MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ

UNCLAS AMMAN 003140 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 PARIS FOR O'FRIEL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR JO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ Summary -- Lead stories in all papers today, April 22, focus on the two explosions in Riyadh and Basra, highlighting the death toll and the number of injured civilians. One columnist strongly criticizes the U.S. "campaign" against some Arab satellite stations for their media coverage of the situation in Iraq. Another columnist views Spain's decision to withdraw its troops as the work of the Iraqi resistance. Editorial Commentary -- "Polishing the image of the occupation" Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back-page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (04/22): "I mean the American occupation that has begun to express publicly its dismay with the media coverage of the Arab media, particularly the satellite stations, for events on the Iraqi scene. For the first time, we see a coordinated campaign against Al- Jazeerah and Al-Arabiyyah at the highest levels of the Pentagon. Vocabulary used in this campaign is designed to charge these satellite stations' news reports as being lies and provocation, which is definitely a preparation for further oppressive measures that would put in darkness what is going on in Iraq and portray the occupation as succeeding in rebuilding the new Iraq, when in reality Iraq today is an Iraq of victims, massacres, booby-trapped cars, sieges of cities and prisons. It is ironic that the American occupation would accuse the Arab media outlets of lying, when it knows that the biggest lie was that of the weapons of mass destruction.. Iraq today is not a source of pride from America and Britain, because Iraq now has been transferred from a state of suffocating siege and regional wars into a state of self-destruction, a shooting range and a refuge for violence movements from Afghanistan all the way to North Africa. What each of Bush and Blair managed to do is create a different model in Iraq that simulates the barbaric model established by Sharon in Palestine. This truth does not require reports from Al-Jazeerah and Al-Arabiyyah, for these two are just witnesses." -- The Spanish forces' withdrawal and the American failure in Iraq" Daily columnist Yaser Za'atreh writes on the op-ed page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al- Dustour (04/22): "There is no point in viewing the withdrawal of the Spanish forces from Iraq as the outcome of fears of armed operations against Spanish interests inside and outside Iraq. How would we explain the Honduras' decision to do the same and the expected decision b Thailand? What is actually going on is an expression of the international forces' feeling that the American occupation project of Iraq has become a reason for financial and human exhaustion and title for defeat. It has become clear that the cake that was promised to the collaborators has become some sort of lethal poison.. No one can sacrifice troops for a failing project, let alone for the sake of neo-conservatives in the United States? This is of course the fruit of the work of the Iraqi resistance, not the accomplishments of members of the governing council or peaceful resistance.. The Spanish move is to be praised and appreciated because it simply declared the defeat of the occupation project in Iraq." HALE