MEDIA REACTION - SADDAM'S EXECUTION

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 000001 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 IR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - SADDAM'S EXECUTION ¶1. On January 3, conservative, influential newspaper-of-record "El Mercurio" (circ. 129,000) ran an editorial entitled "Saddam Hussein: A Bad Solution" ("Peor que el fondo") Quote: "Almost 60 years after the Nuremburg process took place, the same impossibility of having a truly exemplary justice - which should never be about revenge - has been repeated.... (His death) not only will contribute to the instability in Iraq, but will also give new drive to the broader rejection by the Middle Eastern countries of the West, specifically against the United States. By ignoring or erroneously assessing the consequences of Western intervention in that region, the objectives have not been achieved. And what is more grave, it provides arguments to extremist groups to continue with their indiscriminate terrorist attacks against Western countries. To President Bush, Prime Minister Blair and the Shiite Iraqi leaders, Hussein's gallows may be an important landmark.... However, this point of view, beyond being naovely optimistic, has been energetically contradicted by those who truly understand the situation .... It is worth mentioning that at this time the predominant global reactions are against the death penalty, which go beyond the passionate political opinions about the tragedy in Iraq and the international bad will that has accompanied the U.S. government's management of the problem since it disregarded U.N. mechanisms and resolved on its own account to punish the Iraqi dictator. The clandestine recording of the execution images...places the local administration supported by the U.S. in a bad light .... If the result of what is shown by the images leads towards signs of high hostility and wrath at the time of Saddam's death, it is a very disturbing sign for the construction of a peace that appears to be too hard to achieve." ¶2. On December 30, conservative, independent "La Tercera" (circ. 101,000) ran an editorial entitled "An Execution That Does Not Help." Quote: "Today, as in November, it is hard to understand how the execution of Hussein would contribute to the goal of leading Iraq toward a new democratic path and to overcome the deep divisions in its society.... Little will his death serve if the wrongs in his trial give a reason to doubt the legitimacy of the verdict, by feeding the plans of those who intend using Hussein as an icon, thus generating another source of instability in the convulsed Arab country.... There is consensus that there have been numerous mistakes made in the war in Iraq and U.S. handling of the situation.... Having executed the former Iraqi dictator in the current context could be seen in the future as one of the worst mistakes." YAMAUCHI