MEDIA REACTION REMEBERING 9/11; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 001885 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS IRAQ 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 REMEBERING 9/11; HARARE ¶1. Two weekend newspapers - the government-controlled weekly "The Sunday Mail" and independent weekly "The Standard" - dedicated huge acres of space to opinion articles reflecting on the second anniversary of September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States. Last week, most of the mainstream newspapers also carried wire articles, mostly by Reuters and Agence France -Presse (AFP),that focused on activities, events and issues centering on September 11. Excerpts follow: ¶2. Under headline "U. S. racism unmasked" the government-controlled weekly "The Sunday Mail" (09/14) carried the following opinion piece by Tafataona Mahoso under his regular column, "African Focus," on page 10 in which he accuses the U. S. and Britain of "lying" in order "to justify their illegal war against Iraq." Excerpts: "Most serious students of international relations by now will have been thoroughly impressed by the amount of lying it took the U. S. and British governments to justify their illegal war against Iraq. But there is the case of five Cuban prisoners of conscience coming up for appeal in Atlanta, Georgia, in the U. S. on September 15, 2003, which in many ways is more embarrassing than even the illegal war against Iraq. . .The five Cubans are victims of five of the worst white North American prejudices against `other' peoples. These five historic prejudices have now been complicated by the September 11 bombings of New York and Washington, which happened long after the arrests of the Cubans, and should have actually assisted the North Americans to sympathize with their captives, but, in fact, worsened the prejudices by worsening North American xenophobia. . . ." ¶3. Under headline "Americans remember 11 September" the September 14 edition of the independent weekly "The Standard" carried an opinion piece by Ken Mafuka, under his regular column "American notes," in which he hails Americans for displaying "their best character, patriotism and generosity of spirit" during September 11 "memorial day." Excerpts: "Americans must have invented patriotism. The events September 11. . .has become a memorial day. The news media, the politicians and religious leaders have voluntarily come together to worship and make memorials of those heroes who died in the attack. In remembering the lost ones, Americans display their best character, patriotism and generosity of spirit. . .The events of September 11 may have laid the foundations of a better America. Since that date, many Are Americans, who regarded themselves as racists, have now realized that when the country is faced by a persistent and an unyielding enemy like Al Qaeda Muslim extremists, all Americans regardless of race, are in the fight together. . . ." SULLIVAN