Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03AMMAN2372
2003-04-20 11:58:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ

Tags:  KMDR JO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002372

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 20,
continue to focus on developments in Iraq. Reports
highlight the arrest of the former Iraqi Minister of
Finance and the withdrawal of the U.S. Marines as they
handed over the civilian management of Iraq to the
U.S. army. Papers highlight the Arab regional
conference that was held in Riyadh yesterday, calling
for an end to the "occupation" of Iraq and rejecting
threats to Syria.

Editorial Commentary

-- "Free region of WMD"

Centrist, influential among the elite English daily
Jordan Times (04/20) editorializes: "The weapons
inspection saga is now a familiar story after the
international community saw where and how it led with
and ended in Iraq. The UN weapons inspectors never
found a trace of any weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq and now after a month of US occupation, no proof
has been found to incriminate Iraq on that count.
Today, the same familiar tactics are being directed
towards Syria with suggestions that it should allow
weapons inspectors in to establish whether it has
chemical weapons or not.. Once inspectors are allowed
into the country, there is always a risk the United
States would never be satisfied with the findings and
may end up doing what it has done in Iraq, i.e. using
the pretext of its own unconfirmed allegations that
chemical weapons are present in Syria, to play havoc
with Syrian sovereignty.. Damascus now insists on a
UN Security Council resolution that would declare the
Middle East a zone free of all types of mass
destruction weapons, including of course nuclear
capability, which Israel holds claim to.. Double
standards in the application of the will of the
international community to rid the world of all mass
destruction weapons can no longer be accepted or
tolerated. Now is the time to take up the Syrian
proposal if the United States and other interested
countries are serious about eliminating the dangers of
such weapons."

-- "No Arab role"

Daily columnist Mohammad Kawash writes on the back
page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab
Al-Yawm (04/20): "What happened in Iraq, and
previously in Palestine, makes us deal carefully with
the Arab position towards hot and serious issues.
Today, all Arab countries, without exception, reject
and condemn the U.S. threats against Syria.. When the
war begins, Damascus will realize that the brotherly
Arab countries are incapable of providing any
assistance, even helpless about issuing a statement of
condemnation against the United States.. We tell our
brothers in Syria to completely forget about any Arab
support or any joint Arab action in this new crisis
that the U.S. administration created. We advise
Damascus to understand the changes, to read well the
U.S. developments and tendencies, and to quickly move
on the political and diplomatic front.. We have
washed our hands completely from any genuine Arab
action during crises and from any effective Arab role
in confronting the Israeli and the American onslaught,
and we say there is not Arab role. Yet, this does not
mean that we should suffer from helpless, desperation
and frustration, because this time we are depending on
the role of the people in resisting the foreign
occupation. The Palestinian people are still capable
of snatching their freedom and independence and the
Iraqi people are able to confront the occupation and
to protect its wealth."

-- "Those gloating about the fall of Baghdad"

Daily columnist Fahd Fanek writes on the back page of
semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai
(04/20): "Ousting the Baath regime in Iraq allowed
those who oppose that regime to cry over democracy and
to condemn oppression and dictatorship in an indirect
way of welcoming the American occupation of Iraq.
What is being written and said is not meant to serve
democracy, but to support the American stand and
justify the occupation of Iraq.. The freedom that
America brought is a freedom to steal, to loot, and to
destroy Iraq's treasures, history and heritage..
Democracy cannot be imposed on people by the power of
steel, fire, Apaches and Tomahawks. Democrats cannot
be led by Ahmad Jalabi, who embezzled millions of
dinars from the country that hosted him.. America
beat the Iraqi regime militarily, but the people of
Iraq are going to beat America politically. While
America's military position was raised after the war,
its moral position and power collapsed.. What fell in
Iraq was not one of the Arab regimes. It was the
strategic depth of Jordan and Syria; the high dam that
protected the Gulf countries from the Mullahs of Iran;
and the last obstacle in the face of eliminating the
Palestinian issue."
GNEHM