The latest Doha Debate voters at the Doha Debates overwhelmingly concluded that Senator John McCain is not the best candidate for protecting Middle Eastern interests by 87% to 13%.

Afghan Press Author: Ima Kabiri

The Doha Debates are a unique venture in the Islamic world, providing a battlefield for conflicting opinions and arguments about the major political topics of the world while they have become the Middle East’s forum of choice for many prominent statesmen.

While governments around the world tighten restrictions on press freedom, the Doha Debates openly dissect the vital issues of the Middle East in front of its people and on global TV.

The Debates enter into their fifth series in September 2008 and are chaired by the award winning, former BBC correspondent and interviewer Tim Sebastian Televised eight times a year by BBC World News.

The latest Doha Debate voters at the Doha Debates overwhelmingly concluded that Senator John McCain is not the best candidate for protecting Middle Eastern interests by 87% to 13%.

A lively audience at Qatar Foundation’s Doha Debates yesterday conclusively warned America that a victory by John McCain in the US Presidential election would damage relations with the Middle East.

First to speak for the motion was Danielle Pletka who gave an impassioned defence of McCain’s intentions in Iran, Iraq and the rest of the region. Danielle Pletka, Vice President for Foreign and Defence Policy Studies at the American Institute for Public Policy Research, supported the motion, suggesting that Senator McCain was the only Presidential candidate who would not “walk away” from Iraq, leaving the region to return to sectarian violence.

She said Obama was constantly changing his opinions and had even offered to negotiate “unconditionally” with Iran.

She added that Barack Obama did not have the necessary experience to be a successful leader and said that his “inconsistency” on such important issues as the Israel-Palestine conflict was a worrying indication of possible indecision in future.

“The rest of the world will benefit from a strong US,” she argued, claiming that “if our country were to turn inward then I think the region would be worried about losing the protection the US offers.”
“And it is irresponsible to leave Iraq as Obama proposes to do; if we leave the country in the state it is now, then the door is open for Iran to take over and that is not a good thing for the region either,” she added.

Michael Signer, former foreign policy adviser to Democratic Senator John Edwards’ presidential campaign during 2007- 2008 was the next to speak, and he put forward a number of arguments for why Obama’s policies would benefit the US and the Middle East.

“Obama has the capacity to be genuinely transformative and to be a leader who will listen as opposed to lecture and will think before he acts,” he argued.

He also said:”McCain’s foreign policies could be judged by the current administration’s track record, which shows a “rash and intemperate” sentiment.” He also attacked the motion and the dangers a McCain victory would present.

Describing Barak Obama, the Democrat nominee, as “thoughtful and deliberate”, he said such qualities were of paramount importance during the present troubled times.

“It is time we had a president who thinks before he acts rather than acts before he thinks.” He said Senator Obama was an African-American who spent his formative years in Indonesia, a Muslim nation, and would be a president “who wants to understand and listen, rather than just talk.”

Dr. Saad al-Ajmi, former Kuwaiti Minister for Information and Culture, said he supported the motion largely because he feared that Senator Obama would pull US troops out of Iraq prematurely “before they had cleared up the mess they created.”

Al-Ajmi said that he had no interest in US domestic politics but was concerned with which candidate best dealt with the priorities of people from the Arab region.

“The most important issue is the Israel-Palestine conflict, and McCain has said he will follow the two-state solution which is the proposal supported by Arab leaders,” he said, adding that “if the US pulls out of Iraq, the country will descend into chaos.”

“And although we do not want war with Iran, we do not want appeasement either, and so I think McCain is the best man from the Arab point of view,” he added.

In an opening statement that drew loud applause from the packed 350-member audience, Hafez Al Mirazi, a former Al Jazeera presenter and currently vice chairman of Al Hayat Television in Egypt, warned Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate, was from the same warmongering mould as Dick Cheney, Bush’s vice-president, “who happens to be a quail hunter.”

“Can you imagine what would happen if Palin, a moose hunter, reached the White House? It would be the same thing.

“What did Palin do when she visited Kuwait on her only trip to the Middle East? She practiced shooting,” Mr. al-Mirazi said in reference to a visit by Palin to US troops stationed there.

“A McCain-Palin victory would do to this fragile relationship what Lehman Brothers did to the markets.”

Al-Mirazi then spoke against the motion and argued that “anybody would be better in the White House than John McCain”.

“George W Bush has made both the US and the Arab world worse off than eight years ago, and his hawkish Republican mate, John McCain, will end up making him look like Mahatma Gandhi if he gets elected,” he said.

“Obama described McCain’s disagreements with Bush as ‘Robin disagreeing with Batman’, arguing that this is a worrying sign of how close the two are in terms of policy.”

He suggested McCain was eager to “fight and engage in wars” against Iran, Syria “and anyone who would oppose America.”

The debate was a lively one, with all the panellists contributing interesting insight into the problems the next US administration will face in the region, but at times it felt like a foregone conclusion with so much anti-Republican sentiment on display from the audience.

Most of the questions from the audience were directed to the McCain side, clearly indicating their preference for Barack Obama.