Arab League challenges US Mideast plan

[bicentennial_baby]

The Arab League is to lay out its own package of reforms for the Middle East when it meets in Tunisia at the end of this month, the Syrian ambassador to the US said yesterday, a decision that directly challenges US plans for the region.

A collective Arab initiative undermines President George W. Bush's reform package, the Greater Middle East Initiative, which has come under fire from America's Arab allies and spawned criticism from European partners.

Speaking at Georgetown University, Imad Moustapha, said: "As an academic I say we don't need somebody to tell us where to go, as a representative of my country I say that we will have our own version."

Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have snubbed Washington's first draft for reform, complaining that they have not been consulted and insisting that real change can only come from within.

This view was echoed by King Abdullah of Jordan, one of the US's staunchest allies in the region, when he said on Monday he was "serious about homegrown reform".

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[sampsonblk]

1. What Arab League?

They have no spine. Before the "war," they said an attack on one arab country is an attack on all of them. Then they stood by and didn't even raise a whimper during this whole invaasion fiasco, while thousands of their people died in Iraq.

They have no credibility whatsoever. Bush won that one.