Arab press sharply criticises Bush's speech to UN

UN: The Arab press was sharply critical of President Bush's address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday in which he laid out his ideas on Iraq and the Palestinian-Israeli problem.

A number of commentators said Mr Bush's policies seem to be unconnected with regional realities.

Egypt's semi-official newspaper, Al-Akbar, stated: "The heavy losses suffered by US troops in Iraq must convince the US administration hawks that they were mistaken when they promoted the war.

"However, it does not seem the Bush administration has learnt this lesson yet." The writer urged world leaders to convince Mr Bush to reassess his policies. If he does not, "the price will be very high and will be paid by all, including the hawks," Al-Akbar said.

Sahar Baasiri, writing in Lebanon's An-Nahar daily, took a similar line. "President Bush and the world are still poles apart . . . He spoke extensively of his fine achievements in Afghanistan and Iraq - as if people are ignorant of what is happening in both countries," he observed.

The speech was "weak and dull" and did nothing to improve the credibility of the Bush administration, Al-Khaleej, the United Arab Emirates' leading independent newspaper, stated.

Muhammad Kawash, of the populist Jordanian daily, Al-Arab Al-Yawm, said Mr Bush "did not offer anything new. He reopened his old notebooks and played the tune of weapons of mass destruction and the UN's role in demanding the disarming of Iraq."

Jordan's Al-Destour asserted: "Both regional and international observers strongly believe that Washington has resolved to legitimise its stay in Iraq and usurp its wealth. Because of this it is not hurrying up to set up a legitimate and elected Iraqi government and is refusing the participation of the international community in the reconstruction of Iraq."

While Beirut's Daily Star said that the speech "was not nearly as discouraging as some had feared", it did not "move the Iraq controversy any closer to a viable solution". The paper accused Mr Bush of "stalling for time, apparently under the illusion that standing still is a substitute for building the necessary support for a workable plan that might salvage the situation." The Daily Star warned that "there is a fleeting opportunity to reverse the downward spiral" in Iraq.

Mr Bush's remarks on the bloody Palestinian-Israeli deadlock also drew Arab fire, particularly his assertion that the Palestinian cause had been "betrayed by leaders [such as Palestinian President Yasser Arafat] who cling to power by feeding old hatreds and destroying the good work of others."

While Mr Bush said that no Palestinian state could emerge unless there was a new leadership, Palestinian commentators contended that Mr Bush's accusation against the Palestinian leaders was more appropriately applied to those of Israel, particularly the Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, who, they argued, has obstructed the peace process.

The Palestinian Minister of Labour, Dr Ghassan Khatib, called Mr Bush's remarks "unconstructive" and accused him of "encouraging Israel to continue diminishing the rights of the Palestinian people and [the legitimacy] of their leadership", which, he stated, was democratically elected.

A Palestinian political scientist, Dr Ali Jarbawi, said the address exposed the Bush administration's "severe failure" on the Iraqi and Palestinian issues.