Monday, April 2, 2007

ONUR BURÇAK BELLİ
ISTANBUL-TURKISH DAILY NEWS

According to the poll, which was conducted in Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Turkey and the Palestinian territories, between August and October of last year, most Muslims admire values advocated by the U.S yet they question the Bush administration’s intentions in trying to implement them overseas.

by Chas W. Freeman, Jr.

A former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and an expert on Middle East politics, Chas W. Freeman, Jr. currently serves as the President of the Middle East Policy Council and the Co-Chair of the US-China Policy Council. He earned the highest public service awards given by the Department of Defense for his roles in creating a NATO-centered post-Cold War European security system and in reestablishing defense and military ties with China. In this submission to The Daily Star, Freeman offers his closing remarks to the 15th Annual US-Arab Policymakers Conference, which this year examined "the implications for interests and policies" of the Saudi Arabian-US relationship, says the conference's Web page, as well as the future of the GCC. The following is the entirety of his closing speech

by Professor, Dr. Ali Al-Hail

Virtually, since the second decade of past century, Turkey has, more or less been a strategic partner to the 'Christian' West and Europe in particular. Later in the century, Turkey had reinforced this partnership by joining the U.S.-led-NATO without 'fabricated' difficulties, as the case with the EU nowadays. Apparently, the role of Turkey as a military power was then, and now alike is much needed by the U.S. and the EU-led-'Christian World'.

by Professor John L. Esposito

President Bush finds himself today looking at a potential legacy that includes a world in which anti-Americanism will have increased exponentially among America’s friends and foes alike, terrorism will have grown rather than receded, and America will be enmeshed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gaza and now Lebanon provide the Bush administration with a major opportunity to demonstrate its global leadership and its stated commitment to the spread of democracy and promote the Middle East Peace process, policies used by the Bush administration to legitimate the U.S. led invasion and occupation of Iraq. Tragically, the administration has thus far chosen to be part of the problem not of the solution.