MEDIA REACTION ON IRANIAN PRESIDENT'S REMARKS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 008527

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 IRANIAN PRESIDENT'S REMARKS
AND SYRIA

Summary

-- Lead stories in all papers today, October 30,
address a variety of regional developments, including
the toll of the latest bombing near Ba'qouba in Iraq
and the Syrian President's announcement of the
formation of a Syrian investigative committee in the
Hariri assassination, as well as Israeli attacks
against the Palestinians.


Editorial Commentary on Iranian President's Remarks

-- "Wake Up Sleepy One!"

Former Minister of Information Saleh Qallab writes in
the semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al Rai
(10/30): "When the young bearded Mohammad Ahmadi
Najad, who came to be the President of the Islamic
Republic of Iran from the trenches of the
revolutionary guard militias, launches the call for
Israel's removal from existence, as Saddam Hussein had
done before, it is in reality a call for all the
wolves of this earth to come to eat at the banquet of
this region at the expense of the poor people who are
saturated with banquets of clumsy slogans and
ideologies and sickening prospectus.... Whoever
commits grave mistakes under egotistical pressures and
pushes his country and people towards the abyss must
bear the consequences. The Arab Nation has nothing to
do with such flamboyant actions and stances nor with
wrong decision committed by some in circumstances of
over zealousness, blind estimation and over-
confidence. The region is at the threshold of
devastating quakes and what is going on today are mere
indication of that".

-- "Yes to Ahmadi Najad"

Daily columnist Bassem Sakijha writes in the center-
left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (10/30):
"The world goes up in arms when Ahmadi Najad talks
about wiping Israel off the map, but remains quiet
when Israel removes Palestine not just from the map
but from the conscience of the world.... The young
Iranian President said what billions of people on this
earth could not say: Israel is a fabricated entity and
will continue to be so no matter how treaties
countries sign with it. There is no place for Israel
in a land that does not belong to it, and if and when
it succeeds in imposing its opinion on the world
today, it will not be able to do so forever. The
destiny of this fabricated and imposed entity is
doomed to disappear. Najad did not talk about the
Jews and I don't think he meant them at all, because
these are human beings who deserve to find their place
on this earth, and maybe even in Palestine, but not in
Israel ... which is a name that represents the
arrogance of power and devilish frivolity. Is this
hateful time going to allow us to declare our stand
vis--vis what an elected Muslim head of state said so
we can shout our yes."

-- "The Iranian attack in the region"

Columnist Khairallah Khairallah writes on the op-ed
page of the independent, centrist Arabic daily Al-Ghad
(10/30): "What makes Iran capable of adopting this
attack policy, by which it wants all to understand
that it is the first and foremost regional power in
the Middle East and that it has extensive influence in
the region, be that in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine or
even the Gulf? The simple answer to this complicated
question is that Iran is able to do that in view of
the huge victory that the United States provided for
it in Iraq. The volume of this victory is so huge
that the Iranian regime is able to cast aside all
European and American stances and to continue its
nuclear program. This is all possible so long as the
thousands of American and British troops in Iraq
remain hostages in Iran's grip. One cannot event talk
Israel being really upset about the Iranian policy.
The proof of that is that the Khudeira operation was
as good as a gift for Ariel Sharon, who no longer
feels the need to make any initiatives or take any
steps towards meeting his serious and real opponent,
the Palestinian National Authority, halfway.... It is
Iran's right to choose the policy that best suits its
purposes and to seek to have influence in all
directions ... but for anyone to try and convince us
that what Iran does is in opposition to Israeli
interests is something to which the only response is
this: any policy of a sectarian nature in the Middle
East is always welcomed by Israel."

-- "Ahmadi Najad's gift to Bashar Assad"

Columnist Yasser Abu Hilaleh writes on the op-ed page
of Al-Ghad (10/30): "It is difficult to view the
remarks made by the Iranian President as being an
unintentional mistake stemming from a sudden bout of
enthusiasm. Most likely, the President's remarks
calling for wiping Israel off the map are part of a
strategy designed to confront the western pressures on
Iran by escalating the situation. It is a strategy
that is parallel to that adopted by the Syrian
President (Iran's only ally in the region) ever since
the arrival of the Americans in Iraq. The proponents
of escalation in Iran and Syria believe that the
concessions made during the Khatami era and the early
days of Bashar Assad did not remove the two countries
from the list of countries that support terrorism.
The Iraqi lesson only confirmed that the Americans are
serious about extracting what is left of the rogue
regimes.... Ahmadi Najad and Bashar Assad may not
fully realize the weaknesses of their own regimes, but
it is easy for them to know the weaknesses of the
United States in the region. The United States is
involved in Iraq and is looking for a way out, and the
Republicans are going through the worst time for
domestic and foreign reasons. The United States might
be able to bring down the two regimes in record
time.... What is most serious about the Iran-Syria
issue is that the Israelis are going to be a stone
throw away from the Syrian artillery, and Hizbollah
will not hesitate to execute higher orders, and, as
for Iraq, Iran's allies will be right there. The
United States knows the weaknesses of the two regimes,
but it also knows that their collapse will not expand
the influence of Al-Qa'eda."

Editorial Commentary on Syria

-- "The solution lies in the 'spring of Damascus'"

Chief Editor Ayman Safadi writes on the back page of
Al-Ghad (10/30): "U.S. President George Bush is
facing a severe political crisis that is eating away
at the credibility of his administration, and this
crisis is going to continue to push the level of the
American people's satisfaction with Bush's performance
down. Such internal pressures are going to force Bush
to look for exits that are undoubtedly going to be
external or foreign exits in light of the lacking
domestic options. The U.S. administration is going to
work on directing the American public opinion towards
foreign issues in order to ease the focus on the
President's domestic crisis and thus ease the pressure
on Bush. All indications from Washington show that
the Syrian file is a strong candidate for pre-
occupying the American public opinion, since it is a
file that all the necessary elements of intrigue and
excitement favored by the American people.... Facts
say that America will not minimize its campaign
against Syria. This is a fact that Damascus must
realize and deal with rationally and logically if it
wants to protect itself from punitive measures that
will be undertaken against it by Washington.... It is
necessary for Syria to understand that the tools of
the golden past - such as organizing 'spontaneous'
demonstrations, releasing the arsenal of over-consumed
slogans - are futile. Managing the current crisis
requires convincing tools, first of which is
reorganizing the internal situation. Meanwhile, the
Arab world cannot stand with folded hands watching
what goes in Syria and around it. The region is going
to be inevitably affected by the repercussions of the
current labor in Damascus.... The Arabs must push
Syria towards making the investigation announced by
Assad yesterday a serious and genuine one where it is
possible to punish anyone who is convicted of the
assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister.
More importantly, Syria must understand the importance
of initiating a genuine democratization process....
The Syrian people represent the first line of defense
for Syria. There is a need for the Syrian people to
pull in ranks around their homeland, and the way to do
that is clear and the key to that lies with the Syrian
regime, which wither must open up to its people and
punish those who deserve to be punished or face a
future whose outcomes will be destructive to the
regime, to Syria and to the entire region."
HALE