Some Mideast critics see U.S. crisis as payback

CAIRO, Egypt — America's opponents in the Middle East are gloating over the financial meltdown in the U.S., painting it as divine retribution for misdeeds against Muslims and the last gasps of a dying empire.

Hard-line clerics across the region and groups such as Hamas and al-Qaida took delight in America's financial woes even though it has caused stock markets across the Middle East to drop more than 10 percent last week.

"We are witnessing the collapse of the American Empire," Hamas prime minister in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, told worshippers during Friday prayers. "What's going on in America is a result of the violation of the rights of people in Palestine, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Muslims around the world."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that the U.S. is paying for exporting inflation and deficits.

"Now the world capacity is full, and these problems have returned to the U.S." he said. "And, finally, they are oppressors, and systems based on oppression and unrighteous positions will not endure."

Iran denies the financial crisis has hurt, but the turmoil has helped drive the price of oil down more than 40 percent since July, shrinking revenues in a country that relies on oil for 80 percent of its budget.

One hard-line Sunni cleric in U.S.-allied Lebanon saw the financial collapse as God's answer to Muslim prayers.

"God has responded to the supplications of the oppressed people," Mufti of Mount Lebanon Sheik Mohammed Ali al-Jouzo told the state-run news agency Thursday. "It is the curse that hits every arrogant power."