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
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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