Arab satellite news channels, broadcasting footage of advances by coalition forces on Baghdad, are beginning to question whether Saddam Hussein has put up a proper fight against the allied advances.
Throughout the Arab world there is a mood of disappointment. The initial resistance by Saddam’s forces raised expectations that he would put up a tougher fight around the capital.
Several Arab newspapers highlight the discrepancy between Iraq’s assessment of the war and that of the coalition forces. “The information war is intensifying,” said al-Sharq in Qatar. In Jordan, al-Rai asked “where the real truth lies amid the confusion and contradiction of the news reports?” Nevertheless, on its front page the paper’s main headline read: “Iraq retakes Saddam airport.”
The Lebanese daily al-Nahar went one better, saying that “Saddam led the attack to retake the airport”, while Akhbar al-Khaleej in Bahrain said: “We have wiped out the invading forces at the airport.”
But other Arab papers adopt a more realistic line, with al-Watan in Saudi Arabia declaring that “the Americans have taken the airport and the Iraqis have retreated into Baghdad”.
Heh. Wake up and smell the coffee, guys. You’ve been lied to by yet another tinpot savage, spouting pathetically transparent pan-Arab propaganda because he knows you’ll fall for it.
How many times does it have to happen before you wake up?
But we’ll remember who you were pulling for, and file it for future reference.