MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000591 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PDA WHITE HOUSE PASS NSC/WEUROPE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO KMDR OIIP OPRC CA SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ IRAQ ¶1. "No really, it could work" Under the sub-heading, "Though counterintuitive, Bush's warpath might lead to Mideast peace," columnist Marcus Gee commented in the leading Globe and Mail (2/28): "...As Mr. Bush sees it, solving the Arab-Israeli dispute would remove one of the grievances that helps fuel anti-Americanism and complicates the fight against terrorism. The American desire for peace springs from the strongest motive: self-interest. So after the United States goes to war, it will turn once again to the harder job of peace." ¶2. "U.S. serious about democracy in Mideast" Columnist Marcus Gee wrote in the leading Globe and Mail (2/27): "...Whatever Washington's critics may say, there is no way that the United States is going to replace Saddam Hussein with a friendly thug and get out. Idealistic? Dangerous? Perhaps. There is always the danger that Muslims would see the attempt to build democracy in Iraq as an imperial enterprise, setting off a backlash that would make anti-Americanism worse, not better." ¶3. "George W. Bush, the engineer" Editorialist Mario Roy wrote in the centrist La Presse (2/28): "George W. Bush redrew the map of the Middle- East and undertook some spectacular political engineering work on Wednesday.... Everything is coherent with what could be called the Wolfowitz doctrine...the U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary and a high level strategist who considers it the West's duty to spread its values of liberty and democracy. But we have said it before: imposing democracy by force is not a good idea.... Moreover, one cannot imagine a worst guide than America to show the way especially in this region where, rightly or wrongly, the U.S. is thoroughly detested. The fact that the Bush administration fails to see these pitfalls leaves us speechless." CELLUCCI