You don't have to. But Americans in general do when the community we live in, the world community, says something. The last time something like this happened was during Adolf Hitler, who did not care and went on a mad rampage across other nations.
Here is another one from a leading Egyptian newspaper. This one supports Bush but for a very strange reason.
Sick people
The US media rages against the murderous Arabs while the Arab media rages against the murderous regimes of Bush and Sharon
Could the Arabs bring down George W. Bush? With Americans under attack in Iraq it might not take much to freak out the US electorate as the presidential vote looms later this year. “The American voter is not concerned about what happened to the Iraqi people under the sanctions, but is concerned with what will happen to the American troops there and if the war was truly necessary for national security. The increase in operations against the Americans in Iraq might either lead to more public opposition due to American loss of life or to more defiance to defeat Al Qaeda,” commentator Raghda Dirgham wrote in the London-based pan-Arab daily Al Hayat of 4 April. Alternatively, “Vice President Dick Cheney could have a health problem, which would open the door for someone like Rudy Giuliani, the New York mayor whose name has been linked to 9/11. In this case, the reelection of George W. Bush would be almost guaranteed. There could be many surprises before November, whether from Iraq, Israel or Al Qaeda, which wants to reelect Bush in order to maintain its ideological war.”
In Beirut’s Al Safir of 5 April columnist Sateh Noureddine was prompted by the mutilation of the bodies of the Americans in Falluja last week to wonder if Iraqis are a ghoulishly sick people. “This despicable act is a dangerous phenomenon because it was not a separate individual incident, but a collective one—Iraqi society is psychotic and needs urgent, serious and long treatment. The condemnation of this scandal in mosques and schools is not enough. This heinous act cannot even be compared to terrorism and cannot be dealt with the way the United States is facing terror,” he wrote. “Even though the American media aimed to distort the image of Arabs and Muslims, its wrong position does not reduce the ugliness of this horrid act.”
But, sounding unusually lucid, Samir Ragab wrote in Egypt’s Al Gomhouriya of 3 April of the smug moralizing of the occupying colonial who doesn’t understand that people will fight first of all for their freedom and until they achieve it, democracy means nothing. “Regardless of whether the ongoing developments in Iraq are acts of resistance or terrorism, the fact is that this country is being denied safety, stability and security. This tragic situation counteracts Washington’s stated goals,” he began. “Iraq is now witnessing the recurrence of mutilation—an act of revenge exacted before upon former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Said, his successor Abdel Karim Qassem, the members of the royal family in Iraq, former President Abdel Salam Aref and others.”
“These days, people are beheaded, their arms chopped off and their bodies mutilated and thrown to stray dogs and vultures. Iraqi citizens and the occupation forces can only guess where the next attack will come from. Everyone fears they could be the next victim. But then Washington insults everyone by circulating claims about the vast measures of democracy achieved so far in Iraq. What does democracy mean to people who are starving, homeless and denied proper medical treatment?”
Save the system
Egypt’s efforts have stymied a “notorious intrigue” spun in Tunis to ruin the Arab summit, Egypt’s main daily Al Ahram said on 3 April. “The intensive contacts and consultations carried out by President Hosni Mubarak in recent days to hold an Arab summit as soon as possible have significantly contributed to foiling the notorious intrigue,” an editorial said. “To cut a long story short, the contacts and consultations held by President Mubarak have reaffirmed the fact that joint Arab action is still alive and active.” In their attempts to save the summit, Egypt and other Arab regimes are fighting to save the unique Arab system and mode of political life, the daily claimed. “The current challenges, from inside or those imposed on us from outside, have given Egypt more impetus to engender an all-out Arab awakening. This will allow freedom to maneuver without necessarily conceding any fixed principles. The Arab nation now can build up a way of life that matches its own style and at the same time deals with the modern age.”
“Are Sharon’s days in power numbered, now that he is just a short step away from trial over the Greek island scandal?” asked Baha Abu Shaqa in the opposition Al Wafd of 6 April. “Sharon has shown throughout his career that he is one of the butchers of history like Hulagu, Gengis Khan and Mussolini. He has turned the Palestinian territories into an abbatoir for murdering innocent civilians without mercy.”
Former Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo—he of the infamous Geneva Initiative that appears to have ceded the right of return—got a hostile reception in an Al Jazeera TV studio debate last week. Members of the public from all over Palestine, including coastal cities such as Acre, said they supported suicide bombings against the Israelis.
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