Foes and even friends in Mideast say 'America is to blame'

[ECH1969]

CAIRO, Egypt – It may seem bewildering to Americans who see themselves as helping Iraq.

The rush to blame the United States for the shrine bombing is a sign not only of the deteriorating situation in Iraq, but the tense state of West-Mideast relations overall. From riots over the prophet drawings to the United Arab Emirates ports dispute to Hamas' election win, little is going right for the United States across the Arab world.

Next – almost incredibly to many in the region – there was the dispute over the United Arab Emirates and whether it can be trusted to keep U.S. ports safe. It may have stemmed from understandable American fears about security after Sept. 11. But many here see the UAE as the model of Arab modernity – the one country actually doing things right. They saw American fears as simple anti-Arab bias.

That dispute won't be simply or cleanly resolved, either, because America needs places like the UAE: Who else will allow the United States to base spy planes on its territory, or keep freighters to Iran from carrying the building blocks of nuclear weapons?

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20060223-1134-iraq-blamingamerica.html

[ECH1969]

1. Why are we in the Middle East again?

[VegasWolf]

2. LOL!!! Point taken! nt

[Alleycat]

4. We are winning hearts and minds!!!

remember silly!!!

[Strelnikov_]

8. Oil

[wordpix2]

17. love the comic!

[Purveyor]

13. Israel, then oil and $$$ n/t

[HeeBGBz]

16. Oil. Black Gold.

Texas Tea.

[leftchick]

3. In India where the chimp goes next week... "GO BACK AMERICA"

Shiite Muslims shout anti-U.S. slogans during a protest against the bombing of the major Shiite Askariya Shrine in the Iraqi northern town of Samarra, in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006. (AP Photo/A. Mahesh Kumar)

[RazzleDazzle]

5. Hmm, so the UAE debacle blew up in his face in another way too

Can't say I'm sorry at ALL. I love it when he doesn't get his way.

[cliss]

6. Me, too. Every time I hear about some "big defeat"

or some "stunning setback", I secretly rejoice. I wish I had a chilled bottle of champagne for every MAJOR setback they have. And it's quite a few, I can tell you.

They have suffered many, many defeats. We just don't hear about all of them.

Isn't that weird? Through the Looking Glass.

[ECH1969]

9. Do you agree or disagree with the Arab world that the UAE

is not a threat to the US?

[cliss]

11. The UAE is a major threat to the US

in more ways than one. It's a security issue. Also, they should be giving those port jobs to Americans.

[AlGore-08.com]

10. The only problem is we're all on the bus he's driving over the cliff

eom

[cliss]

12. You're right. I can't disagree

with you on that. We're all together in this.

But at least Bush and Cheney are in the front seat.

[Strelnikov_]

7. Delete

Posted wrong location.

[wookie294]

14. Bush is not one of the brighter fellas

[PsychoDad]

15. The model of Arab modernity ....

By golly, by the time my boy bush is done there won't be a moderate Ay-rab left.

Yeeehaw!

[tecelote]

18. Thank KKKarl.

He did such a great job demonizing Arabs that many Americans still think that Iraq attacked us first. That hijackers from Saudi Arabia actually came from Afghanistan and so much more.

Of course, we could have caught Osama if he had been having dinner with Royals from the UAE.

Talk about screwed up.