MEDIA REACTION U. S. AND WAR AGAINST TERROR;

UNCLAS HARARE 001853 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PD 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 U. S. AND WAR AGAINST TERROR; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "U. S. losing war against terrorism" the pro-government weekly "The Sunday Mirror" dedicated its September 14 editorial to encouraging the United States to "abandon its current Middle East foreign policy" as a panacea to win the U. S.-led war against global terrorism. "Unless the U. S. abandons its current Middle East foreign policy. . .its war on international terrorism would be a futile exercise that no one will win," the editorial warned. Excerpts: ¶2. "Two years after the 11 September bombings on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon - symbols of America's financial and military might - the Bush Administration seems to be losing its war against global terrorism. After the attacks, Bush promised to take the war to the "terrorists" but his efforts seem to have hit a brick wall. Osama bin Laden. . .continues to be elusive and ideology is spreading fast among most of the major Muslim countries. The Al Qaeda network remains a potent force capable of carrying out terrorist acts and the Mombasa bombings in Kenya late last year, which killed dozens of Jewish tourists, is an example. . .Although Washington may take comfort from the fact that no major terrorist incidents have taken place within its borders since the September 11 bombings, attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, some few months ago, show that Al-Qaeda is as lethal as ever. The U. S. image in the Islamic world has taken a knock in the past four months since it invaded and occupied Iraq on the grounds that President Saddam Hussein harbored illegal weapons of mass destruction and had close ties with Al Qaeda. American intelligence reports indicate that Iraq has become a fertile nursery for the recruitment of young Arabs joining the ranks of the Al Qaeda for the Jihad. Unless the U. S. abandons its current Middle East foreign policy, which seeks to weaken Arab nations and is skewed in favor of Israel, its war on international terrorism would be a futile exercise that no one will win." SULLIVAN