The U.S. Race in Arabic Newspapers
September 26, 2004
 By PETER C. VALENTI 

THAT the Arab Middle East should be interested in the
American presidential election is no surprise. What may be
surprising is the degree to which support in the Arabic
language press is split between President Bush and Senator
John Kerry. 

Neither man is much admired by Arab editorialists, who hope
only for the lesser of two evils when it comes to how
America's foreign policy in the region might change,
depending on who wins the White House. What follows are
excerpts from some prominent recent articles. 

In Support of President Bush 

Dr. Abd al-Wahhab al-Afandi,
writing in Al-Quds al-Arabi (Arabic Jerusalem), a
London-based independent daily, supports President Bush
because, he says, he may be less fearful of the "Zionist
lobby" in his second term. 

For American Arab and Muslim voters as we have already
said, it is completely logical to reject George Bush, who
practically announced a war on Arabs. And he excelled in
his zeal for Israel more than every former president, as
supporters of Israel themselves will even testify. However,
Kerry doesn't represent a better solution from the
viewpoint of Arab interests, as the Democrats - as it is
well known - are zealous supporters of Israel, and this is
the same factor that pushed Arabs and Muslims to prefer
Bush over Al Gore, his Democratic opponent, in the previous
elections. 

A president elected for a first term will be preoccupied
with re-election for a second term, which will force him to
exert every effort to both win the affection of the Zionist
lobby and ignore Arabs and Muslims. However, a president in
his second term to a large extent doesn't need direct
political support, and is more concerned with immortalizing
his name in history through important accomplishments, and
for this reason Clinton was busy in his second term
implementing the Palestinian-Israeli agreements linked to
his name. 

Keeping America in Iraq, and interested in working closely
with the Gulf States, are reasons to support President
Bush, writes Abdullah Bisharah, in Al-Seyassah (Politics),
a pro-government Kuwaiti daily. 

The statements and speeches of the Democratic competitor,
Senator Kerry, do not convey reassurance on the
continuation and strengthening of the American presence in
Iraq. 

Furthermore, you don't realize the difficulty of the
situation that would occur in the absence of an active
American presence because the weakening of the American
position would encourage those who are currently in retreat
to interfere in a more extensive and more effective manner
in the affairs of Iraq. 

The Gulf region is still surrounded by unstable and
ambitious regimes, inside of which are conflicts between
rigid extremists and oppressed moderates. There is also the
insane effort of Iranian extremists to possess nuclear
weapons, which they imagine will guarantee deterrence
against attacks from neighboring nations or from the United
States. 

We think of our interests in the Gulf and our priorities,
and I believe that the continuation of President Bush for a
second term will enhance the close connections between the
nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the United
States and will make it possible for the nations of the
council to establish a greater role and influence in
regional affairs and global affairs. 

In Support of Senator Kerry 

An editorial in Al-Quds
al-Arabi rejects President Bush for his actions in Iraq and
his policies involving the Israelis and the Palestinians. 

American President George Bush directed some criticism ...
against the Jewish state in his speech that he gave
yesterday in front of the United Nations General Assembly,
where he called for the freezing of settlements in the
occupied Arab lands and an end to the humiliations of the
Palestinian people. However, this is not the first time he
has raised the likes of these criticisms, as he has
repeated them in previous speeches, yet this hasn't changed
anything on the ground. 

President Bush ..., while he talks about acts of
humiliation that these people face under occupation, hasn't
imposed any deterring punitive measures on the Israeli
government to end these humiliations. However, he uses the
weapon of the veto in the United Nations Security Council
to protect these practices, which are completely
incompatible - not only with international law - but with
the principles of American freedoms. 

President Bush should be held accountable for actions and
not words, especially in the Palestinian and Iraqi cases. 

Rashid Hasan, writing for Addustour (The Constitution), a
pro-government Jordanian daily, opts for Senator Kerry on
the ground that he will be able to abandon the Bush
administration's Iraq policies. 

Democratic candidate John Kerry's announcement of his clear
and straightforward platform to lay out a plan for the war
in Iraq gives assurance that the man is placing his hands
over the wound that has caused the American citizen to lose
sleep and suffer so much pain. 

Kerry, or rather his advisers, decided upon a magical
solution after their candidate fell behind Bush in polls,
and especially after the convening of the Republican
Party's convention. And this solution is the withdrawal
from Iraq within four years as a rejection of Bush's
reckless policies that dragged America to a war with no end
in sight, according to Kerry's statements. 

Peter C. Valenti is a contributing editor for World Press
Review (worldpress.org). 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/weekinreview/26vale.html?ex=1097227645&ei=1&en=8d6b8bef16909905