MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ

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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ



1. "La Prensa"2/22 San Pedro Sula-based liberal paper,
carried a full-page story: "Effects of a War against Iraq
will be Less Dramatic for Honduras":

The Honduran Private Council for Business, the Tegucigalpa
Industry Chamber of Commerce and the Forum for the
Strengthening of Democracy hosted a conference with Giovanni
Reyes, economist and Director of Development and Regional
Cooperation for the Latin American System. He was invited to
speak on "Economic Capacity for Central America to prosper
by liberalized trade during a possible war".

"I don't think that the same economic problems will arise
because of a war as occurred after September 11, because the
circumstances are different. And it will also benefit the
regional economy, if, as estimated, the war is not drawn
out, but rather as the U.S. intends, the conflict ends as
soon as possible".

"I do not discount that this conflict could have an impact
on the commercial value of Central American products -- that
is why farmers and governments should plan to export less
bulk coffee and switch the industry to processed coffee
because it offers added value.



2. Also in daily "La Prensa"- 2/18, an op-ed by regular
columnist Gloria Leticia Pineda: "War and Peace": After
receiving a lot of e-mails, my conclusion is that pacifists
wouldn't be as fanatically opposed as they are now if a
country other than the U.S. was the one calling for war- Why
do they have such sympathy and consideration for Saddam
Hussein? There are sincere people that seek peace to avoid
harm to people, but at the present, there are a lot of
hypocrites pretending that they are neutral. There are many
people in America and Europe who are opposed for acceptable
reasons, but there are also a lot of countries that envy the
United States and would like to see it on its knees. But
what do Honduras and the world gain with a United States on
its knees? History has not taught us anything: there were
no seriously coordinated efforts to stop Hitler and the
world paid a high price in blood.

"The dream of peace is not an easy thing to achieve. A
Syrian runs the presidency of the United Nations Council.
Libyan has a high position as the leader of the committee on
"Defense of Human Rights." These nations do not view the
U.S neutrally; both Syria and Libya are under suspicion of
being terrorist countries. Besides, Hussein is not an
educated man such as Alejandro I (King),and the United
States won't leave its military forces to die of illness as
Napoleon did to his eighty thousands soldiers. Already U.S.
medical doctors have been sent to the war zone. Only a
miracle can stop this war. Pray for it.


3. TV talk show "Frente a Frente" 2/25 - Renato Alvarez,
director and anchor, at the beginning of an interview with
Narcis Serra, a European socialist leader and a former
Minister of Defense and the former Vice President of Spain
during the administration of Felipe Gonzales, quoted
Secretary of State Powell as saying made recently during his

SIPDIS
trip to Asia that with or without the United Nation's
blessing, the U.S. will go to war against Iraq. Serra
commented: "The Spanish government's recent decision to
support the U.S. in an invasion of Iraq is only the
government's position not that of the Spanish people. They
have held strikes, because they do not want a war.

"Without any doubt Saddam Hussein has to be disarmed -
because we cannot allow a country that invaded Kuwait and
prosecuted a bloody war with Iran resulting in thousands and
thousands of victims. This country must not have
destructive and dangerous weapons, but during the Gulf War a
great number of Iraq's military weapons were destroyed, and
since then more weapons have been deactivated and destroyed.
Why not continue with an inspection system that guarantees
the international world that this problem is under control
without declaring a war, because a war means thousands of
civilian and military casualties, and it will provoke the
feeling of humiliation that the Islam world feels toward the
U.S. Why not continue with a method that maintains this
country under control without a war.


4. Another "Frente a Frente" talk show invited Ambassador
Rafael Leiva Vivas, Director of the Diplomatic Academy of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Dr. Jose Maria Leiva, a
university professor of International Relations, to analyze
and evaluate a possible U.S. and Iraqi conflict.

After both commentators discussed historical issues of past
wars and conflict, they discussed the possibility of war
between the U.S. and Iraq based in many respects on articles
provided by PAS to both the invitees and the journalist.
Rafael Leiva Vivas commented that the U.S has the right of
self-defense as it is established under the rules of the
United Nations because they were attacked by terrorists.


5. Many other TV and Radio stations also have used the
Washington File as supporting documents when they have
commented on the conflict or when they have invited experts
to talk about the U.S. and its allies.
Palmer