Watching America is collecting the commentary out of the Middle East on Bush’s upcoming tour there.
Many Arabs are exhibiting a kind of exasperated “Don’t bother coming; you’ve done enough damage already”. It seems the situation on the ground, for which they hold Bush largely responsible, speaks more loudly than Bush will when he arrives.
From Dar al-Hyatt, Lebanon,
• In Iraq, 568 people were killed in the last months of 2007.
• In the Somali capital of Mogadishu, 6,500 civilians were killed last year, with more than 8,500 wounded. In the same vein, some 1.5 million people were displaced from the capital that is lost in its myriad of weapons.
• In the latest clashes between “Fatah” and “Hamas” in Gaza on New Year’s Eve, seven Palestinians were killed, while Israel came through 2007 with only one suicide attack …And on the first day of the new year, 30 Iraqis were killed by a suicide bomber who attacked people offering condolences.
This particular writer concludes that the Arabs can envy the Americans, who at least are now counting down the days to Bush’s departure.
Another writer from Lebanon notes that Bush’s tour will be dominated by the capitals that he refuses to visit – Damascus and Tehran, indicating that others in the Middle East (and remember here the Persian-Arab tensions which are every bit as important geopolitically as the Israeli-Arab ones) are reasonably nervous at the ambiguity of the U.S.’s recent statements and actions toward Iran, especially given how historically Mr Bush’s interlocutors have suffered when U.S. policy toward the region shifts abruptly.
A third writer, in Lebanon’s Daily Star, is the most eloquent,
…Most governments trying to keep the lid on their turbulent societies are increasingly resorting to tighter forms of authoritarianism. Policemen, armed forces personnel and undercover security agents are now the most common representations on the street of governments in the region. In some places – central Cairo, parts of Beirut, much of Jerusalem – uniformed men with guns define the public sphere.
Consequently, as Bush visits the Middle East again, the welcoming party is a regional landscape of conflict, killing and suffering, orchestrated by local and foreign political leaders who seem totally baffled by the mess they have created.This situation has worsened in the past four and a half years since Bush visited Egypt and Jordan, in what turned out to be a failed – perhaps an originally insincere – bid to foster Palestinian-Israeli peace.
And the author’s advice for Bush?
With all due respect, Bush might do the region and the entire world a favor by staying home – if he plans to visit the Middle East only to speed up the same American policy of blindly supporting Israel, sending arms and money to Arab authoritarian regimes, opposing mainstream Islamist groups that enjoy widespread popular legitimacy, ignoring realistic democratic transitions, and actively pressuring governments and movements that defy the United States.
Read all three articles now on WatchingAmerica.com
Robin Koerner is a British-born citizen of the USA, who currently serves as Academic Dean of the John Locke Institute. He holds graduate degrees in both Physics and the Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge (U.K.). He is also the founder of WatchingAmerica.com, an organization of over 100 volunteers that translates and posts in English views about the USA from all over the world.
Robin may be best known for having coined the term “Blue Republican” to refer to liberals and independents who joined the GOP to support Ron Paul’s bid for the presidency in 2012 (and, in so doing, launching the largest coalition that existed for that candidate).
Robin’s current work as a trainer and a consultant, and his book If You Can Keep It , focus on overcoming distrust and bridging ideological division to improve politics and lives. His current project, Humilitarian, promotes humility and civility as a basis for improved political discourse and outcomes.