DUBAI, 16 February 2003 — Arab newspapers called on their countries yesterday to throw their weight behind world powers who opposed a US war on Iraq, charging that Washington was bent on attacking Baghdad even without UN sanction.
Arab governments, whose foreign ministers meet in Cairo today as a prelude to an emergency summit on Iraq, “shoulder the heavy responsibility of speaking out clearly against war and backing influential countries” opposed to the use of force, wrote Qatar’s Al-Raya.
Arabs states should seize “the last chance to join efforts” exerted by France, Germany and Russia to ward off a new conflict in the Gulf, the daily said.
Another Qatari daily, Al-Watan, said the reports delivered to the UN Security Council Friday by disarmament chiefs Hans Blix and Mohamed El-Baradei provided a boost to the “peace coalition”.
Blix, who heads the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, and El-Baradei, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the council they had no evidence Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
“Of what use would an Arab summit be if it were held after Iraq is attacked,” wondered Dubai-based Al-Bayan, adding that the United States was determined to attack.
Akhbar Al-Arab of Abu Dhabi said US war talk was designed to “intimidate not just the Iraqis but the entire international community such that it will bow to American dictates.”
Jordan’s Ad-Dustour deplored what it said was the bellicose stance of Washington and London, saying the Blix and El-Baradei reports showed “clearly that absence of any prohibited (Iraqi) activity in the nuclear sphere and better Iraqi cooperation” with inspectors.
Backing Egypt’s call for a summit, Ad-Dustour advocated a “unified position ... in support of the European position,” a reference to France, Germany and Russia.
Saudi daily Al-Watan deplored the fact that the Arabs were lagging behind such world powers as France in seeking to avert a military showdown.
“It is the Arabs who should have made (peace) proposals to France ... not the other way round,” the paper said, adding that it was “not permissible that an issue that will affect the Arabs’ future be left to others.”
There was nothing in the chief inspectors’ reports to justify a US-led attack on Iraq. “Their reports immeasurably strengthen the position of France, Germany, Russia and China that arms inspectors must be given more time — all the time needed,” the daily said.
Other Saudi dailies called for more time to be given to the UN inspectors who resumed the search for Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction in November after a four-year break.
“The only way to avert this dangerous situation which the world is being dragged into is to provide more time to enable the ongoing contacts and efforts to arrive at peaceful and practical solutions and avoid the first shot” being fired, said Jeddah-based Okaz.
“The launch of the first missile will lead to a catastrophe whose consequences no one appears correctly to have understood,” the paper said.
“Will the United States respond and provide the inspection team more time, and more importantly provide the same opportunity to Arab and international efforts?” the daily asked.
Syrian government daily Tishrin said the US administration is moving contrary to international will and should listen to calls for avert war.
Al-Youm newspaper said “granting arms inspectors sufficient time to complete their task is a wise and safe option”. (AFP)
