Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BAGHDAD4140
2005-10-07 03:26:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Baghdad
Cable title:  

DAILY IRAQI WEBSITE MONITORING - October 6, 2005

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 03 BAGHDAD 004140

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: DAILY IRAQI WEBSITE MONITORING - October 6, 2005


SUMMARY: Discussions of Saddam's trial, the referendum, and
the failure of the National Assembly and Iraq's leadership
were the major editorial themes of Iraqi, Arabic language
websites on October 6, 2005. END SUMMARY.

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


A. "Entangled Lobbies" (Iraq 4 All News, 10/6)

B. "He Who Doesn't Possess the Stick Can't Hold It from the
Middle" (Sawt Al-Iraq, 10/6)

C. "Saddam's Trial . A Trial for the Dictatorship" (Watan 4
All, 10/6)

D. "The Kurdish Bomb, Will It Kill the Constitution?"
(Nahrain, 10/6)

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


A. "Entangled Lobbies"
(Editorial by Fatih Abdul Salam - Iraq 4 All News -
http://iraq4all.org/viewnews.php?id=10221 )

"There is no need for the fear expressed by the National
Assembly, which was elected by Iraqis to be the cornerstone
of the state. It is a fear with no justification.except for
its consistency with other types of fears around the
country.

"There is no need to fear the constitution being rejected,
no need to fear that a voter might not match the standards
of the democratic process. There is no need to fear anything
because U.S. occupation forces are marching ahead of you and
opening closed doors and closed roads, marching ahead of you
in combat operations launched at the perfect time to
increase voters' appetites to go on the adventure of voting
in a referendum or election.

"All you need to do is study other democratic experiments
and you will find that once political parties settle down
after elections, they begin their confrontation with the
people. After all, the parliament should not be concerned
with political lobbies that actually try to stop bloodshed
and achieve national reconciliation.

"Perhaps the parliament has learned the lesson not to yield
to narrow interests that would eventually place it under
external pressure, leaving it [parliament] alone and shaken
without the faintest idea about the country's crisis. We
might not feel hurt if a minister or ministry fails, but
parliament's failures are hard to forgive because MPs cloak
themselves in legitimacy-in the name of the people-to
slaughter the people who invested in them.

"Iraqis are waiting for their parliament to build a strong
government that expresses their concerns. If the same

mistakes are repeated, then parliament will find itself in a
situation from which it would have to confront the people.
This is the most dangerous type of confrontation."


B. "He Who Doesn't Possess the Stick Can't Hold It from the
Middle"
(Editorial by Ihsan Al-Khayat - Sawt Al-Iraq - "Voice of
Iraq" - http://www.sotaliraq.com/articles-
iraq/nieuws.php?id=16847 )

"There has been a lot of talk about Prime Minister Al-
Ja'fari. I find it strange that all mistakes are blamed
directly on him, as if Al-Ja'fari is the main obstacle in
the way to solving Iraq's major problems, or as if he has a
solution but refuses to implement it. The truth is that we
are trying to absolve our failures by finding someone to
blame; furthermore, our old mentality of waiting for others
to do everything for us continues.

"Al-Ja'fari is a product of the political reality, a reality
governed by ethnic and sectarian power-sharing. It is the
same reality that has yielded all leaders since the toppling
of the former regime, beginning with the Governing Council,
followed by Iyad Allawi, and it will also produce the
leaders of the future.

"If we talk in terms of who holds the stick among Iraqi
parties and leaders, we discover that the only strong stick
is in the hands of America, which uses it when it
wants-sometimes to wave, sometimes to strike disobedient
heads. If this stick were to fall into our hands, we should
reflect on wisdom and use it to serve the interests of Iraq
and Iraqis.

"The main reason for the escalation of Iraq's crisis is the
incompetence of those assigned to solve these problems. This
does not cast any doubt on the intentions of these people,
but it places a big question mark over the abilities and
qualifications of those assigned to posts, despite the
presence of many qualified people that could serve in a more
effective manner.

"In order to begin on the right foot in solving Iraq's
problems, we should create the right mechanism which would
guarantee that qualified people assume leadership positions.
It would also differentiate between the duties of
politicians, tribal leaders, clerics, and state leaders.
Iraq needs dedicated people who will work for the future of
the entire spectrum of Iraqi people."


C. "Saddam's Trial . A Trial for the Dictatorship"
(Editorial by Hamza Al Shemkhi - Watan 4 All - "Home for
All" -
http://wattan4all.com/viewarticle.php?id=5456 &pg=articles )

"Everybody is waiting for October 19th, 2005, the trial date
for the tyrant, Saddam. This trial is not a mere trial for
the dictator himself; rather, it is a trial for a gloomy,
bloody, historic era in modern Iraqi history, which extended
from the Ba'ath coup on July 17th, 1968 to the fall of the
dictatorship on April 9th, 2003.

"This trial will be added to the trial archives of well-
known dictators, fascists, and racists who were tried by
their people after being forcefully toppled. They revealed
all of their secret criminal files against mankind, as will
Saddam. He will stand before the fair Iraqi judicial system
to unveil his gruesome crimes through public confessions in
front of all.

"This trial should be fair and open in order to disclose all
of the dictatorship's crimes, terror, wars, and foolishness,
which dragged us into the state we are in now. We will
discover, between now and then, more mass graves; we will
look for missing people among what remains of the criminal
dictatorship's files and archives, and those from the
ongoing terrorist operations against Iraq and Iraqis
conducted by the remaining supporters of the toppled bloody
regime and their allies from international terrorist gangs.
They hinder the Iraqi political process and return Iraq to
dictatorship, terror, and war.

"Saddam and his ilk represent a political, military, and
security organization that led Iraq for all these years and
cannot be forgotten because it left tragic traces in every
Iraqi home. What has been disclosed so far is very little.
The dictatorship and its crimes turned all of Iraq into a
prison and execution field for anyone who opposed the
aggressive and foolish policies of the defeated bloody
regime. Therefore, we want this trial to be a trial of an
institution and an ideology, not just a trial of Saddam, the
criminal, and his other supporters."


D. "The Kurdish Bomb, Will It Kill the Constitution?"
(Editorial by Wissam Al-Said Tahir - Nahrain - "Two Rivers"
- http://www.nahrain.com/d/news/05/10/05/nhr010 5p.html )

"Before everything else, we should identify the problem that
caused the dilemma from which we now suffer. This problem
represents the top of the dictatorship, setting two-thirds
of the number of voters-this is the constitution's death
sentence [e.g. the decision to interpret `nakhibeen' as
voters who vote, rather than registered voters, is the
constitution's death sentence]. These are ideas that
represent political short-sightedness or the lack of trust
in others because they lived through years of injustice and
defeat.

"Canceling majority rights is Kurdish thinking; the vote of
parliament's majority in today's meeting is nothing but a
late attempt to diffuse the crisis, which is not in Iraq's
interest. Today, after Iraq yielded, as usual, to the U.N.'s
decision-and I cannot imagine the U.N. has authority over
any country except Iraq-I suggest labeling it: `the U.N
against Iraq.'

"Today our heroic parliament stepped back from its decision
and fell into the trap that will destroy the constitutional
process. We will go back to the beginning because they
yielded to the U.N.'s decision.

"They handed over Iraq to people who do not want a new
future. They made terrorists the ones who will decide our
children's futures. How can one vote cancel one million
votes? How can we, the majority who approve the
constitution, be under the mercy of Zarqawi's ilk? Today is
a sad day for Iraqis and it is darker than the day when the
Kurdish idea was approved."
KHALILZAD