MEDIA REACTION IRAQ; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 001544 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION IRAQ; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "America's medieval barbarism" the pro-government weekly "The Sunday Mirror" dedicated its July 27 editorial to condemning the United States for making public the pictures of Saddam Hussein's two sons, Uday and Quasy, who were killed in a gun battle in Mosul on July 22. Excerpts: ¶2. ". . .The U. S., which prides itself as a paragon of civility, virtue and democracy, chose to stoop lower than its butchered, murderous victims, arrogantly flaunting its distasteful triumphalism (sic) by exhibiting vanquished enemies as trophies, in a way reminiscent of medieval barbarism. It is equally shocking that the so-called civilized democracies, Australia and Britain, conveniently shelved their reverence of international laws and conventions to join the U. S. in celebrating its pyrrhic victory. But, while the Bush administration has pointed out that publishing the photographs did not contravene the Geneva conventions, the whole world remembers that in March, when dead U. S. soldiers were shown by Iraqi television and Arab networks, Washington condemned the broadcasts. It therefore leaves one wondering whether international conventions are meant only for the weak, while the strong are at liberty to bend them when ever doing so is to their convenience. . .? The ongoing guerilla-style attacks on U. S. marines in Iraq is ample evidence to Washington that the anti-colonial resistance in that country is not the work of isolated pro-Saddam `hold-outs,' but a popular expression of the general anger of Iraqis against U. S. occupation." SULLIVAN