MEMRI look at reaction in the Iraqi press to Bush’s re-election:
The recent campaign in the United States resulting in the election of President Bush was followed closely and intensely in the Iraqi press. The introduction of freedom of the press after Saddam’s removal has allowed a diversity of views to be heard, and the views regarding the re-election of President Bush are no exception.
Notwithstanding criticism of the Bush administration, editorials expressed undeniable admiration for a system that produced a winner and a loser without one shot being fired and without the legitimacy of the results being questioned.
Editorials also expressed strong appeals to President Bush to fulfill his commitments to uproot the sources of terrorism, even if it means using force against two of Iraq’s neighbors – Syria and Iran – accused of endorsing and supporting terrorism in Iraq.
From Aziz Al-Haj, who represents the National Organization of Civil Society and the Rights of Iraqis:
“Much can be said about this event, its meaning and consequences… I wish to express my feelings of happiness as a nationalist democratic Iraqi about this victory, which confirms anew the legitimacy and justice of the war of liberation of Iraq from the Saddam regime and the danger it had posed to the security of the region and the world.
“Kerry’s opportunistic maneuvers with the Iraqi subject have failed, particularly his claims that Saddam did not represent a threat to the American and world security. We know that the Saddam danger was far greater than the danger of Al-Qa’ida and bin Laden because Saddam’s regime had enormous capabilities in a very sensitive region and possessed forbidden weapons and capacities and programs to produce many types of these weapons. The betting on the defeat of Bush by the terrorists with all their tribes and branches, the nationalists, the Arab and European left, and the murderers in Fallujah, Ramadi, and Mosul, and the Iranian and Syrian regimes, has failed… These groups with disparate ideologies and objectives had one common denominator – a blind hatred for Bush. We offer them our deep condolences…”
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