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