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AP: Recent Events Fuel Arab Ire Toward U.S. ~
Las Vegas Sun ^ | January 10, 2007 at 12:15:14 PST | SALAH NASRAWI ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted on 01/10/2007 1:06:43 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Saddam Hussein's unruly execution, gunbattles in Iraq and U.S. airstrikes on Somalia are increasing hostility toward America in the Arab world and deepening the Shiite-Sunni divide. The conflicts in Iraq and Somalia are not directly connected, but this week's U.S. strikes in the Horn of Africa country are feeding a fear among Sunni Muslim Arabs that a growing campaign is challenging their historic dominance of the Middle East.

In Somalia, the assault is seen as coming from mainly Christian Ethiopia, whose troops swept in to topple the hard-line Islamic Sunni group that had seized control of much of the country. In Iraq, the threat comes from Shiites, brought to power by the U.S. invasion and backed by Iran.

The Ethiopian invasion, "backed completely by the United States and Israel, ... has led to the occupation of a nation that is a member of the Arab League for more than 30 years, yet no one in the Arab world has moved," columnist Fahmi Huweidi wrote Wednesday in the Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

"Anything has become permitted as long as the goal is to strike Islamic radicals, even if it leads to the occupation of an Arab nation and the defiling of its political honor, making it a morsel for the Americans, Ethiopians and Israelis," he said.

The editor in chief of the Islamic Banner, an Egyptian goverment religious newspaper, went further, calling President Bush "Dracula .. thirsty for the blood of Arabs and Muslims."

"He invaded Afghanistan ... then he invaded Iraq. Now I wake up to the news of U.S. forces striking Somalia, killing dozens of Muslims," Mohammed al-Zarqani wrote. "Will Somalia become another Iraq or Afghanistan? The Dracula of the modern age is determined that it will."

Reaction from Arab governments was muted over the American strikes in Somalia this week. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday said "there should be caution in using force against civilians."

Somalia lies on the outer rim of the Arab world, is not connected to the Sunni-Shiite division in the region. But the conflict there adds to the view among some Sunni Arabs that they are under siege - a fear largely fueled by the conflict in Iraq. There has long been a sentiment that the Arab world is flanked by three enemies - Christian Ethiopia from south, Iranian-backed Shiites from the west and Jewish Israel in its midst.

The 2003 U.S.-led war to topple Saddam's Sunni-run regime in Iraq has rekindled the centuries-old divide between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and the suspicions have grown dramatically stronger since Saddam's Dec. 30 execution.

In Friday prayers in the Qatari capital, influential Sunni cleric Sheik Youssef Qaradawi accused Iraq's Shiite government of "a genocide" against Sunnis and appealed to the Sunni world to intervene.

In Saudi Arabia, the religious establishment - rooted in the hard-line Wahhabi stream of Sunni Islam - has stepped up its anti-Shiite rhetoric. Last month, about 30 clerics called on Sunnis around the Middle East to support their brethren in Iraq against Shiites and praised the insurgency. Later, Saudi cleric Abdul Rahman al-Barak declared Shiites around the world to be infidels who should be considered worse than Jews or Christians.

Newspapers and television talk shows, especially in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are filled with anti-Shiite rhetoric. In its latest edition, Egypt's state-owned Rose El-Youssef weekly carried a cover story on Saddam's execution with a banner headline: "Raising the ugly face of Shiites, expanding Iranian influnce in the region."

"Saddam's execution unmasked the Persian hatred against Arabs and revealed the true affiliation of the (Shiite) militia-government in Baghdad," wrote Ghassan Al-Immam in the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat paper Tuesday.

Montasser el-Zayat, a lawyer and former member of the Egyptian militant group Gamaa Islamiya, warned that the sectarian divisions unleashed in Iraq - by the U.S. invasion, in his view - could spark similar splits in other Arab nations.

"The example set in Iraq will spread into other countries in the region," he said in an interview with the Associated Press. "We (in Egypt) have Coptic Christians and Nubians, Algerians and Moroccans have Berbers, and Saudi Arabia has Shiites. What will we do with them?"

Last week, el-Zayat held a memorial ceremony for Saddam at Cairo's Lawyers Syndicate, where several speakers warned of a Shiite-Iranian-American and Israeli conspiracy against Sunnis.

El-Zayat insists Sunnis should rally behind even autocratic governments if necessary to confront the Shiite rise.

"The tyrant who unites the nation and closes its ranks is much better than the weak ruler who is not able to defend the nation," he wrote in the Qatari Al-Raia newspaper.

Some liberal Arab intellectuals warn against Shiite-phobia.

"It is understandable and even justifiable to fear Iran and its policies ... but what is not justified ... is the abusive language and racist expressions which are being used against the Iranians," wrote columnist Hazem Saghiyeh in the Arab daily Al-Hayat.

--


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: arb; geopolitics; islam; jihad; media
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

The MSM might was well be saying D-Day is inflaming German Ire.

The enemy is LOSING and the MSM is spining it as a defeat.

The MSM reports and people die.


21 posted on 01/10/2007 1:21:39 PM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: sticker

I was thinking something more kid-friendly, like Disney...


22 posted on 01/10/2007 1:23:00 PM PST by Little Ray
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Saddam Hussein's unruly execution, gunbattles in Iraq and U.S. airstrikes on Somalia are increasing hostility toward America in the Arab world....

Who gives a $hit?

....and deepening the Shi'ite-Sunni divide.

Sounds OK to me.

23 posted on 01/10/2007 1:24:51 PM PST by expatpat
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Woohoo! My first thought when reading this article. We've scared the Arab world sh!tless with our "invasion" of Somolia, and the speed and precision with which the Ethopians (with out help) destroyed the jihadis.


24 posted on 01/10/2007 1:25:28 PM PST by The Blitherer (I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself. -Reagan)
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To: The Blitherer

Yes, clearly Allah is not happy with them!


25 posted on 01/10/2007 1:27:17 PM PST by expatpat
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To: Little Ray
ok, but can it serve pork rinds?
26 posted on 01/10/2007 1:29:42 PM PST by sticker
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To: Peach

The USA exists, Arabs are mad.

What an earth shattering bit of news!


27 posted on 01/10/2007 1:31:34 PM PST by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marylin vos Savant)
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To: RightResponse
"He invaded Afghanistan ... then he invaded Iraq. Now I wake up to the news of U.S. forces striking Somalia, killing dozens of Muslims," Mohammed al-Zarqani wrote. "Will Somalia become another Iraq or Afghanistan? The Dracula of the modern age is determined that it will."

Of course muslims were just minding their own business when the US started killing them off. They weren't doing anything in Somalia to warrent being killed off, right?/sar

28 posted on 01/10/2007 1:31:58 PM PST by calex59
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To: Peach

The treasonous liberal media cannot go lower than that or can they? They keep on surprising us all the time. How stupid do they think we are?


29 posted on 01/10/2007 1:33:53 PM PST by jveritas (Support The Commander in Chief in Times of War)
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To: The Blitherer

I suppose we should have asked first, huh?

Hahahahahaha!


30 posted on 01/10/2007 1:34:52 PM PST by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marylin vos Savant)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Logic: The recent crackdown in Bagdhad was against a Sunni militia, so at least the other 80% of Iraq would applaud. Ditto for the hanging of Sadaam, which was not done by us, BTW. Are Somali's Arab? Either way, Ethiopia acted so they approve, the Somalis welcomed them in.

So how do they figure these moves make Arabs dislike the US any more or less?

31 posted on 01/10/2007 1:35:05 PM PST by Williams
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

"but what is not justified ... is the abusive language and racist expressions which are being used against the Iranians,"



Getting a little taste of their own medicine.


32 posted on 01/10/2007 1:36:01 PM PST by wolfcreek (Please Lord, May I be, one who sees what's in front of me.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

So laughable and predictable...


33 posted on 01/10/2007 1:37:09 PM PST by 38special (I mean come'on.)
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To: tobyhill
AP hasn't commissioned that just yet!
34 posted on 01/10/2007 1:40:54 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: sticker

It WILL serve pork... pork rinds, pork chops, sausages, etc.


35 posted on 01/10/2007 1:42:02 PM PST by Little Ray
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To: Little Ray

BBQ has to also have BBQ and cold beer


36 posted on 01/10/2007 1:43:35 PM PST by sticker
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To: tobyhill
This inflames my anger:

*****************************************

"A leader of a prominent Shiite group accused the Bush administration on Wednesday of reneging on pledges to hand over power to local political groups in Iraq and blamed Americans for failing to secure Iraq after Saddam's fall and 'plunging the country into an unending cycle of violence.' "

*****************************

That's from your link by the way!

37 posted on 01/10/2007 1:45:57 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: tobyhill

He is likely on the Iranian payroll as well as the AP's!


38 posted on 01/10/2007 1:47:23 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: jveritas; Peach; NormsRevenge; Grampa Dave; SunkenCiv; blam; TexKat; Marine_Uncle; Allegra

I can hardly wait for the AP report on what the President says tonight and the (D)emocrats response.....barf....I need to go do something positive....


39 posted on 01/10/2007 1:51:58 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Arab ire? Or MSM ire?

...has led to the occupation of a nation that is a member of the Arab League for more than 30 years, yet no one in the Arab world has moved," columnist Fahmi Huweidi wrote...

If I understand this correctly, the AP disapproves and Arab newspaper columnists disapprove and...? CNN and al-Reuters, of course, probably AFP and certainly al Jazeera - these aren't "people" and they aren't "Arab," they're media.

40 posted on 01/10/2007 1:53:20 PM PST by Billthedrill
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