Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BAGHDAD2422
2005-06-07 11:39:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ VIOLENCE CONSTITUTION;

Tags:  OPRC KMDR KPAO IZ 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002422 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/PPD, NEA/PPA, NEA/AGS, INR/IZ,
INR/P
E.0. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO IZ
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ VIOLENCE CONSTITUTION;
BAGHDAD


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 002422

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/PPD, NEA/PPA, NEA/AGS, INR/IZ,
INR/P
E.0. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO IZ
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ VIOLENCE CONSTITUTION;
BAGHDAD



1. SUMMARY: The major themes in the daily newspapers on
June 7 were the developments of the political and security
situations. END SUMMARY.

--------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
--------------


A. "Shall we have an Iraqi conference to stop violence?"
(Al-Ittihad, June 7)

B. "Credibility of the constitutional process" (As-Sabah,
June 7)

--------------
SELECTED COMMENTARIES
--------------


A. "Shall we have an Iraqi conference to stop violence?"
(June 7)

Al-Ittihad (affiliated with PUK led by Jalal Talabani)
published a third-page editorial by Abdul Hadi Mahdi about
violence in Iraq:

"It seems that the Iraqi people are becoming more concerned
about the security situation because of the number of
people that the terrorists are killing. Iraqi blood is
being shed daily and there seems to be no hope of this
stopping in the near future. Every Iraqi killed is a loss
to this country.

We do not want to discuss who is behind these operations.
We just want to put an end to them and stop the bloodshed.
All Iraqi political parties must discard their
disagreements and solve this security issue. It paralyzes
Iraqi society. Those who accuse each other of being
responsible for the violence in Iraq must unite in order to
stop the daily Iraqi bloodshed.

We notice that all the patriotic groups announce
condemnations after each terrorist operation that targets
Iraqi citizens. However, we don't need more condemnations;
we need a surgery to heal the Iraqi wound. But who will
perform this surgery? In fact, it is wrong to be waiting
for a solution from abroad because only Iraqi people can
heal these wounds.

Some neighboring countries announce that they will support
Iraq. They don't want to stop the bloodshed in Iraq--they
want the benefits. After the violence increased, we heard
the neighboring countries and other countries announce that
they will support the Iraqi government and help develop the
Iraqi security forces. But we want tangible deeds and do
not want statements and speeches. Therefore, Iraqi people
must be responsible for healing their own wounds. The Iraqi
citizens want to know whether or not the Ministries of
Interior and Defense are able to end this violence. We hear
many calls for holding conferences under different names.
But we did not hear any call to gather Iraqi political
groups to discuss how to end violence."



B. "Credibility of the constitutional process" (6/7)

As-Sabah (independent) published a second-page editorial by
Abdul Halim Al-Ghunaimi about the constitution:

"Some groups try to cast doubt upon the constitutional
process by saying that the constitution is already drafted.
They also call for postponing the whole project. These
groups allege that the final draft of the constitution was
imported from abroad. They claim that the constitutional
committee is only responsible for translating it from
English to Arabic. On the other hand, the constitutional
committee members confirm that they are studying how to
expand the representation in the committee. This shows
that the government, the National Assembly and the
constitutional committee understand that drafting the
constitution is an important process that must be
accomplished by a unanimous national decision. At the
present time, we must fully understand the concepts of law,
democracy and faith so that we can be sure that the Iraqi
citizens are free from all restraints of dictatorship and
political illiteracy."

SATTERFIELD