MUTED REACTION TO SADDAM'S SENTENCING

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 008303

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2016
TAGS: PGOV ASEC IZ JO
SUBJECT: MUTED REACTION TO SADDAM'S SENTENCING

REF: AMMAN 8271

Classified By: Ambassador David Hale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) Protesting Saddam Hussein's sentencing November 5,
an impromptu gathering of students burned an American flag at
the University of Jordan's Amman campus before authorities
peacefully dispersed them. Several Islamist and other
opposition members of parliament publicly denounced Saddam's
trial as an American-orchestrated "kangaroo court."


2. (C) Most of post's contacts, however, were unmoved by the
news. A University of Jordan professor told poloff that
while all of his students were opposed to the U.S. presence
in Iraq, only a few felt strongly about the long-expected
verdict. The subject did not even come up during an Embassy
dinner with political commentators in honor of DNI
Negroponte.


3. (U) Columnists used a uniformly sarcastic tone in
describing the trial, criticizing the timing of the
sentencing and its legitimacy. Chief editor Taher Adwan of
the independent, opposition Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Youm
summed up the prevailing press reaction by arguing the trial
was somehow illegitimate. "The trial did not take place in
Al-Dujayl, the village concerned, but in the Green Zone under
the spears of the Americans."

Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/
HALE