Arabs Blame United States for Baghdad Bloodbath
by Edmund Blair
CAIRO - Most Arab media on Tuesday blamed the U.S. failure to provide security in Baghdad for the latest suicide bombings in the Iraqi capital.
They agreed that Washington had only itself to blame for the chaos and said the United States had failed Iraqis by not providing enough security to prevent the devastating attacks that killed 35 people on Monday, the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"Iraq, on the first day of Ramadan, was the scene of a bloodbath and occupation forces are directly responsible for this because of the instability they created in Iraq," wrote the daily al-Khaleej, published in the United Arab Emirates.
Workers clean debris from a destroyed Iraqi police station in the Baghdad suburb of Baya'a, October 28, 2003. Most Arab media on Tuesday blamed the U.S. failure to provide security in Baghdad for the latest suicide bombings in the Iraqi capital. They agreed that Washington had only itself to blame for the chaos and said the U.S. had failed Iraqis by not providing enough security to prevent the devastating attacks that killed 35 people on Monday, the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Photo by Jamal Saidi/Reuters
But, like others, the daily said it feared the bombings, that included an attack on the Red Cross headquarters in Baghdad, would only extend the U.S. occupation that many in the region see as a thinly veiled act of colonialism.
"The bombing which targeted a humanitarian organization... serves the occupation and extends it instead of ending it," the UAE daily said.
Saudi Arabia's leading al-Riyadh newspaper said the United States had to give up its dreams of controlling Iraq and the whole region or face further attacks.
"The political bubble has burst in Baghdad. Will it be followed by other explosions or will the voice of reason prevail over the American dream of hegemony?" the Arabic daily wrote.
Some were outspoken against those who carried out the attacks that cost the lives of dozens of Iraqis and wounded 230 by targeting the Red Cross and three police stations.
"What happened yesterday in Baghdad is a crime by all measures, but it is more disgraceful than a crime: it is a deadly political mistake," wrote Lebanon's as-Safir daily.
"Such political mistakes help the occupation to justify its horrible crimes," it added.
Yemeni journalist Fares Ghanim said U.S. mistakes were driving people to despair. "If the security situation continues it will provide a fertile ground for Muslim extremists who want to take revenge on Americans," he said.
In non-Arab Iran, reformist parliamentarian Reza Yousefian said: "It is unjustifiable to kill ordinary people in the name of an anti-American campaign. On the contrary, the more insecurity prevails in Iraq, the longer Americans will stay."
Egypt's Al-Akhbar daily said the message was clear:
"The only way to disentangle from this deadlock in which the United States finds itself and to avoid becoming mired in a swamp is to speed up the hand over of power to Iraqis."
© Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd
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