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Arabs Say Powell Not Convincing

The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS
February 7, 2003
Posted to the web February 7, 2003
Cairo
Arabs said today US Secretary of State Colin Powell's charge sheet against Iraq
was unconvincing, but probably started the final countdown to war.
"It is basically a lot of hoopla, but no substance at all," said political
commentator Hussein Shobokshi, based in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. "(It)
reminds me of pep rallies that they hold before a football game in the (United)
States."
Newspapers, analysts and a few Arab officials said the razzmatazz of Powell's
address on Wednesday failed to convince a doubtful world that Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein posed a serious threat which should be eliminated by force if
necessary.
"The whole speech was an attempt to present compelling reasons for an attack on
Iraq, but these reasons are not in fact compelling," said Lebanese Information
Minister Ghazi al-Aridi.
"The speech was long on accusations, and short on evidence," said Egyptian
political scientist Emad Shahin, adding UN weapons inspectors should now be
asked to prove the allegations.
The Iraqi media largely ignored Powell's presentation, which Iraqi officials on
Wednesday dismissed as lies.
Only one newspaper out of seven leading ones commented on what it called a
"great failure and a scandal" because Powell failed to produce evidence about
Iraq's alleged banned weapons.
"The time bomb that many were talking about concerning Powell's new evidence
about Iraq's weapons did not explode," the official al-Qadissiya newspaper
wrote in a front-page editorial.
"They were nothing but accusations and fabricated tape recordings," Qadissiya
said. "What he said was a smoke of lies aimed at blackmailing public opinion in
order to find an excuse for a US aggression against Iraq," it added.
Most Iraqis were not able to watch Powell's presentation because they had no
access to international satellite channels.
Some residents who listened to it on radios said Washington intended to launch
a war against Iraq regardless of whether Iraq possessed banned weapons or not.
Most Arab states, including political heavyweights Egypt and Iraq's neighbour
Saudi Arabia, have not yet commented officially on Powell's address at the
United Nations, which was shown live on television in many world countries.
But many papers, which tend to reflect official thinking, were not impressed by
Washington's attempt to prove Baghdad was flouting international demands to
disarm.
The English-language Jordan Times dismissed Powell's address as "unconvincing",
saying his photographs, tapes and reports from anonymous witnesses were
unlikely to change many minds.
"Yet even if we give the United States the benefit of the doubt, these new
elements did not amount to convincing evidence of Iraqi non-compliance, or that
Iraq presents any real or imminent danger to any party," it said.

   

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