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