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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON MIDDLE EAST 
 
             Editorial Commentary on Iraq 
 
-- "Darkness in Iraq" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Odwan writes on the back-page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(06/06):  "The perpetrators of the sectarian crimes 
committed in Baghdad and Basra these days belong to 
the culture of the American-British invasion.  In 
fact, even before the occupation, there was an imposed 
sectarian division brought about by lines of latitude: 
Kurdish north, Shiite south and Sunni center.  This 
division was imposed by Washington and London air 
embargo since 1991.  It is the basis of the crimes 
that are now being committed on sectarian backdrops. 
Rumsfeld may be able to exonerate his troops from the 
massacres of Haditha and Ishaqi just as he did when 
the torture scandal of Abu Ghraib prison broke out. 
But he cannot exonerate himself or his troops from 
this daily episode of beheadings, attacks on mosques 
and igniting sectarian dissension.  He cannot do that 
because he blessed and organized them.  These crimes 
are not on the list of his mistakes, rather a 
deliberate and planned action.  This darkness that is 
enveloping Iraq is designed by the gang of neo- 
conservatives who deserve to be taken to international 
criminal court..  Iraq needs an international fire 
brigade, an international Interpol, a campaign 
launched by the international community against the 
American-British occupation, a campaign of 
denunciation and moral, material and humanitarian 
accountability for all the crimes that have been 
committed against the Iraqi people under the 
occupation..  What Iraq needs is not to continue 
Bush's political process, but an all out war against 
this darkness that is producing war and crime rats and 
blood-shedders." 
 
-- "Playing with nations and puppets!" 
 
Columnist Mohammad Kawash writes on the back-page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(06/05):  "Centuries after the fall of the Roman 
empire, history is repeating itself, as we see the 
rise of the American empire under the new Caesar with 
a near-madness power that has tempted him to resort to 
the use of force and domination, and to launch wars, 
occupy nations, oppress people and steal their 
fortunes, at a time when peoples and nations no longer 
believe in wars as a method to resolve their disputes. 
Washington has resorted to the law of the jungle to 
settle its scores in Afghanistan and Iraq.  It has 
used the old of method of colonization, a method that 
was buried in the cemetery of history ever since the 
rise of national liberation movements that led people 
to freedom and independence.  The Americans are trying 
to play with nations as they would play with puppets. 
That is why we are now seeing this extensive campaign 
by nations against the United States and its tyranny. 
That is why we are seeing the anti-America flood of 
hatred overtake most continents, all because of the 
madness of power and glory that has inflicted the 
leaders in the White House." 
 
-- "It is truly the beginning of the end" 
 
Daily columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back-page of 
centrist, independent Arabic daily Al-Ghad (06/05): 
"The massacre committed by the American forces in 
Haditha brought back to mind the massacre of Mai Lai 
in Vietnam in March 1968, which is denoted in history 
as the beginning of the moral collapse of the American 
intervention in Vietnam and the expansion of the anti- 
Vietnam war sentiments in America and the world. 
Since the beginning, the U.S. administration rejected 
any comparison between Vietnam and Iraq.  Moreover, it 
wanted its involvement in Iraq to be a declaration 
about surpassing the Vietnam complex.  Yet, the 
intervention in Iraq does not only recall the Vietnam 
model, but the comparison between the two makes the 
intervention in Iraq all the more politically 
devastating.  In Vietnam, the justification was 
stronger.  After all, there was a universal Cold War 
and the American army had to support its allies and 
prevent the fall of southern Vietnam in the hands of 
Communism.  What has the American intervention in Iraq 
accomplish?  America's only friends in Iraq are the 
allies of Tehran, America's number one enemy, and 
instead of wiping out terrorism, the occupation turned 
Iraq into an arena for terrorism..  What remained was 
the 'noble' mission of liberating the people of Iraq 
from dictatorship.  We stand now seeing American 
soldiers kill Iraqi families with women and children 
to avenge the killing of a colleague of theirs who 
died in an explosion in that area..  Of course, tens 
of Iraqis are brutally killed every day by various 
militias and terrorist groups.  But these are wanted 
criminals sought out by law and justice, which are 
represented by the American forces.  So how does the 
American official allow himself to compare by saying 
that what the terrorists are doing is more brutal!" 
 
      Editorial Commentary on Palestinian Issues 
 
-- "Protecting Jordan and Palestine" 
 
Chief Editor Ayman Safadi writes on the back-page of 
centrist, independent Arabic daily Al-Ghad (06/06): 
"The situation in Palestine is going from bad to 
worse.  The Israeli Prime Minister is moving towards 
the unilateral demarcation of Israel's borders.  The 
Palestinian government is providing him with the 
tools, and the Palestinian political chaos is 
facilitating the Israeli task.  Jordan is going to be 
the worst affected by the situation that will result 
from this status quo.  Ehud Olmert's success in his 
schemes will mean killing off the option of the 
Palestinian state, and this in turn will revive 
proposals for resolving the Palestinian issue at 
Jordan's expense.  Subsequently, the entire situation 
in the region will blow up.  Neither will the 
Palestinians accept to be usurped of their right to 
their state, nor will the Jordanians accept the 
establishment of a Palestinian state in their 
homeland..  The Palestinian internal affairs are 
Jordan's internal affairs..  What the Hamas government 
does in Palestine has direct effect on Jordan's 
security.  Logic says that Jordan must move from being 
influenced to being the influencer.  This does not 
mean that Jordan should compete with the Palestinian 
government over running the Palestinian affairs..  But 
the Jordanian government is responsible for protecting 
Jordan's interests.  It is a responsibility that 
precludes that Jordan does not pay the price for 
Israel's expansionist and colonialist aspiration or 
for the Palestinian government's political chaos. 
Such an argument must not remain within the confines 
of theories of sovereignty and not intervening in 
others' affairs.  The Palestinian government 
intervenes in Jordanian affairs in terms of the fact 
that its decisions and policies are going to affect 
Jordan as much as the Palestinians.  This gives 
justification for Jordan's intervention in Palestinian 
affairs in terms of influencing the Palestinian 
government's decisions and policies..  This is not a 
call to boycott the Hamas government.  On the 
contrary, it is a call for positive political 
engagement with that government through a dialogue 
that is based on a principled stand of rejecting wrong 
policies and supporting those that protect Jordan and 
Palestine." 
 
                Editorial Commentary on 
           Jordan's Draft Anti-Terrorism Law 
 
-- "Let us fight terrorism . without knowing what it 
is! 
 
Columnist Bater Wardam writes on the inside page of 
center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(06/06):  "With regards to the Anti-Terrorism Law that 
the Government prepared last week, one could discuss 
two main issues in it.  The first relates to the 
actual need for such a law, and the second relates to 
the content of the law.  As for the need of an anti- 
terrorism law, many supporters of freedom, democracy 
and human rights . argue that there is available many 
penalty laws that would be sufficient to put a stop to 
terrorism and that there is no need for a new law that 
would contribute going back to martial law, to placing 
many citizens under security suspicions, and to 
restricting many of the cultural, civil and political 
rights..  Personally, I tend to argue in favor of an 
anti-terrorism law, because, as a Jordanian citizen, I 
want to see anyone who plans, finances or threatens to 
undertake terrorist actions against Jordanian citizens 
behind bars.  But, it is also my opinion that the 
current law as presented by the Government is similar 
to swiping a fly.  The most important thing about an 
anti-terrorism law is that it should specify the 
target group and not just place almost all Jordanian 
citizens in the circle of suspicion and constitute a 
legislative tool to curb and oppress many peaceful and 
ordinary political activities supposedly protected by 
the Constitution.  The main deficiency in the proposed 
law is that it lacks a definition for terrorism..  Let 
me be clear about my personal support for developing 
an anti-terrorism law in Jordan, as many others 
countries suffering from this plague have done.  But 
one cannot, under any circumstances or justifications, 
accept the current draft provided by the Government 
because of the absence of a definition for the term 
'terrorism'.  Without such a definition, this law 
might just as well be a sword hanging over the necks 
of all the people, not just the extremists who 
constitute the nucleus of terrorism." 
HALE