How the world sees it

AUSTRALIA

The Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 15: When Barack Obama took office as U.S. president, it was apparent that changing the occupant of the Oval Office would change many things about America. And in the past year that expectation has been confirmed in speech and deed: a new attitude towards the Islamic world and new strategies for peace in the Middle East; new energy policies linked to measures aimed at reviving the ailing US economy; and now the attempt to deliver health insurance cover to all Americans, an issue that was central to Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign.

Respectful silence

It is a tradition that presidents addressing Congress are heard in respectful silence, even by their fiercest political opponents. ... No one heckles a president. Or at least no one did until last week, when a Republican congressman from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, yelled out “You lie!” during Mr. Obama’s speech.

Nor is this the only novelty the president has had to endure since he began urging legislators to deliver on health care reform. Outside many of the town hall meetings he has attended have been protesters carrying guns.

LEBANON

Daily Star, Beirut, Sept. 11: Eight years after the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Americans and indeed citizens of other countries around the world are still taking stock of the global “war on terror” that former U.S. President George W. Bush swiftly launched in the aftermath of the attacks. Nearly a decade on, Bush has retired to a home in Dallas to write his memoirs, but the blood of scores of victims in the global war on terror is still drying. The conflicts that the Bush administration initiated continue to take a heavy toll on Iraqis, Afghans and Americans alike, hundreds of thousands of whom have been killed or wounded over the last eight years.

No end in sight

The end result of all these conflicts is that September 11 is no longer an unparalleled tragedy. Every day is a September 11 for the scores of civilian victims of terrorist attacks and indiscriminate wars that are being waged around the globe. Countless buildings have been destroyed by suicide bombers, extended families have been killed in “targeted” air strikes, and entire villages have been razed by invading forces, but the end of the war on terror remains nowhere in sight.

BRITAIN

The Times, London, Sept. 16: Last months election in Afghanistan was stolen. At the very least, President Karzai must order a rerun in about 2,500 polling stations. The cheating, the ballot stuffing and the absurd instances of 100 per cent turnout or a unanimous vote for Mr. Karzai have not only undermined the credibility of this costly exercise in democracy; they have provoked anger and suspicion between the Afghan Government and its NATO allies and supporters and called into question the entire Western commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan.

Election theft

Were Mr. Karzai to acknowledge the charges of fraud, co-operate with the investigators and address the charges laid against him by Dr Abdullah, the country might be able to weather this attempt to steal the election. He is in no mood to do so.

The election fraud is a political scandal, a blatant attempt to deceive the Afghan people and entrench in power a corrupt administration. It is now high time that the allies asserted the minimum conditions of a deployment that has cost huge sums and many lives. Ideally, the entire election would be scrapped and rerun, although that may be impractical, leaving the country rudderless for months. Instead, either there must be new polls in at least 2,500 areas or agreement by Mr. Karzai to share power.