MEDIA REACTION ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S REMARKS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 008176 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 TSOU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR JO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S REMARKS Summary -- President Bush's speech to the National Endowment of Democracy on October 6 in which he warned about the establishment of a radical Islamic empire extending from Indonesia to Spain received extensive attention in the Jordanian press. There was also prominent coverage given to reports quoting Palestinian officials about a private conversation in which the President allegedly spoke of "God's inspiration" for the U.S. intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. Editorial Commentary -- "Exaggerated fears" Columnist Yaqoub Jaber writes (10/11) on the op-ed page of the center-left, influential Arab daily Al- Dustour (cir. 80,000): "The speech delivered by President George Bush last Thursday clearly reflects the state of hopelessness of achieving a military victory in Iraq. The speech also carries a message of intimidation to the Americans whose support for the war is decreasing. It is a message that tells them that they are still targets for Al-Qaeda organization. The speech also includes a repetition of the official statement that it is better to fight the `terrorists' in Iraq than inside the United States. Finally, it is a message to the entire world warning all that these `terrorists' are planning to set up a `fascist, extremist Islamic state' that extends from Spain all the way to Indonesia. In his speech, Bush seems to be calling on everyone for help to support his military campaign in Iraq. And yet the speech is unconvincing, illogical and related to the war on Iraq. Who could believe that a some hundred or even thousand extremists would be able to establish an empire of that size after beating the western armies and security and intelligence forces, including the massive American power? There is no doubt that the terrorists do pose a genuine threat to the security and stability of all countries, but they are incapable of actually achieving the ruling status in the smallest of countries. They are people who excel in haphazard killings with no conceivable objective. Their best ability is manifested in planting explosives here and there, then hiding and disappearing, while achieving marginal results that do not even rise to the standard of posing serious threat to change governments and oust regimes." -- "Bush: the ruler by God's command" Columnist Ibrahim Gharaibeh writes (10/11) on the op- ed page of the independent, centrist Arabic daily Al- Ghad (cir. 80,000): "God's words to Bush explain the U.S. policy and determines the fate of countries and the direction in which the world is going. All human beings - heads of secular, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and Confucius states, and the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, banks, stock markets, and weather forecasters - are required to wait for the divine inspirations and for God's words to Bush.. These hallucinations and witchcraft is not happening in an isolated country, nor is it happening in primitive tribes in the Amazon's deep, but in the superpower country that is leading the world and that has most prominent military, political, economic, cultural and media strength. So where is this world going?" -- "Bush's Islamic empire!" Columnist Mohammad Abu Rumman writes (10/8) on the op- ed page of the independent, centrist Arabic daily Al- Ghad (cir. 80,000): "Al-Qaeda organization, of which Bush speaks of as being similar to the Communist enemy, is an unspecific jelly-like organization that lacks a specific political program and does not control any state or part of a state in the world, but rather takes up the thorn in the side of the United States and its interests.. In addition, the `moderate' Arab countries, as Bush sees them, have the sufficient security and oppressive power to abort even the smallest of conspiracies, let alone the establishment of world Islamic state! Bush, more than anyone, knows very well that the `Islamic empire' is impossible to establish these days. So, the question revolves now about the objective of such historic `closing remarks' on the part of Bush. The answer lies in the need to create a state of fear and shock in the American community and allied countries so that the foreign and domestic policies of the neo- conservatives become justifiable.. President Bush is determined to ignore the mistakes made in Iraq, while there is an almost consensus within the United States about these mistakes.. Of course we agree that the implementation [of the US policy] was disastrous, but we do not agree that it a noble cause. This is because the results that we see suggest that there is one main beneficiary from what is happening in Iraq, namely Israel, and an unintended secondary beneficiary, namely Iran, while the Arabs, peoples and governments, are the real losers from what is happening in Iraq." -- "The signal for the attack" Daily columnist Nahed Hattar writes (10/8) on the back- page of the independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al- Arab Al-Yawm (cir. 40,000): "The speech of Bush Jr. is, at the end of the day, is the hallucinations of an imperialism that has lost its ideological hegemony and qualitative superiority, and has begun to rot. This hallucination however is armed with weapons and stolen monies and has allies all around the world, including Arab and Muslim allies who suffer from masochism and self-contempt. After the series of failures and defeats in Iraq, Bush Jr. still does not want acknowledge the crisis, but rather insists on developing his aggressive, bloody and crazy war from a tactical war . to a strategic war." RUBINSTEIN