MEDIA REACTION ON 9/11 COMMEMORATION

UNCLAS AMMAN 007025 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 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR JO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON 9/11 COMMEMORATION Editorial Commentary -- "5 years since 9/11: losses and losers only" Columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back-page of independent, centrist Arabic daily Al-Ghad (09/12): "The victims that continue to fall everywhere five years after the 9/11 attacks are not Al-Qaeda fighters and the Marines, but innocent civilians. This alone clarifies the extent of the failure and the huge incorrectness of the methodology adopted by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism. After the invasion of Afghanistan and then Iraq, groups like Al-Qaeda continued their criminal operations in Spain, Britain, Morocco and even Jordan, while the United States sank in the quagmire of the countries it occupied.... The result is that this entire war was a war of losses and losers and one that does not have single positive political result. From the viewpoint of the U.S. declared objectives, peace, security and democracy were not won and terrorism did not disappear. From the viewpoint of Al-Qaeda, American military bases did not leave any Islamic lands and no occupation was ended." -- "September 11: who is benefiting?" Chief Editor Osama Al-Sharif writes on the back-page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Ad-Dustour (09/12): "The fact of the matter is that the entire world changed since that bloody day in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Five years on, many Americans and other Arabs, European and Asians agree that the world has become worse than what it used to be before the attacks. We are not any safer today. Extremism in all its shapes and forms has struck root in many parts of the world. Al-Qaeda, of which we actually know little, exists and is producing films and recruiting volunteers. The legitimate resistance has become terrorism thanks to the media and governments' control. People of reason have no place to go, and moderation has turned into a guilty charge in this extremis and hatred filled atmosphere. Who benefits from all this? A legitimate question that must be asked as we remember the fifth anniversary of attacks that killed not only innocent Americans, but has claimed and continues to claim lives of victims in various parts of the world." HALE