MEDIA REACTION U. S. AND WAR AGAINST TERROR;

UNCLAS HARARE 001853

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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