Repeating a canard common in the Arab press, a columnist in the Egyptian Al-Ahram wrote that "the invaders" are in Iraq not to liberate the Iraqi people, but to "reshape the whole Middle East in Israel's favor" and to control one of the world's largest oil producers. Hence, the writer explained, the planned US troop withdrawal from Baghdad doesn't represent any real change in US policy.
The commentator, Amro Hashim, wrote in the Egyptian daily this month that of the many reasons for the US withdrawal from Baghdad, the first is that most of the Iraqi terror attacks take place in the city. In addition, Hashim claimed, the US administration decided to withdraw nine months before the American elections, because it would help George W. Bush in his presidential campaign.
Internationally, the Al-Ahram article continued, the US seeks to give the Iraqi people and the world the impression that it wants to withdraw from Iraq. This will reinforce the US position - which the Egyptian columnist sees as feigned - that its troops came to Iraq to liberate the Iraqis from Saddam Hussein's regime.
The commentator, Amro Hashim, wrote in the Egyptian daily this month that of the many reasons for the US withdrawal from Baghdad, the first is that most of the Iraqi terror attacks take place in the city. In addition, Hashim claimed, the US administration decided to withdraw nine months before the American elections, because it would help George W. Bush in his presidential campaign.
Internationally, the Al-Ahram article continued, the US seeks to give the Iraqi people and the world the impression that it wants to withdraw from Iraq. This will reinforce the US position - which the Egyptian columnist sees as feigned - that its troops came to Iraq to liberate the Iraqis from Saddam Hussein's regime.