SWEDEN

SWEDEN
Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Oct. 28: From the beginning it has been said that the United States must use a broad arsenal in which diplomatic, police, political and military efforts work together.
However, one problem from an American viewpoint is that the humility and willingness to cooperate that existed immediately after the terror attacks in New York and Washington was conspicuous by its absence during the diplomatic prelude to the Iraq war. Then the tone was significantly more self-confident than it is today.
It does not do any good, however, to dwell on all that has happened.
Bigger threat
The outside world -- including the United States -- must act according to the reality which exists. And the reality is that an Iraq where terror is allowed to win becomes a bigger threat against international peace and security than Saddam Hussein's oppressive regime was.
ITALY
Corriere della Sera, Milan, Oct. 29: George Bush has repeated what the military in Baghdad told him: that Islamic extremists and Saddam nostalgics are behind the attacks in Iraq. But the truth is, as officers in the field acknowledge, they don't know who their enemy is.
The Americans have not yet succeeded in responding to a fundamental question: are the cells operating independently or is there some kind of control?
The key, as always, is intelligence.
The guerrillas have good intelligence, since they are on home ground. The Americans had to start from scratch.
Israeli model
To respond to the threat the Pentagon could be tempted by the Israeli model: intelligence ... suppression, incursions, punishments for those who harbor rebels. You take the initiative, but you risk alienating further a population that is tired of death.
If you adopt a wait-and-see policy you inevitably favor those who attack you.
EGYPT
Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Oct. 28: Although it has neither denied nor confirmed suspicions about its unlawful activities, Israel is widely believed to have 200 to 300 nuclear warheads. The Jewish state has not ratified the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Likewise, it adamantly refuses to open its nuclear installations to international inspections. Nonetheless, no tough warning has been made to Israel to come clean on its nuclear program. The United States, which is spearheading a high-profile drive for global denuclearisation, has yet to pressure its protege to fall into line. Nor has the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has apparently done Washington's bidding over Tehran, been so firm with Israel.
Law unto itself
Allowing Israel to keep the lid on its highly suspicious nuclear program and spurn bids to uncover it confirms the rife notion in the Middle East that the Jewish state is a law unto itself. The Arabs, who more than a year ago declared readiness to forge normal ties with Israel in return for the handover of occupied territories, must capitalize on the U.S.-led pressure on Tehran to demand that similar attention be accorded to the Jewish state's nuclear misbehavior.