By IPS Correspondents
ABU DHABI, Feb 17 2003 (IPS)

Attempts by the US to push the world towards approving waging of war on Iraq have received successive setbacks, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Arabic dailies said today.

– The hawks in the White House and the Pentagon find themselves in an unenviable situation caught up in the middle of setbacks, beginning with NATO’s convention and ending up with the Security Council’s meeting where Washington faced strong rejection for its plan to launch war against Iraq," the Dubai-based ‘Al Bayan’ wrote in its editorial today.

The paper said that the anti-war demonstrations staged in over 90 US cities were but "a painful blow that took place in the backyard of beaters of war drums."

ôDespite all that, the US administration has not shown any sign of retreat, which means that the US declares war not only on Iraq but on the whole world," ‘Al Bayan’ maintains.

Supporting French President Jacques Chirac’s stance that the best thing Saddam Hussein could do for his people "is to step down", ‘Al Ittihad’ of Abu Dhabi wrote that "the French view is a principled one which calls for the need to respect the international legitimacy in the UN and the Security Council and reject force as the only way to solve disputes."

The Sharjah-based ‘Al Khaleej’ said that anti-war campaigners have so far won two rounds of encounters in the Security Council. ôHowever, that may only force warmongers to bow for a while but not abandon the idea of war whether with or without the Security Council’s resolution," it commented.

ôAmid this tussle, the real position of world countries has become well known. Only the position of Arab countries remains the exception to the rule," ‘Al Khaleej’ said on a bitter note. It called on Arab countries to expedite holding of the emergency summit ôbefore the British-US-Israeli offensive devours all – not just Iraq and the Palestinian people, as designed."

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