MEDIA REACTION ON WAR IN IRAQ

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001910

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR,
I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN
USAID/ANE/MEA
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH
PARIS FOR O'FRIEL

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: KMDR JO
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON WAR IN IRAQ

Summary

-- Front pages of all papers published today, March
31, continue to focus on developments in the war in
Iraq. Major reports highlight the effect of the
suicide bombings, a "division" in the Pentagon over
the military operations, as well as the continued
Iraqi resistance and the continued American and
British bombing of Baghdad and Basra. A banner
headline in Al-Arab Al-Yawm reads "Four Thousand Arab
Would-Be Martyrs [suicide bombers] for Iraq". Al-Arab
Al-Yawm also carries the text of a letter sent to the
King by 99 well-known Jordanian former officials and
others urging him to adopt a stand in defense of the
Iraqi people. Covers of all Jordan's dailies feature
above-the-fold photographs of civilian-area
destruction or armed coalition forces searching Iraqi
civilians.

Editorial Commentary

-- "An unclean war"

Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm
(03/31): "To begin, it is an illegitimate and an
unjust war, and it is a war by the armies of
superpowers against a small third world country..
Bush and Rumsfeld are trying to keep under cover the
war's developments so that their crimes stay in the
dark.. There were bloodbaths in Baghdad and Basra
where children, men and women became human pieces.
That is why Rumsfeld gave strict orders to the
American media not to publish any photos of the crimes
being perpetrated against humanity.. Yet, blood is
thicker than water. Al-Jazira and other satellite
televisions covered the atrocities of Rumsfeld's dirty
war.. The least an Arab can do is not to keep quiet
about the brutality of the American-British
aggression. The least we can do is to pursue the war
leaders with their daily crimes and atrocities against
the Iraqi people in order to expose them and put an
end to them. If the media is silent about a crime, it
becomes as good as a supporter and an accessory."

-- "Smart weapons and stupid policies"

Daily columnist Fahd Fanek writes on the back page of
semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai
(03/31): "This unjust war launched by Washington and
London against Iraq is not aimed to disarm Iraq's non-
existent weapons of mass destruction, nor is it to
fight terrorism or to spread freedom and democracy.
All these are mere fabricated pretexts. This war is
being waged for the sake of Israel, the oil and
controlling the region. This war is being waged with
smart weapons but with stupid policies. This campaign
of aggression is going to mark the beginning of the
end of the America as the sole world superpower, just
as the colonialist British empire ended following its
aggression against in Egypt in 1956 and just as the
Soviet Union collapsed with the failure of its
campaign in Afghanistan.. We had imagined that the
Anglo-American axis would secure a military victory
but suffer a political defeat. The surprise is that
the military victory has not been achieved and the
political defeat is being confirmed day in and day
out.. What is required is to stop this crazy war now.
It is a war that is costing Iraq and is incurring
major losses for America and its allies. There is
still an opportunity for an acceptable peaceful
solution that saves face for all parties."

-- "Civil Jihad [non-violence] against the United
States"

Daily columnist Bater Wardam writes on the op-ed page
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour
(03/31): "We all feel much hatred for American
policies. We do not care about diplomatic or trade
relations when the American army is committing
monstrous massacres in Iraq. Yes, we feel severe
hatred and we are thinking of all possible means by
which we can respond against the American aggression.
The problem with the introverted, government-
suppressed Arab societies is that they either resort
to random military retaliation, which directs feelings
of hatred in the incorrect direction, or they give up
and war and aggression become just another
`consumption method'.. Jihad is not just a military
form, because not all Muslims have the capability to
fight or use weapons.. The interesting thing is that
the concept of `Jihad' is applied in the West and its
societies that are more open-minded than the Arab and
Muslim societies, because the latter simply has no
concept of the idea of a civil society.. Civil Jihad
includes many options such as the boycott of American
commodities, strikes, and civil disobedience.. The
Jihad against the United States and against its
invasion of Iraq, its occupation of Iraq's territory,
stealing Iraq's resources, killing Iraq's people, is a
required and a legitimate Jihad. It is not only a
military action, rather it includes a number of
peaceful and civil actions that would work to change
the feelings of hatred into effective actions against
the American invasion on all political, civil,
economic, cultural and socials levels."

-- "The future is bleak"

Daily columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the back-page
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour
(03/31): "The coalition media is engaging in what we
used to think are special characteristics of the Arab
media alone: lying through the teeth, taking sides,
and thwarting its professionalism and credibility..
It is shameful that this media cannot find anything
other than the image of the British soldier giving an
Iraqi child in Umm Qasr some chocolates as proof of
`the humanity of the war, its legitimacy and its
cleanliness'. This media is ignoring the horrific
images of the civilian victims of the markets in
Baghdad, Mosul and Basra, and ignores the images of
the dead and the wounded of the allied forces. We
used to not believe the Iraqi official media - and the
media in Iraq is all official, its credibility shaken
and its performance desperate - yet, in this war, we
are not looking for the truth in the stories of
western media, because they too have become involved
in lies and misinformation."
GNEHM