Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03HARARE594
2003-03-24 08:50:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Harare
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE

Tags:  PREL KPAO KMDR ZI IZ 
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UNCLAS HARARE 000594 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS
IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARDS
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI IZ
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE


UNCLAS HARARE 000594

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS
IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARDS
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI IZ
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE



1. Over the 3/22-23 weekend, Zimbabwean newspapers
dedicated major acreage to comment on the war to
disarm Iraq. The tone is critical. Excerpts follow:


2. Under headline "U. N. in tatters" the pro-
government weekly "The Sunday Mirror" (03/23)
comments:

"The decision by the United States and its
allies to launch a military attack on Iraq
without the endorsement of the United Nations
has seriously undermined the world
organization's integrity. . . Prominent global
leaders have argued the case for a peaceful
resolution of the Iraq question within the U.N.
framework but, unfortunately, U.S. President
George W. Bush and his British and Spanish
allies have stubbornly refused to budge,
choosing instead to plunge the world body into a
potentially fatal credibility crisis. The
ongoing attacks on Iraq are in open defiance if
the U.N. Charter and customary international law
and, therefore, constitute unlawful acts of
aggression. . . The unilateral decision to
strike Iraq by the U.S. has introduced a
dangerous precedent in the conduct of
international relations. . . ."


3. Under headline "Most unpopular war" the
independent daily "The Daily News" (02/22) comments:

"The United States' war against Iraq. . .is
probably the most unpopular war a U.S. President
has ever initiated. . . The U.N. will be
criticized for a long time for not coming up
with a forthright condemnation of the U.S. and
Britain for playing the Lone Ranger and Tonto.
The hope around the world is that there will be
few civilian casualties and minimum destruction
of Iraq, already reeling from U.N. sanctions
imposed after the Gulf War of the 1990s. Saddam
Hussein may be a warmonger and a dictator, but
dialogue ought to have been given a chance.
There was no cause for the U.S. to decide on war
regardless of the potential for inciting
reprisals against its allies and another 11
September outrage on its own. All that will be
on George W. Bush's head."

SULLIVAN