ME Big Players Do Not Want US Troops To Leave Iraq

[ Middle East News Service comment: Hussein Agha’s articles come under the rubric of quality items. This is the analysis of someone who knows what is talking about. He does provide a comprehensive overview of who wants to US to keep on bleeding in Iraq and who doesn’t. In passing: that poster of Osama Bin Laden saying “I want you to invade Iraq” produced by the Victorian Peace Network for fund raising had it spot on – Sol Salbe.]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2064685,00.html

The last thing the Middle East's main players want is US troops to leave Iraq

Across the region, ordinary people want the Americans out. But from Israel to al-Qaida, political groups and states have other ideas
Hussein Agha
Wednesday April 25, 2007
The Guardian

Overt political debate in the Middle East is hostile to the American occupation of Iraq and dominated by calls for it to end sooner rather than later. No less a figure than King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, arguably the United States' closest Arab ally, has declared the occupation of Iraq "illegal" and "illegitimate". Real intentions, however, are different. States and local political groups might not admit it - because of public opinion - but they do not want to see the back of the Americans. Not yet.

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For this there is a simple reason: while the US can no longer successfully manipulate regional actors to carry out its plans, regional actors have learned to use the US presence to promote their own objectives. Quietly and against the deeply held wishes of their populations, they have managed to keep the Americans engaged with the hope of some elusive victory.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2064685,00.html

• Hussein Agha is a senior associate member of St Antony's College, Oxford comment@guardian.co.uk

[The independent Middle East News Service concentrates on providing alternative information chiefly from Israeli sources. It is sponsored by the Australian Jewish Democratic Society. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the AJDS. These are expressed in its own statements]

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