From WNYKYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

Brooke Ladstone is on vacation.

I'm Bob Garfield.

With the Bush administration's declaration of victory in Iraq,

the unveiling of the much-hyped roadmap for peace between Israel and the Palestinians,

and the announced withdrawal of U.S. forces from Saudi Arabia,

it was a busy week in the redrawing of the political map of the Middle East.

Peter Valenti, a contributing editor for World Press Review,

has been reading the Arab language papers and is here to fill us in on how the Arab press is reacting to the week's events.

Peter, welcome to On the Media.

Thanks for having me.

I want to talk to you for a moment about gutter.

That kingdom has been in a very delicate dance with the United States in the last year or so

and has gone to some lengths to not be seen, not only as a member of the coalition, but certainly not as a

collaborator with U.S. interests in the Middle East. And now, after what Saudi Arabia has endured

for hosting U.S. troops, it will itself be the host to U.S. armed forces to be based now in

Gutter. Whatever has the local press had to say about that development?

Well, that's interesting.

We know the U.S. troops are pulling out, and obviously the English press here in the United

States is covering it.

Whereas in Qatar, we're hard pressed to find anything.

The press focus and the government's focus has been on a new

...