Press scathing at Iraq anniversary
The third anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq earns scornful press comment across the Middle East, with many papers angry at what they see as the gap between President Bush's rhetoric and the Iraqi reality.
There is outrage at the conditions on the ground, with one paper asking "is the daily discovery of bodies the freedom President Bush says Iraqis are living in?"
There is also widespread disbelief at President Bush's continued assertion that the ousting of Saddam Hussein has made the world a safer place.
ALI AL-TU'AIMAT IN QATAR'S AL-WATAN
Bush says, as if he is speaking to aliens, that the US and the world are now safer - but did not the US war on Iraq and its occupation increase the levels of violence and terrorism in the world and especially in Iraq? Is the daily discovery of bodies in Iraqi streets the freedom Bush says Iraqis are living in? Is the killing and death that have grown until they have become a beast the same freedom that Iraqis are living in? How can the two pictures, killing and cruelty, freedom and security, be confused?
.............
UMAR JAFTALI IN SYRIA'S TISHRIN
Iraq, three years after the war, is nearing the spectre of civil war and US plans have made conditions for Iraqis more difficult than at any time before the invasion. Americans have begun to uncover the game played by their administration and its involvement in the Iraqi quagmire... Despite all this, President Bush still thinks that he did the right thing... Tragedy has struck and its repercussions confirm the opposite of what Bush and his administration are saying.
YASIR AL-ZA'TARAH IN JORDAN'S AL-DUSTUR
Even if Mr Bush uses all the demons, devils and dictionaries he will not be able to convince a sane person in this world, let alone his own citizens, that the war in Iraq was justified or that it achieved its stated goals.
MUHAMMAD NAJI IMARAH IN JORDAN'S AL-RA'Y
The stated aims of the war in Iraq disappeared after the first hours of the occupation and barbaric invasion. It is no longer a secret that the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the Baath regime, the destruction of the Iraqi state, the shattering of its institutions and the ending of the Iraqi army's existence were only for Iraqi oil and the investments of giant US corporations.
much more at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4824550.stm