Spring is in the air, wedding bells, and the sorry saga remains the same in Iraq, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed When President Hosni Mubarak pulled the plug last December and announced his intention to promulgate constitutional amendments, the pundits delivered many high-minded sermons on the pitfalls of political hypocrisy in high places. Indeed, the question of amending the constitution cropped up in several papers. Wael El-Ibrashi, writing in the weekly independent Sawt Al-Umma, warned about finding an option other than the ruling National Democratic Party and the Muslim Brotherhood. "In light of the weakness of political parties, the solution is allowing respectful independent figures to run for the presidential elections. I proposed the name of [Egyptian scientist and Nobel laureate] Ahmed Zuweil [to run for presidential elections], and once I did so, all governmental circles launched a campaign against him to tarnish his image," El-Ibrashi explained. "This third-way solution guarantees the prevention of inheriting the presidency [to Gamal Mubarak] and the prevention of the Muslim Brotherhood's taking power with their religious reference. However, it is necessary to merge them in political life [after they] adopt a progressive civil discourse," he added. He wrote ominously, "the nation is like the Titanic adrift at sea and blissfully oblivious that it is on the verge of crashing into an iceberg." However, it was not only the government that faced scathing criticism; the Muslim Brotherhood also came under fire. Abdel-Wahab Elmessiri was quoted in Sawt Al-Umma as saying: "I warn the Muslim Brotherhood against striking a deal with the regime to pass the inheritance of power [to Gamal] since this would be their kiss of death." Elmessiri, the intellectual leader of the Egyptian Movement for Change, or Kifaya, emerged as a defender of workers' rights. "If the government does not respond to opposition demands, an explosion will happen. Workers are the most volatile category." He delved into deeper and more sensitive matters of the state. "The amendments aim at passing the inheritance plan, but there are state institutions that will oppose this, like the Foreign Ministry, the army, the political parties and the cultured people," he stressed. "The government deals stupidly with the people's demands... and we don't have any other option but to continue in resistance." Blunt words, indeed. However, some commentators adopted a softer and more accommodating line. Mustafa Elwi, in the daily Al-Ahram, wrote about putting the constitutional amendments into effect. "What is important is to transform these new amendments into reality." On a somewhat lighter note, Sawt Al-Umma reported some news about the awaited wedding of Gamal Mubarak and Khadiga El-Gammal, daughter of a business magnate, scheduled to take place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh in May. "Gamal Mubarak's wedding will be a very youthful one. It will include a foreign band, without any participation from Egyptian or Arab singers, and they will live in a flat in Zamalek so that the bride be close to her family. Minister of Interior Habib El-Adli flied to Sharm El-Sheikh to discuss the security plan of the wedding expected to take place in the luxurious Jolie Ville Hotel." It promises to be the wedding of the year. On a more sombre note, Iraq also featured prominently in the Egyptian press this week. The fourth anniversary of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq was the subject of much press debate. "Another bloody day in the fourth anniversary of the occupation of Baghdad" ran the headline about the deteriorating conditions in Iraq in Al-Ahram. "85 Iraqis killed and injured and six American soldiers die in missile and suicide attacks." The papers focussed on the mass demonstrations in Iraq of both Sunnis and Shias walking hand-in-hand, protesting against the United States occupation of Iraq. It was a show of national unity and solidarity between the various sectarian faiths in contemporary Iraq. Galal Dweidar, writing in the daily Al-Akhbar, about the fourth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad was in a fighting mood. "The victorious Baghdad has fallen, but the Iraqi resistance to the American occupation has not... The American occupiers mistakenly thought that with the fall of this glorious city, they will take control of everything. Crazy Bush indulged himself in the illusion that he achieved a historic victory by sweeping this [great] Arab country, capitalising on the adventures and gambling of its [former] dictator Saddam." Indeed, as Dweidar and other political commentators indicated, Saddam Hussein had no affiliations with Al-Qaeda and Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction. The consensus among the pundits was that the real reason for the American intervention was Iraqi oil. Some, like Dweidar, hinted that Saddam actually collaborated closely with Washington. "The coming days will show that Saddam was an agent of American imperialism." Political analysts insisted there was a deliberate effort to destroy Iraq and sow the seeds of sectarian strife and violence. Some argued that what is happening in Iraq today is nothing short of genocide. "The wreckage of the wounded city will remain as a witness to the American lies, saying that America invaded Iraq to establish freedom and democracy. Days will tell that [the American invasion] attracted sedition and sectarianism advocates," Dweidar explained. International humanitarian and human rights groups concur that one million Iraqis have perished as a direct result of the US occupation of Iraq. Of that figure, 40,000 alone were feared dead in 2006. This amounts to nothing short of genocide. But the papers were not so preoccupied with Iraq to be oblivious to domestic concerns. Nabil Rashwan, in the liberal daily Nahdet Masr, warned about the people's lack of confidence in the government's warning against eating rotten fish during the Easter break and spring festival, better known in Egypt as Sham Al-Nessim. "The most conclusive evidence that there is a wide gap between the people and the government is that the former does what they want in the manner they like, while the government sends daily messages that do not reach the people. This is crystal clear in the minister of health's call upon the people every year to stop eating rotten fish because it is poisonous... however, we see people from all walks of life stand in queues in front of rotten fish shops." Rashwan did not mince his words. "It seems that people read the government and officials' warnings and they mock them saying 'this is governmental talk'. People have stopped watching the state's television."
