Arabs hear in Bush's word determination to strike Iraq
President Bush’s call to deal with Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction was studied by Arabs - some said in vain - for signs war could be avoided.
An exiled Iraqi dissident, though, said the world should rally behind Bush’s declaration to the UN.
“The speech for the first time made it clear that the US is committed to defending the basic human right of the Iraqi people and their right to live in peace and dignity without coercion and suppression,” said Hamid al-Bayati, a spokesman for the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, in London.
The foreign minister of the Gulf state of Qatar, where US military forces are based, said a war in Iraq would destabilise the entire region.
“The United Nations has to play a role,” said Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani in Washington. “We have to work, all of us, to make an effort with the United Nations to say exactly what they want with Iraq.”
Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Affash Adwan said: “We hope there would be an immediate and urgent dialogue with the United Nations, where all resolutions related to the Iraqi issue are fulfilled, hopefully leading to lifting the sanctions.”
Saleh Qallab, a former Jordanian information minister, said Bush’s stand “will push some of the big countries like France, China and Russia to retract from their rejection of any strike on Iraq and join the US in its war.”
In Lebanon, Hamas militant group official Osama Hamdan said Bush’s speech was “dull” and focused solely on “marketing a strike against Iraq. As for the Palestinian issue, we find nothing new.”
Egyptian MP Hamdin Sabahi said Bush’s call to deal with Iraq was “baseless” and would “open the way for the Americans not only to attack Iraq but all Arabs and Muslims and all Third World nations.”
Reda Helal, an Egyptian political analyst, said Bush had demanded more than Iraq or any country could provide, making war likely.
