MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ

UNCLAS OTTAWA 002387 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PDA WHITE HOUSE PASS NSC/WEUROPE; NSC/WHA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO KMDR OIIP OPRC CA SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ IRAQ ¶1. "Bittersweet liberty" Andre Pratte editorialized in Montreal's centrist French language daily La Presse (8/20): "...No one knows who is trying to put a spoke in the American's wheel...but one thing is certain, their macabre task will be rendered easier by the fact that they will find support among the general population. This is why the head of the provisionary government in Iraq, Paul Bremmer, must do everything in his power to win over the hearts of the Iraqis, if it's not already too late.... The American invasion was based on a simplistic vision of the world, the Middle East and Iraq. George Bush dreamed of killing four birds with one stone: Get rid of Saddam Hussein, weaken international terrorism, create a liberal democracy in the heart of the Arab nation and achieve a breakthrough toward peace in Palestine. Yesterday's events show that, for three out of the four, the President is still very far from his goal." ¶2. "Complicated Middle-East" Serge Truffaut commented in Montreal's intellectual/nationalist French-language daily Le Devoir (8/19): "...Viera de Mello made a comment less than a month after his nomination that is now as much enlightening as it is topical. He estimated that the United Nations were in `a bizarre situation' in Iraq because they are playing second fiddle behind two of its members, namely the United States and Great Britain.... In point of fact, however, if the UN Security Council saluted the provisional government in Iraq, it never recognized it. But it seems that this has convinced some Iraqi opponents to attack directly U.N. officials and their leader. They must perceive the U.N. as an ally of Washington and London. A junior ally but an ally nonetheless." ¶3. "Wrong target" Pierre Jury editorialized in Ottawa's only French- language daily Le Droit (8/21): "...Thousands of Iraqis are opposed to the American-British presence in their country. This should not surprise us. Some are loyal to Saddam Hussein and will fight to the death for him. Others are simply nationalists who do not accept the strong-arm method used by the Americans to invade their country, or the rationale used to justify it. The U.N. is not the United States. The U.N. is not an invader: The terrorists who killed do not have the capacity to discern between the two.... So long as these monolithic thoughts persist in Iraq, peace will remain a distant illusive objective." CELLUCCI