MEDIA REACTION SADC MUTUAL DEFENSE PACT HAILED;

UNCLAS HARARE 001673 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KMDR ZI KAPO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION SADC MUTUAL DEFENSE PACT HAILED; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "SADC Mutual Defense Pact welcome development" the August 25 edition of the government- controlled daily "The Herald" carried the following op-ed by Caesar Zvayi: ¶2. ". . .The events of September 11, 2001 an obvious backlash by the disgruntled bullied, provided the ¶U. S. with a much-needed cover for its imperialist drive by launching the so-called `war on terror. . .,' What is interesting about these `search wars' is that the declared reasons for war are never found but each time strong governments are always removed to pave way for spineless Western stooges. . .The countries that have been targeted by the U. S. and its running dog, Britain, all have two things in common. The first is revolutionary governments and strong leaders that are unflinching in the face of bullish overtures from Washington or London. The second attribute being the possession of strategic natural resources that are in great demand in the Group of 8. Both of these attributes abound in the SADC region, which is probably the reason why both Bush and Blair embarked on their African safaris to assess their chances under the guise of philanthropy. . .In this scheme of things, revolutionary governments have to pave way for stooges who would open up the enormous resources abounding in such countries to free plunder by Western overlords. . .These factors make the SADC region a target of the new imperialist vision which is the reason why the drafting of the SADC Mutual Defense Pact. . .is a welcome development that is bound to ensure the collective security of member states. . .A united SADC defense force will act as a deterrent to the machinations of the Western overlords in this unipolar world. The moral decadence and abuse of power by the U. S, and UK was probably foreseen by former U. S. President F. D. Roosevelt where he said: `The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live for we have guided missiles and misguided man.' How prophetic these words are in the third millennium where two misguided men, Bush and Blair, are using pre-emptive strikes to launch guided missiles on defenseless nations in a so-called war on terror. . .and a search for WMD by using WMD! What double standards?" SULLIVAN