Posted on 01/31/2002 2:54:08 PM PST by vannrox
Thursday January 31 11:16 AM ET Arab Press Lashes at Bush Comments
By MARIAM FAM, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - President Bush's denunciation of Iran and Iraq as part of an ``axis of evil'' brought widespread criticism Thursday in the Mideast, where this week's State of Union raised concerns that the U.S.-led war would be spreading.
Iraq's official Al-Iraq newspaper called the United States ``the sole evil on earth,'' and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said it was an honor to be targeted by ``the most hated Satan in the world.''
Iran's foreign minister canceled a trip to New York for an international economic forum in protest of Bush's remarks, according to Iranian television.
In his State of the Union address Tuesday, Bush said Iran, Iraq and North Korea pose a growing threat because of their support for terrorism and their efforts to build or acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Pyongyang did not immediately respond. But South Korea and Japan, its uneasy neighbors, were nervous over Bush's speech, saying it hiked up tensions.
``It cast an ominous dark cloud over Northeast Asia, the Korean peace process in particular,'' said Baek Hak-soon, a security expert in Seoul's independent Sejong Institute.
To observers in Seoul, Bush's speech reaffirmed what they saw as a widening gap between the United States and its ally South Korea over how to deal with North Korea, a totalitarian regime that U.S. officials say is armed with long-range missiles and up to 5,000 tons of biochemical weapons - and possibly a few crude nuclear devices.
``I had an impression that Bush has become over-confident after receiving so much international support for the U.S. war against terror,'' said Hiroshi Kimura, political science professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies. ``It may not be so wise for Japan to go too far in following the United States.''
Some prominent newspapers in Europe also disparaged the president's comments Thursday.
The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet said in an editorial that Bush's speech suggested a ``go-it-alone approach in a world where the superpower's superior military power can be used anywhere and against anyone.'' The policy, it said, ``will be a serious setback for a civilized and peaceful world community.''
An editorial in Finland's largest daily, Helsingin Sanomat, questioned Bush's linkage of Iran, Iraq and North Korea, pointing out that none of the three are allies.
``North Korea is an impoverished relic of communism, Iran is an Islamic Shiite clerical state, and Iraq is a nonreligious dictatorship,'' it said.
Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan on Wednesday called Bush's speech ``stupid'' and said the U.S. administration was ``the source of evil and aggression toward the whole world.''
The United States has warned Iraq to let in U.N. weapons inspectors, who left in 1998, or face unspecified consequences - a demand Baghdad has so far refused.
Under U.N. resolutions, sanctions imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 can be lifted only after the United Nations is satisfied Baghdad has dismantled its weapons of mass destruction. Iraq says it has done so.
Writing in the leading Lebanese An-Nahar newspaper, Gibran Tueni said Bush's comments show that ``the Afghanistan file is about to be closed and the file of fighting terrorism in the Arab world is about to be wide opened.''
In Syria, the state-run Syria Times said, ``It is hard to understand why the United States prefers to hide the evil face of Israel.''
Across the Mideast and the Muslim world, Washington's perceived bias toward Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been cited as fueling Arab and Muslim anger that leads to anti-U.S. violence.
Bush in his speech singled out as terrorist Hamas and Hezbollah, militant groups many Arabs see as champions of nationalist Palestinian and Lebanese causes.
Iran is a longtime backer of Hezbollah, which fought Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon for years and still strikes Israeli targets in a disputed border area. Hezbollah is widely believed to be linked to 1980s suicide bombings in Lebanon that killed more than 260 Americans.
Iran has condemned the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States and long had opposed Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers. Early in the U.S. war, American officials spoke of better cooperation with Iran. But in the past month, Washington has accused Iran of undermining Afghanistan's new government and been angered by alleged Iranian involvement in an attempt to smuggle weapons to the Palestinians.
We'll fix that. Go get 'em GW!
Nonetheless, the once-frosty relationship between Iran and Arafat appears to have thawed since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000. Iran, which opposes Israel's very existence, is a staunch backer of the intifada, opening its hospitals to wounded Palestinians, training fighters, and rallying support for the up rising.
In April last year, Tehran hosted a conference for 34 Arab and Islamic countries and organizations. All the hard-line Palestinian groups were there as well as Hizbullah. But also attending was a representative of the Palestinian Authority, Salim Al Zeenoun, who admitted that the Oslo Accords had turned out to be "a sandcastle of illusion."
Two months later, Arafat sent a telegram to Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to congratulate him on his re-election.
"We look to all the people of the Islamic world, foremost among them the Muslim Iranian people and their faithful leadership, to support, aid, and assist [Palestine]," Arafat said. He also asked Iran to "work fast to end this bloody and savage war which the Israeli government has been waging for eight solid months."
Israel says that the military alliance between Iran and Arafat and the scheme to smuggle a shipload of weapons to the Palestinian Authority was born at around this time.
Israel's announcement of its seizure of the Karine A coincided with the arrival to the region of US envoy Gen. Anthony Zinni and served to undermine the former US Marine's attempts to help preserve the shaky cease-fire between the Israeli Army and the Palestinians. The timing and the idea of a terror link between Iran, Hizbullah, and the Palestinian Authroity is a little too convenient for some.
"Whether or not the shipment story turns out to be true, it serves Israel's purpose to say there is an alliance between its arch enemies," says Prof. Nizar Hamzeh of the American University of Beirut.
Iran is included on the US State Department's list of terrorism-supporting countries and has been cited as a possible target in the second phase of the "war on terror." Hizbullah is classified by Washington as a terrorist organization and US officials have been quoted as saying that the Shia Muslim organization is second only to the Al Qaeda network of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden on the hit list.
Israel has taken pains to link Arafat with Iran and Hizbullah, sending a delegation of military intelligence officials to Washington to share the evidence of the Palestinian Authority's involvement in the arms shipment.
Israel claims the architect of the smuggling operation was Imad Mughnieh, a Lebanese who is thought to have killed more Americans in terrorist operations than anyone else before Sept. 11. Mr. Mughnieh, who appears on the FBI's most wanted list, is believed to have headed a special operations section of Hizbullah run under the guidance of Iranian intelligence.
Mughnieh stands accused of a multitude of anti-American attacks and kidnappings. They include the bombing of the US Marine barracks at Beirut airport in 1983, in which 241 American servicemen perished; the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985, in which a US navy diver was killed; and the kidnappings of dozens of Westerners in war-torn Beirut of the late 1980s.
The US has said that the evidence provided by Israel is "compelling" and has demanded an "urgent" and "full explanation" from the Palestinian leader.
Arafat's growing isolation from his own Palestinian people as well as the international community could give some credence to the suspected new relationship with Iran.
"Arafat's running out of options," says Professor Hamzeh.
Attempting to wipe out Hamas and Islamic Jihad as well as other Palestinian groups that want to continue the intifada would spark a civil war, he says. The Israeli government has declared Arafat "irrelevant" and appears to no longer consider him a serious negotiating partner.
"What options does he have left, except to strike a military/political deal with Iran which would allow Hizbullah access to the Palestinian territories and ease tensions with Islamic Jihad and Hamas," Hamzeh says.
"Ayatollah Khamenei said it was an honor to be targeted by "the most hated Satan on earth"."
Hey, we've been promoted from "Most Mildly Disliked Satan on Earth"!
This stuff is coming from a bunch who found it most expedient to just roll over and let the Nazis take over. Clearly we made a mistake in not de-nazi-fying Norway (they were a "victim nation", and then compounded the error by letting them into NATO.
These people owe their biological existence to the taxpayers of the United States. How dare they question our contribution to civilization.
Good. I hope they're so pissed-off that they can't even see straight.
What a laugh.
I wonder why we don't see people from around the world flocking to immigrate into their countries, the way we see them lining up to get into the United States?
Who's really hated?
Some of these people are so detached from reality, they'd declare victory whilst standing alone on a pile of rubble.
Thank you, I really needed the laughter today. :)
The Egyptians have a huge monument and a military parade every year celebrating their destruction in the Yom Kippur war. Since they advanced into the Siani they felt they won, even though Sharon had an unopposed road to Cairo before him.
Ragheads are in a different reality than us, one where logic is frowned upon.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.