[And need it be said, the US isn't winning hearts and minds elsewhere in the Arab world either. From the NY Times:]
March 26, 2003
Some of Hussein's Arab Foes Admire His Fight
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
DAMASCUS, Syria, March 25 — Normally the appearance of Saddam Hussein on television prompts catcalls, curses and prayers for his demise from a regular gathering of about 20 Saudi businessmen and intellectuals, but Monday night was different. When he appeared, they prayed that God would preserve him for a few more weeks.
"They want Saddam Hussein to go and they expect him to go eventually, but they want him to hold on a little longer because they want to teach the Americans a lesson," said Khalid M. Batarfi, the managing editor of the newspaper Al Madina, describing the scene in a sprawling living room in Jidda, Saudi Arabia.
"Arab pride is at stake here," he added, describing a sentiment sweeping the region from Algeria to Yemen. "American propaganda said it was going to be so quick and easy, meaning we Arabs are weak and unable to fight. Now it is like a Mike Tyson fight against some weak guy. They don't want the weak guy knocked out in the first 40 seconds."
>From the outset, there has been a certain ambivalence in the Arab world
toward the war in the Iraq, an ambivalence tipping toward outright hostility
as Baghdad, the fabled capital of "The Arabian Nights," shudders under
American bombing. ...
The Arab world started out angry that yet another Arab government was facing destruction, but it was braced for what was promised to be a short campaign. A sea change in that attitude materialized by Sunday morning, following the events at the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.
First, American officials said Umm Qasr had fallen, while resistance clearly persisted; then, a marine briefly raised an American flag over the city, long enough for it to be filmed and shown repeatedly on Iraqi television.
"That electrified Iraqi patriotism," said Walid Khadduri, an Iraqi expatriate and editor of the Middle East Economic Survey. "The mood changed. It has nothing to do with the regime."
The sentiment proved infectious across the region — volunteers even showing up by the score at Iraqi embassies prepared to join the fight. Many Arabs cursed their own governments for doing nothing but issuing empty condemnations.
"The Iraqis are real men, and I am proud of them," said Gasser Fahmi, a 30-year-old computer engineer interviewed on a Cairo street. "At the start of the war, I was very frustrated and did not want to hear the news, but now I watch the news closely to see how many losses the Americans suffer."
The war is too young yet to see where the ripples will lead, and much hinges on its outcome. But it already seems certain that the war will prove to be a powerful watershed in the region.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/26/international/worldspecial/26ARAB.html?pagewanted=all&position=top>
Carl
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