In another innovation for the Arab world, ordinary Arabs can air their views on an array of freewheeling phone-in shows.

Saddam Hussein is obviously no better, but at least he has risen from among the ranks of the ordinary Arab, and that makes a difference.

And Mr. Hussein's credibility among ordinary Arabs has virtually evaporated.

And America's popularity has taken a huge plunge among ordinary Arabs.

Never, in a half century of Middle Eastern conflict, have ordinary Arabs so identified with the Palestinian tragedy as they do today.

Among many ordinary Arabs, moreover, Iraq's example also has been more alarming than inspiring.

The lesson of war has not been missed by ordinary Arabs.

That's what he looks like to many ordinary hero-starved Arabs, if not to their governments.

His trump card is in turning the ordinary Arab against the royal families and against their protectors.

In the eyes of many ordinary Arabs, he became a symbol of Arab opposition to American supremacy.