MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002240

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 IRAQ

Summary

-- Lead stories in all papers today, April 14,
continue to focus on developments in Iraq. Lead
stories also highlight the "serious" escalation of
U.S. threats against Syria, citing President Bush's
accusation of Syrian possession of chemical weapons.

Editorial Commentary

-- "After the fall of the illusion"

Columnist Raja Talab writes on the op-ed page of semi-
official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai (04/14):
"With the fall of the biggest statue of former Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein in the center of Baghdad, the
ideology, which is closer to illusion more than
anything and that prevailed in the Arab world and
among the Arab elite for years, collapsed. It is an
ideology based on the belief that a dictator can
become the liberator and the symbol of freedom and the
maker of that freedom. For many decades, Arab
totalitarian regimes succeeded in marketing themselves
as the refuge for the poor, as the road of salvation
for the Arab people from the repercussions of defeat,
and as the mouthpieces for the slogans to liberate
Palestine. These regimes managed to fool the Arab
people for years and drag them from one defeat to
another.. Saddam Hussein has become a thing of the
past, but he did not go alone. With him went the
illusionary ideology of the Arab world that baseless
political dreams can be achieved. With him went the
ideology that dictators can make freedom and victory
and that they have the right, in the name of this
freedom, to kill millions."

-- "The Iraq lesson from the Palestinian viewpoint"

Daily columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the back page
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour
(04/14): "The Iraq lesson bears so much significance
for the Palestinian issue. From the Palestinian
viewpoint, the Palestinian reform program has acquired
added importance in the post-Saddam era. The people
who resisted this program for one reason or another
must realize that the fate of the Palestinian issue is
now more closely linked to the achievement of this
program than at any other time. They must be careful
not to give Israel the chance to draw a link between
the Palestinian authority and the Iraqi regime,
particularly when it succeeded in its `talibanization'
of the Palestinian authority after the events of
September 11. Also from a Palestinian viewpoint, it
is time to create a unified strategy that would be
binding for all the Palestinian national and Islamic
parties, that would regain the popular aspect of the
Palestinian Intifada and would limit military action
to operations against occupation soldiers and
settlement areas only. The current stage is crucial,
and the experiment of a Palestinian prime minister
must succeed, for its success is the only way to stop
making the Palestinian the next in line in the series
of regime changes after Iraq."

-- "In defense of the Iraqi people"

Columnist Abu Yazan writes on the back page of center-
left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (04/14):
"The feelings of contempt and anger that overtook the
Jordanian people over the past three weeks have
changed in the last days of the war, particularly
following the fall of Baghdad, into feelings of
resentment and denunciation that were not only
directed against the late Iraqi regime, but also
against the Iraqi people themselves.. We must be very
careful about shooting accusations and jumping to
conclusions. The Iraqi people have nothing to do with
this war. They are its primary victim. They were not
consulted before it broke out, just as much as they
were not consulted in any of the major events of Iraqi
history. The Iraqi people were denied freedom and
security for over thirty years. They have a huge sum
of rejection for the dictatorship that made the people
suffer the worst. It is therefore natural that some
of these people would act without discipline and even
without any civility."

-- "Hurry up before it is too late"

Daily columnist Hilmi Al-Asmar writes on the back page
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour
(04/14): "The usurpation of Iraq has lifted the cover
off the Arab political regimes. All are now
candidates for the `liberation' whether they like it
or not. It is best for the political elites to start
changing their colors and taking cover with their
people by `liberating' their people from oppression
and tyranny now when there is no pressure, before this
issue becomes a pretext for bringing down the
rejectionists and before their files are taken out of
the CIA drawers. It is a new age, the age of
liberation and democratization by force. So hurry up
before it is too late for you."

-- "Help in several ways"

Centrist, influential among the elite English daily
Jordan Times (04/14): "The Bush administration must
indeed have a twisted notion of freedom if, as it said
yesterday, it really believes that `looting is a
natural expression of freedom'. Many have already
argued that the U.S.-British forces stood idle as
chaos swept Iraq's major cities as part of a
deliberate policy.. Today, we must think practically
of what Jordanians can do, in concrete terms, to
contain the damage.. There are plenty of good reasons
for recrimination: U.S. commanders did put guards at
Iraq's oil ministry, but not at hospitals, museums and
other crucial buildings. It is unfortunately too late
to prevent many of those most precious, unique
artifacts from being smashed, disfigured, or stolen.
But it is likely that some of the looted items -
testimonies to the first great civilization ever -
might at some point pass through Jordanian soil..
Relevant authorities, including the military and
police at all airports and crossing points, should
immediately be mobilized and enlisted in the effort to
restore to the Iraqi people what belongs to them..
One of the greatest services that Jordan could do for
Iraq would indeed be to contribute to return at least
part of the vestiges of its great history and
heritage."
GNEHM