Arab TV channels across the Middle East played down the news of the fall of Baghdad yesterday, focusing on scenes of chaos and looting.
They showed empty streets in the Iraqi capital and a few civilians waving white flags to protect themselves from American forces. Only rarely did some channels mention that in parts of the Iraqi capital people were cheering the incoming troops.
Al-Jazeera, the most popular independent channel, set the tone with shots of US tanks outside the Palestine Hotel, the main base for foreign media, and reports saying that looters were ransacking government buildings and private homes.
State TV in Jordan, a country that has given discreet support to the US, was surprisingly downbeat in an apparent attempt to keep in line with the hostile views of most Jordanians. ”The next few days may witness strong fighting between Iraqis and US troops as they spread out over the country,” its announcer said in a clear signal that the channel’s editors did not want to imply the war was over yet.
Egyptian state TV also concentrated on showing civilians holding white flags rather than crowds celebrating in the largely Shia district in the east of Baghdad. It described the ”chaos” of looting and said US forces wanted to use this as an excuse for stepping in.
Lebanon’s LBC channel was rare among Arab channels in reporting that Iraqi civilians were welcoming US troops.
The broadly negative TV view of yesterday’s events in Baghdad echoed public attitudes on the street. In Amman, Jordan’s capital, Arabs from several countries reacted with sadness to the fall of Baghdad. Iraqi exiles were the only group who expressed delight.
The paradox of contradictory emotions played itself out in the city’s cafes and restaurants. Only a few people watched the TV screens, as though they had long expected the drama that was unfolding.
”There’s no Arab who’s happy,” said an Egyptian waiter at the Sultan coffee shop in a middle-class area of Amman. ”Just because of one man, Saddam Hussein, thousands of people have been killed.” He dismissed the pictures of Iraqis waving at US troops in the predominantly Shia neighbourhood of Baghdad as ”a very small proportion of Iraqi society”.
”Of course I feel sad,” said a Jordanian cashier at the nearby Lubnani restaurant. ”A lot of innocent people are dying… The US will produce more so-called ”terrorists” out of this because it will redouble Muslims’ hatred of America.”
In the narrow streets of central Amman journalist Arafat Daoud was one of the few Jordanians to show some satisfaction. ”Saddam’s dethronement will be a relief for Arabs and the Middle East. He killed 2 million people,” he said.
But he doubted whether it would make much difference to Iraq as he listed yesterday’s change of regime as only the latest in a long list of violent coups in Iraq’s recent past.
”Go back to history, and Iraqis always stood there clapping and then did nothing. They threw the king into the street and after him Abdel Karim Kassem [the revolutionary officer who nationalised the foreign-owned oil companies],” he said.
”I feel sorry for Iraq,” said Issam, a businessman who was playing backgammon with an Iraqi friend. ”Even if Iraqis are happy for half an hour today, they’ll be sad tonight.”
Only in a corner of the Central cafe, a favourite haunt for writers and artists, was there unalloyed happiness. ”I escaped from Basra in 1998,” said Abdul Jalil Jawad, a Shia English teacher who said he had left Iraq after being tortured when his headmaster tried to force him to join the Ba’ath party.
”The most important thing now is for all ethnic groups to participate in a new government, although the power of the Sunnis must be reduced.”
In Tehran, the fall of Baghdad was greeted as good news by some Iranians, who suffered eight years of war with Saddam’s regime. ”You can’t find anybody in Iran, even among the Arabs in the south, who is not happy about this event,” said Ghasem, a 78-year-old pensioner.
But in a bustling working-class district in western Tehran, there was ambivalence. ”I don’t believe that Americans will let Iraqis run their country… because they have spent billions of dollars and have put their soldiers at risk,” said Reza, a 55-year-old factory worker.
Conservative political leaders are clearly nervous about the presence of US troops across the border and newspapers yesterday carried calls for vigilance by Iran’s army chief, Major-General Mohammed Salimi. – Guardian Unlimited Â