Excerpts: Saudi view of the US.Former Iraqi officials and Arab TV.Death
sentence for assassination plot.Arab democratisation?US losing post-war
Iraq. 30 April 2003

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 30 April '03
"By the Rivers of Babylon"
Hussein Shobokshi

QUOTES FROM TEXT:

"another shameful chapter in America's alliance with this war criminal"

"a group of madmen who in the name of a sick political-religious
ideology (Zionism) have managed to hijack America's foreign policy"
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EXCERPTS:

The red carpet will be laid out in the White House ...next week. Sharon, the
Israeli war criminal ... will be in town! He will be the guest of honor at
the May function in Washington DC in celebrating the 55th anniversary of the
creation of Israel.

This will be another shameful chapter in America's alliance with this war
criminal, a relationship that has brought America nothing but mistrust and
resentment from people all over the world. Sharon is supported in Washington
by a group of neo-conservative politicians that have decided to put Israel's
interest above America's ... .

. . .

... a group of madmen who in the name of a sick political-religious ideology
(Zionism) have managed to hijack America's foreign policy threaten and, in
some cases, destroy its relationship with its allies and friends... .

...What the world would like to see is some decent and honest policies from
the Americans, a president to forget about the Jewish lobby, look Israel in
the eye and demand its withdrawal from the occupied land, dismantle its
weapons of mass destruction and stop torturing and killing civilians. Can it
be done? Sure it can. But will it be done? Now that's another question
altogether. America needs to be liberated from the war hawks that have
hijacked its glory. The whole world needs a free and decent American
administration.

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 30 April '03
Wordsmith Sahaf Sought by Al-Arabiya
Muhammad Al-Harbi, Arab News Staff
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"The Al-Arabiya satellite channel ... has offered employment to the
former Iraqi Minister of Information"

"His press conferences were eagerly awaited during the war when he was
called the minister of misinformation."
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EXCERPTS:

DAMMAM, 30 April 2003 - The Al-Arabiya satellite channel has confirmed that
it has offered employment to the former Iraqi Minister of Information
Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf ... he could choose between presenting special
programs or being a political analyst or both ... .

In explaining the offer, the director said that Al-Sahaf had been part of
the former Iraqi government and that because of that, he knew many things of
interest to viewers. He also has wide knowledge and experience that could
help in explaining Iraq's history and discussing the country's future.

... "The channel chose him because he has things to say about Iraq and he is
one of the few Iraqi officials not wanted by the Americans; he is not on the
list of 55 wanted Iraqis."

He commented sarcastically: "It would be great if we could get Saddam
Hussein to work for us." Al-Arabiya is currently featuring Mohammed
Al-Douri, the former Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations, on six live
programs about Iraq, and the channel has plans to hire him as a commentator.

Al-Sahaf is internationally known and many people, especially in the Arab
world, would welcome him as a TV personality. Even President Bush admitted
last week that he sometimes broke off his official meetings so that he could
watch the Iraqi information minister on TV. His press conferences were
eagerly awaited during the war when he was called the minister of
misinformation.

+++JORDAN TIMES 30 April '03:
"3 sentenced to death for assassination plot"
By Rana Husseini

QUOTE FROM TEXT:

" 'We plan to appeal the verdict because we feel that our clients are
innocent and did not commit these acts,' Arafat's defence attorney Misleh
Farar told the Jordan Times."

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EXCERPTS:
AMMAN - The State Security Court on Tuesday sentenced three men to death on
conviction of plotting to kill a senior security official in an attack which
resulted in the death of two people.
The court found Mohammad Arafat, 22, guilty of plotting the attack and
concealing a homemade bomb under the car of Lieutenant Colonel Ali Bourjaq's
wife ... .

The bomb detonated, killing two passersby. The two other defendants ...
sentenced in absentia were found guilty of conspiring to commit a terrorist
act.

Four other men, standing trial in the same case on charges of carrying out
terrorist attacks that led to the loss of life, manufacturing explosive
materials, withholding information from the authorities and offering refuge
to a wanted person, received prison terms ranging from one year with hard
labour to life. ...

. . .

The defendants started yelling "God is great, God is great. You are unjust,"
upon hearing the verdict read out by Presiding Judge Fawaz Bqour.

"We plan to appeal the verdict because we feel that our clients are innocent
and they did not commit this act," Arafat's defence attorney Misleh Farah
told The Jordan Times.

+++JORDAN TIMES 30 April '03:
"America and the challenge of Arab political reform"
Rami G. Khouri

QUOTES FROM TEXT:

"The strange but powerful coalition of American Christian mullahs,
pro-Israeli zealots, populist militants and ascendent neo-conservatives that
has fueled George Bush's assault on Iraq has several aims in mind, related
to oil, Israel, terror, democracy"

"The signs to date, during the past quarter century of occasional
political liberalisation in numerous Arab states, are not very encouraging."

"The coming years will show if Arab societies can achieve stability and
prosperity by moving faster towards Western-style democracies"

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EXCERPTS:
ABU DHABI -
. . . Arab political governance is no longer an Arab issue only. It very
much drives American policy and war making, in the wake of the Sept. 11
terror attacks. The strange but powerful coalition of American Christian
mullahs, pro-Israeli zealots, populist militarists and ascendant
neoconservatives that has fuelled George Bush's assault on Iraq has several
aims in mind, related to oil, Israel, terror, democracy,

[IMRA: This from the most Western commentator!]

American global dominance and weapons of mass destruction. The common
denominator among achieving these goals is regime change in Iraq, combined
with pressure to force fundamental modifications in the political cultures
of other Middle Eastern countries. The key to the security ..., the White
House believes, is a change in the politics of ordinary Arabs, Iranians,
Pakistanis, Turks and others in this troublesome region.

So the Arab people must either address the quality of our political systems,
or the American Marines will do it for us. Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia,
Sudan, Yemen, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries will be important
places to watch in the coming years, to see how citizens and leaders there
respond ... . The Gulf region is even more fascinating ... because its
small emirates and states enjoy a high standard of living, thanks to their
oil and gas revenues and small populations.

We see two different trends in the Gulf. One ...in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and
others, argues that Western-style political participation is neither
relevant nor needed here, because of the long local tradition of patriarchal
culture - citizens are well taken care of by their elders, and leadership
issues are not questioned or discussed in public. Life revolves around
generating economic wealth and growth, with the state ensuring security and
a respect for fundamental human dignities.

The other trend, in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, recognises that
citizens will not forever be satisfied with rising living standards and cars
... . They operate on the correct assumption that materially comfortable
citizens eventually will demand greater political expression, then
participation, then accountability, then power-sharing. Therefore, we
witness the unusual historical phenomenon of monarchical leaders in these
states initiating political reforms, such as introducing elections to the
advisory council in Oman, or this week's referendum in Qatar on a formal
constitution that will create a partly elected parliament.

,,, One hopes that more meaningful breakthroughs will follow today's
gradual, limited steps towards greater citizen rights, constitutionality and
parliamentarianism. The danger is that the current reforms are superficial
and are not intended to promote further genuine democratisation. The signs
to date, during the past quarter century of occasional political
liberalisations in numerous Arab states, are not very encouraging.

Political reforms, elections, parliaments, political parties and greater
press freedoms in many Arab states have not reduced the almost total power
of the executive branches and ruling elites that dominate the modern Arab
security state. The circles of the Arab citizen's political participation
and expression have been widened considerably in recent years; the circle of
real decision-making powers has not. The coming years will show if Arab
societies can achieve stability and prosperity by moving faster towards
Western-style democracies or by tinkering with the traditional patriarchal
systems that use a different means to achieve the same end of stability in
public life and human dignity for the individual citizen.

+++JORDAN TIMES 30 April '03
"Editorial:Holding back the aid"
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"another war, the one that the US is losing and will unequivically
lose, has just begun in Iran."

"The military campaign was ugly, destructive, indiscriminate and
barbaric"

"One of Washingrton's tactics is clearly the monopilisation and
militarisation of human aid."
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FULL TEXT:
THE BOMBS stopped dropping, but another war, the one that the US is losing
and will unequivocally lose, has just begun in Iraq.

[IMRA: This is even-minded Jordan.]
This war risks to match the appalling number of civilian casualties
registered in the US-British military attacks, if "shooting incidents" like
the one that occurred in Fallujah on Monday or Saturday's explosion in
Baghdad continue to claim innocent lives in the dozens.

The military campaign was ugly, destructive, indiscriminate and barbaric
enough. But the US' new war - this time to retain control and continue the
occupation in Iraq, and shape the future of Iraq and the Middle East - is
even worse, though it might appear less violence-intense.

One of Washington's tactics is clearly the monopolisation and militarisation
of humanitarian aid.

[IMRA: Clearly not so.]

There is a lot of frustration and even anger in the corridors of the palaces
of power all across Europe. Accusations are flying back and forth that
Washington is not allowing European shipments, humanitarian flights and
officials to reach Baghdad. Anything and anyone that could be of any help
politically or from a humanitarian point of view is shut off, unless it is
American.

European officials have made no mystery of their frustration at knowing that
planes full of relief items are stuck on the tarmac because the US military
is not authorising them to fly to Iraq.

UN agencies and international NGOs are sounding the alarm on a huge range of
problems and potential catastrophes threatening Iraq and its people as a
result of the war.

Epidemics could be triggered by the lack of chlorine to treat drinking water
in many regions of Iraq. With schools still closed, children are roaming the
streets with not much to do beyond begging or running into some kind of
danger. Tonnes of documents, from birth certificates to university records
and land contracts have gone lost or are being destroyed, in some cases by
US soldiers obviously unaware of their importance.

The Pentagon might have planned the war in great detail. But obviously it
never planned the postwar period.

US leaders had talked a lot about winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis.
That goal is already well beyond their reach.

Dr. Joseph Lerner, Co-Director IMRA