MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ, MIDDLE EAST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 007276 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, MIDDLE EAST Summary -- A lead story in all papers today, November 6, focuses on developments in Iraq, with reports of three explosions that rocked the U.S. military command's headquarters in Mosul yesterday and that the U.S. forces arrested two Iraqi generals suspected of organizing part of the resistance in the Sunni triangle in Iraq. All papers report Kurdish leader Jalal Talbani's statements criticizing Syria's "wrong" policy towards Iraq. Al-Dustour reports that the United States is getting ready to deploy thousands of its reserve troops in Iraq. Papers also report that the dispute continues between Palestinian President Yasser ARAFAT and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei over who to appoint as Palestinian interior minister. On the domestic front, all papers report that Foreign Minister Muasher was the guest in a Jordan Television program entitled "Issues and Events," during which he said that Jordan's foreign policy does not change with the change in government. Muasher stressed that the establishment of an independent Palestinian state is a Jordanian interest and that Jordan is employing its international relations to secure a just and comprehensive solution in the region. In another development, all papers quote Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Eng. Khaldoun Qteishat as saying that the first shipment of Iraqi oil is expected to arrive by sea on November 14. Editorial Commentary on Iraq -- "The Bombardment of "Mr." Bremer's Headquarters!" Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (11/06): "The most important thing that can be deduced from the bombardment of "Mr." Bremer's headquarters is not about the number of missiles that succeeded in reaching him - just like what happened to Wolfowitz at Al-Rashid Hotel - but is about the ability of the resistance to continue such operations from any location in Iraq it chooses. In line with all resistance movements in history, this confirms that the (Iraqi) resistance has territories it can easily move about in and that it is able to hit and disappear. This is something that cannot happen without a popular umbrella, which can be clearly monitored from scenes of popular (Sunni and Shiite) demonstrations that express anger against the occupation and from the people's spontaneous jubilations after each operation against Americans." Noting that "Mr." Bremer is only a Mr. in the minds of those who came behind the occupation's tanks and the war-inflicted destruction, Udwan concludes: "This is a surname used by America's parties to return the favor for the occupying Mr. Favors done by the Americans speak for themselves through the massacres that are being committed against the Iraqis, the last of which was the murder of five citizens and the burning of their bodies after finishing their Ramadan prayers in Dalou'iyah. In the minds of the Iraqis, the surname "Mr." will remain confined to the heritage and surnames they have inherited from their Islam. Or it will be a surname they will save for the Iraqi individual who can newly rule Iraq - an Iraq that is free of the occupation and of hegemony and of attempts to change its Muslim Arab skin, mind, and heart." Editorial Commentary on the Middle East -- "The Europeans Support Peace and Condemn Israeli Terrorism" Commenting on the European public opinion poll that awarded Israel the title of "greatest danger to world peace," columnist Mahmoud Rimawi writes on the op-ed page of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai (11/06): "One surprisingly notices that the European Union deliberately chose to take its time and was reluctant before it released the results of the poll. The requirements of Western democratic and constitutional life impose on the countries of this union to be guided by those results and to formulate their policies base on them. This is given that as a whole, European stands are good and objective but lack their implementation and translation into tangible steps and measures." Rimawi concludes: "All Arab parties, individually or as a whole, should "empower" themselves from the results of this poll so as to organize a political and diplomatic attack against the criminal occupying Israeli force, which does not stop threatening to drown the region in blood in addition to its exercise of the policy of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians - the sons of the occupied territories." GNEHM