MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 000599 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA 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 IZ ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "What will this war achieve?" the pro-government "Daily Mirror" dedicated its March 24 editorial to denouncing the war against Iraq, saying, "Instead of freeing the Iraqis, he (President George W. Bush) is ensnaring them into deeper poverty and distress." Excerpts: ". . .It is becoming clear that instead of delivering the world from danger, Bush is endangering the world more. Instead of freeing the Iraqis, he is ensnaring them into deeper poverty and distress. Iraq is a country already struggling under-year-old international sanctions, with levels of poverty having already reached alarming proportions, according to the U.N. A worse catastrophe is the mounting death toll directly related to military operations. For how long can the world afford this killing and destruction of a city and a country that was once the capital of the Islamic world. . .? As we have said before, the real objectives of this war are being ignored. President Bush himself stated last week that the so-called allies wanted to replace the present administration with a U.S.-led military dictatorship before installing a puppet government run by local people. That is hardly the way to create a democracy. What this will only achieve is the looting of resources of the world's eighth largest oil producer and boost the egos of the Bush clan, which felt embarrassed about failing to topple Saddam during the Gulf War. The rest of the story is about murder and mayhem." SULLIVAN