By Xinhua
Cairo : Major Egyptian newspapers on Wednesday strongly criticized the U.S. policy in Iraq on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion on the Mideast and Arab country.
“Iraq is experiencing the worst stage of its modern history and is living under a brutal military occupation,” Al Ahram said in its editorial on Wednesday.
Five years ago, the United States launched the Iraqi war under the pretext of its disarmament and bringing freedom and democracy to Iraqi people, the influential Egyptian newspaper said.
However, Iraqis now are not free as the United States claimed, they do not enjoy democracy and their daily life is full of bombing, torture and assassinations, Al Ahram said.
Citing a report issued by Amnesty International, the newspaper said every three of four Iraqis are deprived of drinking water, one third of the Iraqis depends on urgent aid to live and half of the population is unemployed.
Voicing its regret to the current situation in Iraq, Al Ahram said this tragic reality would not change except the United States pulls its troops out of Iraq.
On Monday, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said during his visit to Iraq that the United States has made a “successful endeavor” in Iraq on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that falls on March 20.
“If you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor … and it has been well worth the effort,” he said, but recognized that “it’s clear there is still a number of major issues that need to be addressed.”
According to media report, nearly 4,000 U.S. troops have died since the beginning of the war.
About 90,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed over the past five years, according to Iraq body count, a Website that traces the Iraqi war casualties.
In addition, some four million Iraqis are still displaced, and the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a report on Monday that millions were still deprived of clean water and medical care.
English newspaper Daily News Egypt said Wednesday that the war-torn country is still bogged down with no solution in sight.
U.S. President George Bush promised that Iraq would be better than it was under the regime of Saddam Hussein, said the newspaper, adding whether it is or not for history to judge, but what is certain is that things did not go according to the U.S. plan.
“I think they misread the situation either because of the Iraqis informing them or due to the administration’s willingness to be informed in the rush to occupy Iraq,” Walid Kazziha, a political science professor at the American University in Cairo, was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Al Akhbar newspaper criticized the United States for condemning world countries in its latest human rights report while “turning a blind eye to its brutal war in Iraq.”
The United States issued its annual human rights report recently to criticize other countries in the world but carried on its war in Iraq that led to chaos rather than a model for democracy in the Middle East, said the newspaper in its editorial.
“Iraq is on the brink of a civil war and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed by this afflicting war,” the paper said.
The United States “has every reason to be ashamed of its past and present crimes,” it should repent rather than accusing other states, according to the newspaper.