Ahmad Al-Jarallah, editor-in-chief of the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassah recently wrote an editorial in support of President Bush's election victory and what it means for the Arab world. The following is the article: [1]
The World Has Changed, But Not the Arabs
"The world and relations between different countries have changed beyond recognition. In some cases even the countries have changed and a new order is controlling the world. What's more the United Nations is no longer able to control the relations between different countries. All this is happening in the outside world while nothing has changed for the Arab World. We are still living in the past steeped in our age old traditions. Our traditions are the source of our concepts, however old. This has always led us to conflicts with the outside world invariably ending in defeat for us. Such defeats in turn draw us back from the path of development. If there is anything which we have to do urgently it is to correct and remedy this situation.
"We had to give such a lengthy prologue because the U.S. administration - which is responsible for the changes that are sweeping through the world - has started criticizing the Middle East. The United States, which is criticizing the regimes in the region and the living conditions of their people, has succeeded in its efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. This U.S. administration has the strong backing of its people, who recently re-elected President George W. Bush for four more years.
We in the Middle East Were Moving Against Development
"Meanwhile, we in the Middle East were moving against the laws of development when the presidential elections in the United States were underway. Our thinking was wrong and we were using our media in the wrong way. We said Bush won't be able to win the elections and claimed Americans won't renew his term in the White House. Our thought process is still being conditioned by our old traditions... Unfortunately, we don't want to admit the truth and accept this fact. We thought President Bush won't win re-election because in our opinion he has led America to another Vietnam-like situation in Iraq. With such an ignorant way of thinking we brought on ourselves new defeats, proving to the whole world we are not from this planet. When Bush won the elections, we retreated to our comfort-zone looking for some new calculations which, we hoped, will be correct and bring back our old glory. We hoped our new calculations would lead the American administration to a bad defeat.
America Will Not Retreat
"We claimed President Bush will never be able to defeat Iraq and said the resistance will kick the U.S. forces out of that country. We described terrorism, which is killing innocent people in Iraq, as ' jihad ' and expected it to win in the end because it is supported by God. To support our calculations, we recalled how the U.S. troops were sent packing from Lebanon in the Eighties because of the resistance in that country. We fondly remembered how the Americans had to retreat from Somalia because of the resistance put up by Somalia warlords. By this way of thinking we forgot the United States has changed and the world has changed with it. The present circumstances in the world are not the same as they were during the days of the Cold War, when the U.S.S.R. was a superpower in its own right.
"All of our thoughts have been answered by the second term of President Bush. The mission in Iraq will continue as in Afghanistan. The American administration has stressed it won't pull out of Iraq, unlike in Somalia and Lebanon, until it achieves its objectives and completes its mission in that country. Changing the world, strengthening relations with other countries and bringing democracy and freedom to as many countries as possible is the strategic objective of the current American administration because from the perspective of its internal security, especially the 9/11 attacks in Washington and New York, this is more important for the United States.
The Culture and Way of Thinking of Arabs Became a Source of Danger for the U.S.
"Things were easy for the Americans until bin Laden arrived on the scene and threatened it from inside their homeland. But now everything has changed. The culture and way of thinking of Arabs, and [what is happening] in the Middle East have become a source of danger for the United States. If we fail to understand the changed situation of the U.S. administration, what is happening in Iraq will extend in one way or another to other countries in the region until the desired change is imposed. The second priority for President Bush is maintaining peace in Iraq and holding a free and fair general elections in Iraq.
"Bush considers the January elections very important. If one hopes the US will withdraw from Iraq in the same way as it did from Lebanon and Somalia, we must say it won't happen. The only thing left for Arab regimes, which are out of tune with the rest of the world, is to understand that standing against the United States is no longer the right way to show their patriotism, especially since they are the real enemies of their people and countries. They must understand the American Administration supports their people, for their freedom and human rights.
[1] Al-Siyassah ( Kuwait), November 15, 2004.
