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Source: http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=express&s=braude020205
How Arab Newspapers Spun the Iraqi Election
(New Republic) Joseph Braude - How do you spin democratic elections in Iraq when your boss is an authoritarian ruler with a restive population? Libyan and Sudanese papers pretended the elections never happened. In Tunis, Al Sabah led with the headline, "Bloody Election Day." Syria's establishment daily Teshreen emphasized Sunni disenfranchisement. The press in Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia played up the threat of Iranian regional dominance posed by a Shia victory in Iraq's elections. In the Gulf, the little oil-rich monarchies staunchly aligned with the U.S. for the most part hailed the Iraqi elections as an historic first step on the long road to real democracy - a road they all claim to be traversing themselves.