MEDIA REACTION WAR IN IRAQ; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 000714 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: IZ PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR IN IRAQ; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "Give Iraqis the peace they deserve" the government-controlled daily "Chronicle" used its April 10 editorial to accuse the United States and Britain of "butchering" journalists "at will" in the ongoing war to free Iraq. Excerpts: ¶2. "A bloodbath of calamitous proportions is taking its toll on Iraqi citizens. . .in the ongoing illegal war in the Gulf. . . While the Americans and British have continued to celebrate the success of their air strikes, what they fail to notice is that the rest of the world is restless, and the anger is building up against the two countries' leaders over their open defiance of all nations of the world just to build up their egos. . . While some of the newspapers openly supported the attack on Iraq, no one should celebrate the death of journalists, though their deaths should save as a wake-up call to the countries involved in the war. . . The same Americans and British are always singing and chastising other countries over their treatment of journalists that they are butchering at will in the Gulf. . ." SULLIVAN