Egyptian Newspaper Editor: Anti-Americanism Is Like Music - An International Language.

Abd Al-Halim Qandil, Editor-in-Chief of the Egyptian Nasserist weekly Al-Arabi attacked the US on Hizbullah's TV channel, Al-Manar, calling it 'the Plague' and 'an on-going crime'. Following are excerpts:

Qandil:The so-called Anti-Americanism has become, like music, a language understood by people of all nationalities and races in the world today. Suffice to look at the spectacle of February 15, 2003, when in all capitals of the world - in Asia and in Europe - millions took to the streets shouting in one voice against America. The anti-American ideology has become a pro-humanity ideology. This is the place to mention the saying coined by our poet Mahmoud Darwish: "America is the Plague, and the Plague is America."

I believe that America is an ongoing crime. It has been so for the past 215 years, since George Washington sat on his throne. This crime, which started with the annihilation of the Indians and the enslavement of the Africans, developed into the current annihilation of the Arabs and Muslims and the enslavement of the world.

By purely scientific standards, George Bush Junior is the least intelligent among American presidents. In other words, he's the most stupid American president. Perhaps it is only a coincidence that the presidency of George Bush, whose intelligence is so limited and whose stupidity is so great, occurs when the American power, in its path of historic development, has become an obvious dinosaur. The US no longer hides behind claims of having a message.