MEDIA REACTION ON THE DAMASCUS MEETING ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 007157 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 THE DAMASCUS MEETING ON IRAQ Summary -- A lead story in all papers today, November 3, focuses on the conclusion of the Damascus meeting, which was held yesterday to discuss the security situation in Iraq. The final communique stressed the unity and sovereignty of Iraq and called for the enhancement of a UN role. The communique also condemned the "terrorist" bombings and called for an end to the occupation and support for the Iraqi Governing Council. While in Damascus, Foreign Minister Muasher reportedly met with the Syrian President and stressed the need to help Iraq in its crisis. Another story dealt with the resistance in Iraq, reporting the downing of a U.S. helicopter, which killed 15 U.S. military men and injured 21 of them. Al-Arab Al-Yawm quotes Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld as saying that this was a sad day for Americans in "a long and difficult war." On the domestic front, Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez began meetings with members of Parliament to discuss the Government's program during the next stage. A number of Editorial commentaries (November 2 - 3) focus on the anticipated outcome of the Damascus meeting. Editorial Commentaries on the Damascus Meeting -- "An Initiative From the Neighboring Countries" Daily columnist Jamil Nimri write on the back-page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (11/02): "All efforts (during the Damascus meeting) should not all focus on reaching a consensus over the final communiqu, but should seek a real initiative that constitutes an alternative to the current U.S. policy. .. The U.S. forces should nowadays secure the situation inside the cities and on the roads and at Iraq's long borders with all countries. It is a predicament!? With this mission impossible, this arrogant administration can now begin to think of how it is preparing to open new fronts with Iran and Syria." Nimri concludes: "Yes, the time is appropriate to propose an alternative regional vision that is logical and rational per the current crisis. There should also be an exercise of a brave political dynamic that would force the United States to deal with it. It is not necessary that the initiative should be ready now, but the neighboring countries could work on it. A delegation of foreign ministers can be tasked with visiting Iraq and meeting different Iraqi parties and hold discussions with them. The delegation can also meet with international parties in order to ripen the vision of a proposal and a specific schedule that would end the occupation and build an alternative democratic Iraqi regime." -- "What is Required is Support for Iraq and Not Isolating It" Commenting on the Damascus meeting, daily columnist Bater Wardam writes on the op-ed page of center left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (11/02): "The security concern is not the only thing that will prevail during the meeting. Indeed, what is important is building sustainable relations with Iraq and exerting more Arab effort to support the Iraqi people in their efforts to get rid of the occupation, fundamentalism, terrorism, bombings and repressive regimes, and to establish their own independent state - a state that every Iraqi deserves just like all other peoples on earth. If this regional meeting contributes to those efforts, then it would have achieved real success. However, if this meeting remains a hostage to the concerns and agendas of each country, then Iraq will not benefit at all." -- "The Meetings of the Pan Arab and Regional Neighbors of Iraq" Influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (11/03) editorializes: "What is noteworthy is that the Damascus meetings came after the increasing rate of escalation and resistance in Iraq. The Iraqi resistance is escalating and its operations are taking a new qualitative character of its own. Meanwhile, Washington is procrastinating in its response to the calls of the international community that stress on expediting an end to the occupation and transferring power in Iraq to the Iraqis and involving the United Nations in everything that deals with Iraq's future." The paper adds: "It is actually hoped that Washington will find in the results of the Damascus meetings what would help it and provide it with the ladder it needs to come down from the top of the tree, which it had climbed by waging a war against the will of the International community and the United Nations and by adopting policies that are unacceptable on both the regional and international level." Al-Dustour concludes: "It is really hoped that the different Iraqi parties inside and outside the governing council would find in the resolutions of the Damascus meeting what would help it to move ahead in rebuilding Iraqi institutions and to pass the difficult interim stage that Iraq is going through by expediting the preparation of a modern constitution for the county and organizing free and honest elections that would lead to a legitimate government that represents the Iraqis." Editorial Commentary on Iraq -- "The Legitimacy of The Governing Council" Questioning the legitimacy of the Iraqi Governing Council, Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (11/03): "When it reaches the point of considering the occupation as a representative of the Iraqis' hopes for democracy and freedom, why cannot anyone who gets appointed by that occupation be considered as a true representative and spokesperson for the Iraqi people?! This is the democracy that Bush's administration is seeking to impose on Iraq and to force the neighboring countries to deal with. This surely is a democracy that is totally different from what this administration and the U.S. media had talked about before the war." Udwan adds: "In other words, the partnership project that Colin Powell had announced on the eve of the invasion and occupation of Iraq had turned from a partnership with a democratic model in Iraq to a state of U.S. partnership with the Arab regimes to design a different fate for this country - a fate based on the equation of imposing security through absolute military force and resorting to appointed councils that speak for the Iraqis and even putting policies regarding their future, which violate international law. Such policies include the privatization policy and distributing tenders among companies owned by Cheney and Condoleezza Rice without the presence of a legitimate government in Baghdad and that of an elected legislative council that issues laws and legislatures." Describing what the United States is implementing in Iraq as "dictatorship in its worst form" and comparing it to the British colonization of India during the first half of the last century, Udwan concludes: "The remaining hope is for the people of Iraq to succeed, just as the Indian people did, in ousting the occupation and establishing democracy while maintaining the integrity of the Iraqi soil." GNEHM