Words of war dominate Arabic press

Words of war dominate Arabic press

News and views from Iraq - as read on TV

Iraq's state-controlled newspapers published on Saturday remained uniformly upbeat on the eventual outcome of the war.

Elsewhere in the Arabic-speaking world, editorial writers concentrated on the significance of anti-war protests and mulled the varied responses of Arab states.

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"Yes. This is Iraqi Patriotism"

Babil- Iraq

"Expose Those Criminals and Stop Their Crimes": they claimed that Iraqis would welcome them with merry music. Instead, they welcomed them with the music of bullets and launchers

Al-Thawrah - Iraq

"O Source of Victory: Good Tidings"

Al-Jumhuriyah - Iraq

"Terrorist Methods will not Prevent Their Definite Defeat": US and UK have woken up from their "illusion" that invading Iraq would be a "picnic"

Al-Qadisiyah - Iraq

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Close the Suez Canal and Expel the Ambassadors of Aggression [headline]

Al-Usbu - Egypt

[Closing the Canal would mean] carrying the war to Port Said, Ismailia and Suez, the cities that we liberated and rebuilt after they had been demolished by international conspiracies and Israeli occupation.

Rose al-Yusuf - Egypt

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[Attack on Iraq is akin to] lifeline thrown to the remnants of Bin Ladin's terrorist organization.

Akhbar al-Yawm - Egypt

Voices are trying to throw more fuel on the fire... by spreading rumours that Egypt has US military bases and that it is helping the Americans.

Al-Ahram - Egypt

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Bush and his ravens have defied the world and started a criminal, illegal and immoral aggression against Iraq, in complete violation of international legality and international law... It's amazing that officials in charge of Saudi oil are striving to complete the equipping of a new port to increase oil exports in order to please the colonialist aggressors whose next aggression, if they succeed in occupying Iraq - God forbid - will be against Saudi Arabia.

Al-Arab Al-Alamiyah - London

The demonstrations against the Egyptian embassy in Damascus and the chanting of slogans hostile to Egypt and its president came as a result of undeclared differences between the two countries over how to deal with the American war on Iraq.

Al-Hayat - London

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Iraqis are in dire need of [anti-war] demonstrations to feel that the Arab and Islamic nations are on their side, at a time when their regimes have betrayed them and colluded with the enemy.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi - London

Instead of the Iraqis receiving the foreign troops with flowers or surrendering and leaving the country as immigrants, they resisted strongly.

Al-Quds - Palestinian

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The USA and Britain have taken a stupid step not against the Iraqis but against humanity... those who were advocating peace are in fact destroying it.

Al-Jazirah - Saudi Arabia

It's time for all countries to move forward and provide humanitarian aid to these oppressed people [Iraqis].

Ukaz - Saudi Arabia

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We clearly back the liberation of the Iraqi people and support the fall of a regime which endangers our security... If we back the coalition it is because they backed us when we needed them... If our membership of the Arab League has never benefited us, we might be better to withdraw from it.

Al-Ra'y Al-Am - Kuwait

US and British troops have reached Iraqi capital, Baghdad... but the war is not as easy as the US administration had thought.

Al-Ittihad - UAE

US expectations for the war were inaccurate and the estimated results will definitely be brutal.

Al-Thawrah - Yemen

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BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.