Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06AMMAN7448
2006-09-28 10:18:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Amman
Cable title:
MEDIA REACTION ON AL-QAIDA GLOBAL INFLUENCE
how-toVZCZCXYZ0000 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHAM #7448 2711018 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 281018Z SEP 06 FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4445 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0443 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS IMMEDIATE 1366 RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE RUMICEA/USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA// IMMEDIATE
UNCLAS AMMAN 007448
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 AL-QAIDA GLOBAL INFLUENCE
Editorial Commentary
-- "Bush's fundamentalism"
Columnist Mazen Hammad, on the op-ed page of center-left,
influential Arabic daily Ad-Dustour, comments about an ABC
television report claiming that the Clinton administration did not
show enough resolve in dealing with Al-Qaeda. Hammad comments:
"What Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State during the Clinton
administration, said is much more important that the report, because
her remarks diagnosed the disease and pointed to the real wound.
Albright said, in a direct response to Condoleezza Rice' claim that
Clinton did not leave his successor any plans to fight Al-Qaeda,
that George Bush adopted destructive policies that are based on his
strong religious beliefs, and that since his strategy, that included
the declaration of war against Iraq and categorizing some countries
as the 'axis of evil', was based on these beliefs, then Bush was all
the time acting, like Albright said, 'as if God stood by the United
States'. This belief has brought disasters for the U.S. foreign
policy. From what Albright said, we wonder what makes George Bush
any different from any 'fundamental Islamist'. And if he believes
that he is following divine orders, then what is the difference
between him on one hand and Hamas and Hizbollah on the other,
Hizbollah having scored 'a divine victory over Israel', and even
more between him and Osama bin Laden who believes that he is serving
God in his fight against the Americans? Albright's remarks clarify
the American intelligence reports that found that 'neo-Jihadists'
are developing a violent hatred for America's interventions in the
Muslim world. Do we have the right to claim that rapprochement
between a west led by religious trends and flagging slogans of
democracy and an Islamic world whose 'secret' admiration for new
Jihadists is increasing, is possible?"
HALE