MEDIA REACTION ON TERRORISM AND VIOLENCE, DECEMBER

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002827 SIPDIS FOR WHA/PDA (OHILTON),IIP/G/WHA, IIP/T/ES, NEA/NGA, WHA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP PREL KPAO MOPS PGOV HO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON TERRORISM AND VIOLENCE, DECEMBER 3, 2003 ¶1. Editorial in Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily "La Tribuna" on 12/3 entitled "The End". "At some point in our recent history, conventional wars, guerrilla wars like the one the U.S. army encountered in Vietnam, gave way to terrorism as the most significant threat. We now see in the Middle East, Africa, some South American countries, and the 9/11 attack in the U.S. that terrorism is the most devastating threat to humanity." "When we hear and read the news about the difficulties of the allied forces in Iraq, the attacks against American troops, the recent terrorist actions against diplomatic missions in other countries, the suicidal attacks of Iraqis against their own countrymen or the occupation forces, or last weekend's incident that took the lives of seven Spanish secret agents, has inevitably brought to our mind what SIPDIS happened in Vietnam." "There are so many war fronts around the world. Right now, North Korea and Iran are being closely watched to prevent them from developing nuclear weapons, the eternal clash between Arabs and Jews that has made the Middle East such an unstable and volatile region, and in the meantime both Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are still unaccounted for. Humanity is now exposed to a terrible and new threat, and it's still impossible to predict how it will end." Palmer