MEDIA REACTION ON TERRORISM AND VIOLENCE, DECEMBER

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002827

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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

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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