MEDIA REACTION - IRAQ

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000603

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR R/MR, I/PP, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA, PM

STATE FOR INL, INR/R/MR, NEA/IR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR KPAO OPRC PTER CI IZ
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - IRAQ



1. On March 22, conservative, influential newspaper-of-record, "El
Mercurio" (circ. 116,807) carried a column by Karin Ebensperger
entitled, "The Iraqi Swamp." Quote:


2. "On the day President Bush invaded Iraq I publicly criticized his
decision. It seemed to me that after the terrible attack on the
Twin Towers the last thing to do was to create enemies in the Muslim
world.... Three years later, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
announced that the Bush administration is preparing for a 'long war'
and admits that terrorism is a complex threat that cannot be
resolved in the short term or with a military invasion. Incredible.
It took President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld 35,000 deaths and
more than 2,000 American lives...to realize what many European
leaders, journalists and experts considered obvious.... President
Bush has problems understanding the international system and the
array of elements that interact therein: a true statesman can
determine the general context in which he will act and the possible
repercussions only if he has thorough knowledge of the world and its
cultural diversity."

YAMAUCHI