Arab world riven by fury and despair

As American forces tighten their grip in Baghdad, much of the Arab world appears reluctant to accept the inevitable fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Some are refusing to believe the news or are sinking into quiet despair.

Some commentators were clinging to a vain hope that the Iraqi leader may have one final masterstroke up his sleeve, while militants view suicide attacks as the Arab world's only chance of escape from American domination.

For many in the Middle East, the invasion of Iraq is seen as a further humiliation of Arabs and Muslims, comparable to the defeat at the hands of Israel in 1967.

But the sense of humiliation is mitigated by a belief that Iraqi forces have put up a much stronger fight, especially in Baghdad, than has been acknowledged in the west.

The suffering of Iraqi civilians has become one of the main themes in the Arab media's war coverage.

"This is no longer a war against Saddam and his regime, if it ever was," wrote Essam al-Ghalib, war correspondent of the Jeddah-based Arab News, in a report published yesterday. "It has become a war against the Iraqi people."

The report described the death of Sami Osama, a truck driver, who was trying to deliver tomatoes through the Iraqi town of Sanawa when he arrived at an American checkpoint. He did not understand the instructions given in English by the soldiers and they shot him dead.

Although hostility towards US policies in the region is widespread - "I am starting to hate America after I used to love it," Fahd Saleh, a 38-year-old Saudi civil servant told Reuters yesterday - such hostility is not new.

"In the Arab world, there is a classical, traditional enemy," said Khalid al-Tarrah, the Kuwaiti spokesman in London. "This traditional enemy has always been the west or the Americans. This is one vision that always existed in the Arab mind."

Analogies with the defeat of 1967 are probably wrong, according to Hani Shukrallah, managing editor of al-Ahram Weekly in Cairo.

"In 1967 the expectations were enormous," he said. "We never imagined defeat, let alone a battle that was finished in six days with no resistance.

"This time, the surprise has been the level of Iraqi resistance. Expectations were not high and the hope was that Iraq could keep the battle going long enough for some other element to intervene and end the war."

Another crucial influence on the Arab psyche, he believes, is the strength of the anti-war movement in western countries. "This has challenged the whole structure of how people sense their national humiliation," he said. "It has made them feel less isolated, less targeted as Arabs and Muslims."

Others disagree. Samir Ragab, editor of al-Gomhuria, an Egyptian daily, yesterday lamented that Baghdad's resistance was crumbling before the world's only superpower and called for guerrilla war against the invaders.

"The only solution lies in the armed struggle and martyrdom bombers until the aggressors are compelled to withdraw in disgrace," he wrote in a column.

A new audio tape attributed to Osama bin Laden also urges suicide attacks and calls on Muslims to rise up against Arab governments that support the war against Iraq.

"Do not be afraid of their tanks and armoured personnel carriers. These are artificial things," the voice said.

"If you start suicide attacks you will see the fear of Americans all over the world. Those people who cannot join forces in jihad should give financial help to those mojahedin who are fighting against US aggression.

"The United States has attacked Iraq and soon it will also attack Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Sudan. The attacks in Saudi Arabia and Egypt will be against Islamic movements there," the voice on the tape says.

In Tunis, Ali Findouli, a 55-year-old shop owner, said: "The Arab nation is tasting another defeat. I have a bitter taste in my mouth."

In Cairo, Sabri al-Aissawi, 40, said he was sure Iraqis were fighting back against the US troops. "The Iraqis will not let them in easily. They are hitting them hard," he told Reuters.

Kuwait, along with other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman - is insisting that Iraqis "should run the affairs of their entire country".

Although several GCC members have given tacit or actual support to the US-led invasion, all are concerned about continuing American involvement in Iraq.



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