AMMAN, MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ

UNCLAS AMMAN 007420 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: AMMAN, MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ Summary -- Lead story in all papers today, November 16, focuses on reports about the two blasts against two synagogues in Istanbul, including the international and regional reaction and condemnation of the attacks. Another lead story focuses on Iraq-related developments, including the downing of two Blackhawk U.S. helicopters in Mosul, Iraq, and the Iraqi Governing Council's announcement of a timetable for handing over power to the Iraqis, inclusive of a Iraqi elections before the end of 2005. On the domestic front, all papers focus on newly-appointed Prime Minister Faisal Fayez' visit to the Jordanian dailies, where he emphasized the need for a "free media" that "is capable of serving the state, its leadership and its institutions", and not just a "government media". Editorial Commentary -- "The Iraqi resistance is making events" Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (11/16): "Continuing to pretend not to know the source of the daily attacks against the occupying forces in Iraq has become funny. Besides, no one can ignore the fact that Saddam Hussein and Al-Baa'th regime are the ones leading the resistance in Iraq, that this resistance has brought dramatic and conclusive changes to events in Iraq, and that the story about America's enthusiasm to hand over power to the Iraqis is nothing but the fruit of this resistance. It is early to say that the United States will withdraw from Iraq, but it is not far from the truth to say that the Bush administration has actually linked the Iraq file to the next presidential elections in the fall of 2004. Choosing next June as the time for forming the `Iraqi Karzai government, five months before these elections, indicates that the Bush administration is seriously looking for a political cover to allow it to withdraw from the Iraqi arena and still allow the President to win the next elections. This is what the Bush administration wants . but its calculations are not guaranteed, and it all depends on the Iraqi resistance and what Saddam Hussein might do." -- "The bloody lesson in Nasiriyeh" Daily columnist Bater Wardam writes on the op-ed page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (11/16): "Those Italian soldiers did not deserve to die strangers on Iraqi soil. There was no need to spill Italian blood in an Arab country when millions of Italians have taken to the streets in support of Arab causes. The problem is, however, is that the businessman who is ruling Italy has turned the Italian army from a professional army defending Italy to a mercenary army in the service of the United States and its expansionist objectives. The one who must pay the price for the Italian presence in Iraq is the Italian Prime Minister himself, and he must pay that price politically and not through violence.. The United States and Britain alone must drown in the Iraqi quagmire. Washington and London are the ones who defied international resolutions and the Security Council, and they are the ones who sent their armies into Iraq, not just to occupy it, but also to run an experiment for occupation projects and the ousting of regimes in the region, particularly in Iran and Syria. Thus, the failure of the American model in Iraq means the cancellation of such future projects being contemplated by the Zionist right-wing party ruling in the White House.. Eighteen Italian soldiers paid the price of America's greed and the collaboration of the Italian Prime Minister, who sent them to their death in service to the American occupation. Yet, maybe the death of these soldiers was a sacrifice for other soldiers, whose countries would now hesitate to send them to Iraq. Maybe it is a consolation for those who reject the American occupation and for those who reject violence against targets other than American or British, in that such operations might encompass a political vision rather than just being haphazard killing strikes. They might be the bloody lesson that must read by anyone who is willing to provide protection and coverage for the American occupation."