptian anti-war activists, publishing a detailed eye-witness account of the torture of Amr Abdel- Latif, Ramez Gihad and Mahmoud Hassan at the Lazoghli State Security building.
Elsewhere in Al-Arabi, retired Ambassador Amin Youssri wrote an article entitled, "It is a legitimate question, Mr President: Where is Egypt?" Youssri detailed conversations he had heard, not only among 'intellectuals' but also among laymen, including porters and vendors, who had all asked if Egypt could undertake steps in the face of the successive American onslaughts on the Arab countries. The general perception was that nothing would be done, Youssri wrote. He then argued that this passivity went against the grain of public opinion, which at all levels saw "Egypt as a part of the Arab nation, by virtue of its geography and history".
Youssri wrote that "Egypt cannot be what you imagine it is, or what you want deliberately to turn it into: a geographic expanse seeking material profit. It is not a commercial project to be filled with commodities. Even this objective, you have failed to attain. The role of Egypt is larger," Youssri continued, "than that of a trader buying, selling, and determining his relationships by who pays most. You have to be aware, sir, of the catastrophe that has happened in Iraq, and the 'roadmap' put in place by the Christian right and by the Zionists whose outreach will be all the Arab capitals, from Baghdad to Ramallah, and Damascus to Riyad."
Youssri concluded that, "if you are of the view that you should abandon your 'Arab' affiliation, then that is your business. But Egypt's Arabism is not your private possession -- you are not free to do with it what you will. Egypt's role in defending the Arab region is ordained by its position. Salahuddin, and (late President) Nasser, fought the foreigners, the French and the British, without having to resort to the Treaty for Joint Defence, and without having to look into the coffers to see how much money there was in them. These individuals acted as they did without asking the party aggressed upon to pay first, because they could see that an aggression on any part of the Arab world is an aggression on Egypt. This is how Salahuddin and Nasser perceived it; it is how porters and bread-vendors perceive it, and this is their understanding of the phrase 'Egypt first'. What a difference there is between this understanding and that of the current ruling party: it is the difference between those who know Egypt's stature and role, and those who see in the country nothing but a mere geographic expanse."
On 21 April, Al-Ahram and Al-Akhbar highlighted the "Arab tour" made by President Mubarak to Syria, Bahrain, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, "whose aim" was, Al-Ahram's smaller headline read, "to formulate a shared vision for reinforcing Arab potential, and for coordinating positions vis-à- vis Iraq and Palestine". Both dailies published on their front pages the news that "Washington plans to maintain a permanent military presence in Iraq," Al- Ahram adding the phrase, "and long-term relations with the incoming (Iraqi) government".
Al-Ahram also published a statement by its editor-in-chief and head of the journalists syndicate, Ibrahim Nafie, in which he addressed the question of the treatment of journalists during the war on Iraq. Nafie said that he was "surprised" at the arrest, once again, of reporter Ibrahim El- Sahhari, adding that if the reason proved to be "his journalistic work", then the syndicate would "resort to all legal means to have him freed".
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 24 - 30 April 2003 (Issue No. 635)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/635/sc10.htm