MEDIA REACTION ON US FOREIGN POLICY, IRAQ AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 010307 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR, I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN USAID/ANE/MEA LONDON FOR GOLDRICH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR JO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON US FOREIGN POLICY, IRAQ AND TSUNAMI SIPDIS Summary -- Lead stories in all papers today, December 30, focus on the car bombing in Riyadh yesterday, as well as the aftermath of the bombing in Baghdad the day before. Papers continue to highlight the aftermath of the tsunami disaster in Asia. Editorial Commentary -- "Scandals or crimes?" Columnist Khalil Sawahiri writes on the back page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (12/30): "Ever since 9/11, the American media has been creative in the coinage of new media expressions, designed to cover American aggressiveness and its Jewish fundamentalist intentions and hide its military and criminal tendencies.. The most serious lie of all is that of fighting terrorism, a loose term that has come to mean fighting the resistance in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and other part of the world. Resisting occupation is now terrorism, while America has launched its own terror campaign to fight Islamic terrorism, and so the lies get mixed up with the truths, leaving the American people unable to determine what is right and what is wrong.. The American era is a time of crimes, scandals and horrors; the era of the empire of lies that are bound to be exposed to the misled American people." -- "The Asia disaster and America's suspicious stand" Columnist Ibrahim Absi writes on the op-ed page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (12/30): "Because the assistance declared by filthy rich countries, like the United States and the European Union, was not up to standard in relation to the horrible disaster that befell a number of south and south-east Asian countries . the U.N. assistance official lost his temper and accused these countries of being thrifty and irresponsible.. How can we understand the U.S. claims of being responsible for peace and security in this world, when the tsunami disaster has threatened peace and security in South East Asia? How can we understand the fact that the United States sets up military airlifts costing billions of dollars to strike one country or another, but keeps quiet when it comes to salvaging what is left of these Asian countries that were struck by a first-class humanitarian disaster? Maybe the United States only moves when it has a vital interest to serve.. We have the right to ask such questions. We also have the right to demand that, after this disaster, the United States stops its talk about moral, humanitarian and democratic responsibility towards the people of this world, since it deals its humanitarian positions on double standards: one for the Anglo-Saxon people, including the Zionists, and the other for the Muslim people, who are not worth helping as far as the United States is concerned. Having said that, why do the other Asian and Muslim countries themselves not move to come to the aid of the suffering Asian countries, since the United States refuses to provide ample assistance?" -- "The massacres of Iraqi police .. why?" Columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (12/30): "With ease, an armed group surrounds the Iraqi national guard, captures 12 of them and shoots them in cold blood. This was one of many operations that happened on the same day, killing tens of these poor Iraqis.. Exterminating the Iraqi police and forces is not going to nullify the occupation, rather it will sustain it in view of the lack of any alternative authority that might take over. Many people view the bloodshed of Iraqis as legitimate because the Iraqi force that is being built is viewed as being pro-occupation. This is a simplification that violates the basic truths of the status quo. The resistance is a combination and a variety of people, some of whom belong to terrorist groups with no potential political agenda.. So, let us not list these easy massacres against the national guard and policemen under the title of the resistance.. After all, empowering the Iraqi forces and imposing domestic security will eliminate the need for the occupation forces. True, the resistance is gaining strength and expanding, but the bloody targeting of Iraqis serves nothing, rather it entrenches the division and racial hatred." HALE