from: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0410war-arabreax10.html

Arabs mourn Iraq's defeat, resent U.S. role in region

Colin Nickerson
Boston Globe
Apr. 10, 2003 12:00 AM

AMMAN, Jordan - Disbelief and deep gloom spread across the Middle East on Wednesday as Arabs struggled to come to terms with the American-British conquest of Baghdad and the rout of the Saddam Hussein regime.

"Truly, this is the blackest day for Arab people since the Jews created Israel," said Hassan Hasan, a Jordanian industrial engineer. "President Bush's crusade is carving up the Muslim world. We see the American flag planted in Afghanistan, we see the American occupation of Kuwait. Now Saddam, the last Arab brave enough to spit in the face of America, has fallen."

The resentment was palpable not only in the clamorous souks, the traditional Arab marketplaces, where Saddam has for years been a sort of hero, but in the trendy nightspots frequented by young professional Arabs, many educated in the West.

"For three weeks, Saddam gave Arabs their pride as he faced down the invaders," said Mahmoud Ahmed Youssef, 26, a software designer, as he sipped a latte in Amman's Purple Fig restaurant. "It's hard to explain why I admire him. I know that he was a dictator, a tyrant. But his defeat, I believe, leaves all Arabs weaker. The fall of Baghdad is a terrible humiliation."

Most Arabs did not admire or respect Saddam. But his lone stand against the United States invoked admiration among a people who feel badly served by American foreign policy, which, in the Muslim view, blindly supports Israel and becomes engaged in other countries of the region only when oil is at stake.

"America doesn't care about the Arabs who live on Iraq's land, only about the riches beneath," said Hana Abdel, a Palestinian teacher who studied at Boston University.

"But what frightens me is that the relatively easy victory will only embolden Bush," she said. "Will you crush every regime that annoys the American president? Is Syria next?"

In Syria, there was edginess at the idea of Americans as an occupying power in a country that borders theirs, but there were doubts about whether the American victory would bring Iraqis the kind of freedom they want.

"There were two choices for Iraqis," said Mohammed Shahrour, an Islamic scholar, sitting in his office in Damascus. "The choice between an ignorant dictator and a Harvard man who came to occupy them. At this point, no one knows which is worse."

Shahrour, like many Syrian intellectuals, believes that the Arab world will never be the same after Wednesday. "This is a great turning point in Arab history. What has happened in Iraq is a turning point in the Middle East. The era of stagnation is now over," Shahrour said.

Others in Arab countries focused on more immediate, pragmatic concerns.

Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal of Saudi Arabia told reporters in Riyadh that the United States must quickly end its occupation of Iraq and that the international community must move swiftly to avert a crisis of anarchy, disease and deprivation.

"Saudi Arabia observes with increasing concern the collapse of security, chaos, theft and looting, and warns that this could lead to a humanitarian disaster," he said.

Asked whether Saudi Arabia would recognize a government authority created in Iraq by the United States and Britain, Prince Saud replied obliquely, "The government we will deal with is the government created by the Iraqi people."

Osama el Baz, a top adviser to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, also voiced skepticism about the American role in a postwar Iraq.

"The idea of imposing democracy from outside is not supported by Egypt or any Arab country," he said. "The United States thought if they went after Iraq they would eliminate a certain threat and that they would establish a certain influence in the region."

Many across the Muslim world said the military outcome in Iraq was no surprise, given the scale of the U.S.-led assault, and did nothing to resolve their doubts about America's motives or its ability to shape the future of Iraq.

"The Americans will not be able to govern this country," said Amor Gariani, who sells rugs outside the Jemal Kabir Mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia, as reports of the collapse of Baghdad rolled in Wednesday afternoon. "There will be peace outside Iraq now, but inside Iraq there will be war as people struggle for power.

In Cairo, meanwhile, people gathered around television sets in restaurants, tea shops, and coffee houses to watch as U.S. troops toppled a huge statue of Saddam in downtown Baghdad.

The Egyptians seemed stunned that rejoicing Iraqis danced on the fallen statue and tore apart posters depicting the dictator.