Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03AMMAN7187
2003-11-04 11:34:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Amman
Cable title:
MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ, THE DAMASCUS MEETING
how-toThis 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 007187
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, THE DAMASCUS MEETING
COMMUNIQUE
Summary
-- A lead story in all papers today, November 4,
focuses on the situation in Iraq, reporting the
assassination of Iraqi collaborators with the
occupation - including the head of court in Najaf and
the head of Al-Karkh suburb in Baghdad - and the
bombardment of Bremer's headquarters as well as an
attack on Mosul airport. Headlines highlight President
Bush's statement within a speech he delivered in
Birmingham, Alabama, that the United States "will not
run from Iraq." According to Al-Rai, the Washington
Post quoted U.S. officials as saying that former Iraqi
Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told U.S.
investigators that Saddam Hussein was under the belief
that the U.S. attack on Iraq was merely a "trick" and
that Saddam was convinced of the possibility of
avoiding a war based on assurances from French and
Russian mediators.
On the domestic front, Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez
continued meetings with members of Parliament to
discuss the Government's program during the next
stage. While meeting with members of the National
Parliamentary Action Front bloc yesterday, Al-Fayez
said that the foundation of a modern and democratic
electoral law requires examination and dialogue.
Editorial Commentary on the Damascus Meeting
-- "The Bankruptcy of the Occupation"
Daily columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back-page of
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm
(11/04): "The U.S. policy in Iraq has reached the
verge of bankruptcy as it constitutes a series of
assumptions that are against reality and lies that are
exposed by facts ... Since the beginning, nothing in
Iraq went according to expectations. This is because
everything was built on lies for the sake of some
covert ideas by the U.S. right wing that are
characterized by extremism and are based on deceiving
public opinion. Those ideas are serious due to their
superficiality and simplicity - something which the
administration is too stubborn to admit while the
whole world is astonished as it watches the super
power's entanglement in those ideas.
Noting that the peak of simplicity lies in the fact
that no attention was given to "the Day After" and
that it was simply believed that Iraq could be ruled
for a couple of years by a "a military ruler," Nimri
concludes: "The peak of the tragedy lies in the fact
that some news from Iraq cannot be differentiated from
news from Palestine. For example, punishing the people
for not cooperating in shoveling palm trees and other
fruit trees from the territories where the clashes are
taking place. If the extent of resistance to the
occupation is what we see nowadays, what would the
resistance be like after treating the inhabitants in
such a manner? And what is the meaning of the
continuation of this occupation, which is inevitably
destined to disappear?!"
-- "Ministers of the Six Neighboring Countries"
Commenting on the final communique of the Damascus
meeting, daily columnist Uraib Rintawi writes on the
op-ed page of center left, influential Arabic daily Al-
Dustour (11/04): "No one expected some neighboring
countries (with Iraq) to admit responsibility for
accusations leveled by the Americans and the Iraqis.
Claiming innocence of those accusations was totally
expected albeit not convincing at all. News keep
coming in about confessions from defendants, some
Salafi fundamentalist forces are strongly active
within the Sunni triangle with support from their
authorities in the vicinity and abroad and the
experience in South Lebanon and Hizbullah's resistance
is perceived by many parties as a model that can be
emulated in Iraq."
Rintawi concludes: "With the exception of two small
countries - Kuwait and Jordan - each country that
neighbors Iraq has agendas and considerations that
sometimes meet and often clash. This is what made it
possible for Turkey to exceptionally side with Iran
and Syria and hence, led to the issuance of a loose
communique written in large font, about a meeting that
stole the lime light for a period of 48 hours only."
GNEHM
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, THE DAMASCUS MEETING
COMMUNIQUE
Summary
-- A lead story in all papers today, November 4,
focuses on the situation in Iraq, reporting the
assassination of Iraqi collaborators with the
occupation - including the head of court in Najaf and
the head of Al-Karkh suburb in Baghdad - and the
bombardment of Bremer's headquarters as well as an
attack on Mosul airport. Headlines highlight President
Bush's statement within a speech he delivered in
Birmingham, Alabama, that the United States "will not
run from Iraq." According to Al-Rai, the Washington
Post quoted U.S. officials as saying that former Iraqi
Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz told U.S.
investigators that Saddam Hussein was under the belief
that the U.S. attack on Iraq was merely a "trick" and
that Saddam was convinced of the possibility of
avoiding a war based on assurances from French and
Russian mediators.
On the domestic front, Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez
continued meetings with members of Parliament to
discuss the Government's program during the next
stage. While meeting with members of the National
Parliamentary Action Front bloc yesterday, Al-Fayez
said that the foundation of a modern and democratic
electoral law requires examination and dialogue.
Editorial Commentary on the Damascus Meeting
-- "The Bankruptcy of the Occupation"
Daily columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back-page of
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm
(11/04): "The U.S. policy in Iraq has reached the
verge of bankruptcy as it constitutes a series of
assumptions that are against reality and lies that are
exposed by facts ... Since the beginning, nothing in
Iraq went according to expectations. This is because
everything was built on lies for the sake of some
covert ideas by the U.S. right wing that are
characterized by extremism and are based on deceiving
public opinion. Those ideas are serious due to their
superficiality and simplicity - something which the
administration is too stubborn to admit while the
whole world is astonished as it watches the super
power's entanglement in those ideas.
Noting that the peak of simplicity lies in the fact
that no attention was given to "the Day After" and
that it was simply believed that Iraq could be ruled
for a couple of years by a "a military ruler," Nimri
concludes: "The peak of the tragedy lies in the fact
that some news from Iraq cannot be differentiated from
news from Palestine. For example, punishing the people
for not cooperating in shoveling palm trees and other
fruit trees from the territories where the clashes are
taking place. If the extent of resistance to the
occupation is what we see nowadays, what would the
resistance be like after treating the inhabitants in
such a manner? And what is the meaning of the
continuation of this occupation, which is inevitably
destined to disappear?!"
-- "Ministers of the Six Neighboring Countries"
Commenting on the final communique of the Damascus
meeting, daily columnist Uraib Rintawi writes on the
op-ed page of center left, influential Arabic daily Al-
Dustour (11/04): "No one expected some neighboring
countries (with Iraq) to admit responsibility for
accusations leveled by the Americans and the Iraqis.
Claiming innocence of those accusations was totally
expected albeit not convincing at all. News keep
coming in about confessions from defendants, some
Salafi fundamentalist forces are strongly active
within the Sunni triangle with support from their
authorities in the vicinity and abroad and the
experience in South Lebanon and Hizbullah's resistance
is perceived by many parties as a model that can be
emulated in Iraq."
Rintawi concludes: "With the exception of two small
countries - Kuwait and Jordan - each country that
neighbors Iraq has agendas and considerations that
sometimes meet and often clash. This is what made it
possible for Turkey to exceptionally side with Iran
and Syria and hence, led to the issuance of a loose
communique written in large font, about a meeting that
stole the lime light for a period of 48 hours only."
GNEHM