Anti-Israel Arabs Fear McCain

If you needed a reason to vote for John McCain over either Democrat, look no further than reaction from the Middle East when gauging how his election would be viewed.

Make no mistake either that our enemies relish the prospect of having lightweight liberals like Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama in the White House.

Many Arabs fear McCain would continue Bush policy

Arabs keen to see the end of George W. Bush's presidency fear that a win for likely Republican candidate John McCain will bring little change to U.S. policies they blame for destabilizing the Middle East.

For Arab politicians who have gained from U.S. policy in countries including Iraq and Lebanon, continuity may be a good thing.

But Bush's many critics in the Arab world worry that McCain will continue current U.S. policies, which they fault for unleashing chaos in Iraq and providing unflinching support for Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians.

Naturally, it all goes back to Israel.

During a Middle East tour this month, McCain's statements on Israel also sounded alarm bells for Arabs who have long criticized Washington for not exercising enough pressure on the Jewish state to withdraw from occupied Arab land.

No hiding the agenda here.

"The first time McCain started to catch attention was when he visited ... Israel and committed himself to recognizing Jerusalem (as its capital) and not pressuring Israel," Mohamed al-Sayed Said of Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told Reuters in Cairo.

"This confirms the natural inclination of Arabs to think that whatever the next administration is, it will be a tool of the Israelis."

It gets worse.

Syrian political commentator Thabet Salem said McCain's pro-Israeli stance and comments against Syria, as well as a commitment to keep U.S. troops in Iraq could lead to more Middle East instability.

"McCain has exhibited little willingness to depart from the foreign policy of the neocons, which encourages spread of fundamentalism and terrorism," he said.

And to nobody's surprise, Tehran certainly is rooting for the Barack Obama.

An Iranian political analyst, who declined to be identified, said that while the authorities were publicly keeping their distance from the U.S. election campaign, their preference appeared to be for Democratic candidate Barak Obama.