Joy at strikes on US

2003-11-02 19:14

Cairo, Egypt - It's not just Iraqis in that country's most fiercely anti-American region who celebrate attacks like one on Sunday that brought down a US helicopter and killed at least 15 soldiers.

Across the Arab world, such strikes are applauded as resistance to occupation and stirring proof that Iraqis were not completely humiliated by the relative ease with which a US-led coalition toppled Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath Party regime.

The reaction is no surprise given pre-war opposition among many Arabs to a US-led invasion and warnings from their governments that violence in Iraq could drag the region into chaos.

At a meeting in Damascus on Sunday, foreign ministers from countries bordering Iraq and others in the region repeated calls on the United States to restore order in Iraq.

Some, though, wonder whether what they see as a pointed anti-American tone can be productive.

"The Americans are not getting what they deserve, the Americans are suffering from trying to put Iraqi politics on the right track," Jordanian businessman Amer Muasher said on Sunday. "The people who are suffering are the ordinary Iraqis. .... But the Iraqis had put themselves in such a situation because they accepted the tyranny of Saddam Hussein."

In Egypt, US Ambassador C David Welch has accused Egyptian commentators of spending too much time criticising America and too little exploring how Iraqis might benefit from the fall of Saddam. Egyptian journalists responded by declaring a boycott of Welch.

"Iraq is now building the glory of the (Arab) community," Mustafa Bakri, editor-in-chief of the Egyptian weekly Al-Osboa, declared in his on Sunday column.

Samir Ragab, editor of the Egyptian daily Al-Gomhouria, wrote in his Sunday column: "Every citizen who lives in Iraq, be they Ba'athist or anti-Ba'athist, whether they support or oppose Saddam, will stand up and shout at the top of his lungs: `We will chase the Americans and their followers until they leave their home ashamed and defeated."

Their comments followed a particularly bloody week in Iraq.

Sunday was the deadliest day for American troops in their six-month occupation of Iraq, with a US Chinook helicopter hit by a missile and crashing west of Baghdad. At least 15 soldiers were killed and more than 20 wounded, the US command and witnesses reported.

Iraqi villagers displayed charred pieces of wreckage like trophies to reporters and in nearby Fallujah, centre of opposition to the Americans, townspeople celebrated on the streets.

Some Arab observers are disturbed to see international aid workers and Iraqis attacked along with the Americans.

Under the headline: "More than a crime: a political mistake!" Talal Salman, publisher of Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper, urged Iraqis to choose their targets carefully.

"There is a huge difference between the bombing which targeted a hotel known to be the base for occupation officials and their followers, and the crimes of mass murder that took place ... against the Red Cross and Iraqi police stations and groups of Iraqi citizens," Salman wrote.

"Precision in specifying the target is the sharpest resistance weapon."

- AP