US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA2420

UNCLAS OTTAWA 002420 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PDA 
WHITE HOUSE PASS NSC/WEUROPE, NSC/WHA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, KMDR, OIIP, OPRC, CA, TFUS01, TFUS02, TFUS03 
SUBJECT:  MEDIA REACTION: MIDDLE EAST; IRAQ 
 
MIDDLE EAST 
1.   "Shared vision can spare us from descent into 
barbarism" 
Columnist Catherine Ford observed in the right-of- 
center Calgary Herald (8/22): "...Moderation shouldn't 
be the dirtiest word in the lexicon of the Middle East, 
but it might as well be. As soon as the voice of 
reasonable compromise raises its head and suggests both 
Palestinians and Israelis are wrong in their separate 
ways, accusations of bias start. To be against the 
actions of the Israeli government is not to be an anti- 
Semite. It should never have to be necessary to point 
this out, but unlike all of the previous attempts to 
broker peace, extremists of both sides have hijacked 
the public debate. Israelis don't all support the 
actions of their government - and never have - any more 
than Canadians do. Or Americans. But nobody else has 
apologists with the ear of powerful people like the 
Jewish diaspora. And in no other case is political 
criticism seen as racism.... That the Jewish 
settlements on the West Bank are illegal is a fact, 
acknowledged around the world. That the Israeli 
government must dismantle them is obvious. But the 
extremists in Israel and their supporters have 
prevented their government from taking this drastic 
action and a democratic government that depends on 
coalitions to survive can't take the chance of losing 
in a non-confidence vote. There is precedence for 
choosing peace over accommodation, no matter how one 
wants to define the word.... We Westerners - Jewish, 
Arab or otherwise - can rail against the useless 
bloodshed and the suicide bombers, against the 
intransigence of the Jewish settlers and the chilling 
message of Israel's wall around the West Bank. But 
little we do will have any effect. We can, though, 
insist on the message of moderation and compromise not 
falling off the table.... No one can control the 
extremist factions allied against each other, but the 
countries they represent can call upon whatever values 
they share. Our sole job is to remind both sides in any 
conflict of that truth." 
 
IRAQ 
2.   "Americans are stuck in Iraq for a long time" 
Columnist Jeffrey Simpson commented in the leading 
Globe and Mail (8/22): "...The Americans, having 
conquered Iraq on largely false premises, are now 
stuck there for a very long time, yet the longer they 
remain, the more likely resentment at their presence 
will grow. They have appointed a Governing Council, but 
cannot yet give it any power, since the first 
responsibility of any government is to ensure order, 
and this only the Americans can do. Order without 
popular consent means military rule, which is what 
Iraqis now have. Except that the order comes from a 
foreign power, or powers, and that kind of order, by 
definition, is proconsular government that, if 
extended, means imperial rule. A long time ago, former 
U.S. president Dwight Eisenhower advised president 
Lyndon Johnson that the Americans had to win the 'minds 
and hearts' of the Vietnamese to win that 
war. The Americans never did, although they deluded 
themselves that they could, because Americans have this 
enduring conviction that their self-ascribed purity of 
motive, the one now being embraced by the 
neo-conservatives and liberal internationalists alike, 
will be welcomed by those they intend to 'help.'" 
 
CELLUCCI