MEDIA PLAY - IRAQ

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000556 SIPDIS DEPT FOR INR/R/MR, I/RW, I/REC; PA SA/INS(FOR JWALLER); SA/PD (FOR LJIRWIN, LSCENSNY, WREINCKENS); SSA/PAB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR OIIP CE SUBJECT: MEDIA PLAY - IRAQ REF: Colombo 550 ¶1. Under the front-page headline, "CBK hits out at Bush," the DAILY MIRROR (independent English daily, islandwide circulation) pursues a leitmotiv that often appears in the Sri Lankan media's coverage of the war: mixing local issues with news from Iraq. (See reftel, which reported that an editorial in the DAILY NEWS (government-owned English daily, islandwide circulation) wondered why some Sri Lankans are simultaneously pro-peace in Iraq and "deafeningly silent" regarding peace in Sri Lanka itself.) According to "CBK hits out," President Kumaratunga has accused the USG of "waging war against Iraq ... while asking Sri Lanka to go ahead with peace talks with a terrorist organization [i.e., the LTTE]." ¶2. Other English dailies are satisfied with either pix of "smoke billows from an explosion in ... Saddam's guest palace" or a "map of `Day 12.'" The vernacular press, in contrast, gives heavy coverage to what one Sinhala headline describes as "U.S. soldiers kill seven Iraqi women and children." The same story appears in the Tamil dailies under headlines such as "Coalition forces fire near checkpoint; 7 Iraqis ... killed" and "Fearing suicide bombers, innocent civilians shot dead." ¶3. Although Sri Lanka's English- and Tamil-medium editorialist are silent today, a brief editorial appears in LAKBIMA (independent Sinhala daily, islandwide coverage). Dilating on "The principle of refusing war," LAKBIMA's editors say: "Our Prime Minister has said that he is not prepared to go on with a war that would never bring victory to us ... not prepared to sacrifice the country's economy, and the future of its children. "Lovers of war can never bring a solution to a problem. We can eradicate war only if we realize this truth." Wills