The government-sponsored Egyptian daily Al-Akhbar launched a harsh attack against American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, following his visit to the region. Al-Akhbar's editorial titled "The Man Who Lost His Shadow"[1], included slander and racist innuendoes.
"The American Secretary of State shed his skin, tore himself from his roots, and today he represents only himself and has no connection to the Black American community which led the revolution for democracy, equality and human rights in the world."
"According to reports, the African-Americans number 30 million, and among them a large number are Muslims, most of whom are Democrats who oppose the continuing American attack against Iraq; but Mister Powell has an entirely different opinion."
"The American Secretary of State did not hesitate to demonstrate humiliation and submission when he recently visited Israel; he stood humble, a Jewish yarmulke on his head, in front of the memorial of the false Holocaust of the Jews in WWII; he also sat in front of the new Israeli leadership like a student listening to the opinions of that same leadership that opposes the American role in the peace process, without being able to answer!! Furthermore, he praised Sharon and attacked Arafat with unjustified cruelty."
"Powell, who in Israel was a pussycat, turned into a lion among the Arabs. He bluntly stated that Iraq will not be resurrected, and stressed the need to continue the pressure on Baghdad. Furthermore, he expressed his amazement at the raged Egyptian and Arab reaction to the American-British aggression against Iraq."
"Therefore, it was only natural that Powell would encounter reserved hatred from the Arab world. Powell arrived as Secretary of State in order to complete what Powell the General began, when he was Chief of Staff: wiping out any chance for the resurrection of the Arab 'corpse', which Powell hopes to sacrifice in the Jewish temple!"[2]
Editor-in-Chief of Al-Akhbar, Galal Duweidar, continued the attack on the American Secretary of State: "... I can swear that the Jewish yarmulke that Powell put on his head during his visit in Israel was the reason for his surprise [at the Arab reaction to the bombings in Iraq]. Certainly this cursed yarmulke causes whoever wears it to lose his righteousness, to forget justice, and to free himself of any wisdom or logic..."[3]
In an additional article, Muhammad Abd Al-Mun'im, formerly a member of the Egyptian peace movement wrote: "We thought that we had gotten rid of Mrs. Madeleine Albright, and here they have supplied us with someone who is even more stupid and deceitful... Two days ago, the general who holds the third-highest position in the greatest country on the face of the earth, revealed that he has the brain of a bird. Colin Powell, the black American, who we thought would bring rare closeness with the Arab states, who we expected more of than we did from his predecessors, shattered our hopes and acted like a stupid teenager. He followed in the footsteps of the American leaders who came before him, and was clearly biased in favor of Israel. The General's empty talk did not stop there: he attacked Saddam Hussein; I don't defend [Saddam], but rather his oppressed people. Powell implied that Iraq is on its way to attaining nuclear weapons. If only Saddam had the kind of weapons that Israel, the US, India, Pakistan and other countries have..."[4]
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