MEDIA REACTION IRAQ; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 002269 SIPDIS DEPT FOR INR/R/MR, AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION IRAQ; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "American war drums discord" the independent weekly "The Sunday Mirror" used its October 13 editorial to argue against an U.S. attack on Iraq. Excerpts follow: ¶2. "As President George W. Bush presses ahead with his plans to attack Iraq, there are more voices opposing the war plan. . . But, even as the U.S. Congress was passing the war vote, there are important dissenting voices to the war plan. Indeed there are some in the American Congress and House of Representatives who believe that President Bush has not proved that Iraq poses an imminent threat to the USA. Even American intelligence officials have confirmed that Iraq does not possess any means in the form of missiles capable of reaching the USA. Iraq is known to possess only short-range missiles capable of reaching neighboring countries, but none of these are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. But George Bush has insisted that `Saddam Hussein and his outlaw regime pose a grave threat to the region, the world, and the U.S. Inaction is not an option, disarmament is a must.' This has widely been seen as an American excuse to topple Saddam Hussein, which, it seems, President George W. Bush is determined to do. ". . .Another important voice against the planned `Bush war' is that of the former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who on Friday won this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Carter has been very critical of the Bush administration's drive to wage war on Iraq without UN support, warning that this would be `a tragic and costly error.' The Chairman of the Nobel Committee, Gunnar Berge, is reported to have said, `With the position Carter has taken, the award can and must also be seen as criticism of the line the current U.S. Administration has taken on Iraq.' Also important, a coalition of Church leaders of more than 60 Christian organizations has condemned the American and British plan to attack Iraq. The Church leaders argue that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, though real, is not imminent enough to justify military action. The Episcopal bishop of Washington, John B. Shane, summed up the Church leaders' feelings and indeed that of many of us when he said: `. . .In this case. . .I don't see the threat from Iraq to the U.S. as an imminent threat, so. . .military action against Iraq is inappropriate.'" SULLIVAN