US dupes Arabs and Muslims - Fadlallah

Beirut : The new US administration has deluded Arabs and Muslims into believing it would chart a course away from the policies of the Bush era, a leading Shi'ite religious authority said.

Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammad Hussain Fadlallah, who spoke earlier this year of the "sincerity" of US President Barack Obama's message to the Muslim world, criticised US policies across the Middle East and in Afghanistan and urged Arabs and Muslims to forget the US president's "foggy" words.

"It appears that the American administration, which deluded Arabs and Muslims into believing it would tread a path different to that of the previous administration ... has begun, bit by bit, to reveal its true face," Fadlallah said.

"The American president's speech, in Turkey or Cairo, is behind us," Fadlallah said in a statement received yesterday. "Practical American steps have begun to define the course the new administration is taking in dealing with our issues."

Fadlallah accused the United States of involvement in events in Iran after its disputed presidential election, adding that it aimed "to bring about a deep fracture in the Islamic Republic", where the disputed vote triggered mass protests. Fadlallah said the region had entered a new phase after events in Iran.

He also spoke of US "interference" in Lebanon during and after its June election, and "negative American movement" in Iraq. In Afghanistan, Fadlallah said the US administration was attempting "to show the face of America the warrior".

On the Palestinian issue, Fadlallah, who is from south Lebanon, spoke of "complete collusion" with Israel.

Obama has tried to change Muslim perceptions of the United States, damaged by the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan under the administration of President George W. Bush.