US embassy cable - 03HARARE1840

UNCLAS HARARE 001840 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
IRAQ FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION IRAQ - CALL FOR BLAIR TO RESIGN; 
HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "Blair lacks moral fiber to remain in 
      office" the pro-government weekly "The Sunday 
      Mirror" dedicated its September 7 to calling on 
      British Prime Minister Tony Blair to resign over his 
      decision to commit Britain to military action in 
      Iraq.  Excerpts: 
 
  2.   "Does Tony Blair still have the legitimacy to remain 
      at Number 10 Downing Street following damning reports that 
      he `sexed' up the dossier on Iraq's Weapons of Mass 
      Destruction in order to justify war?  His world now seems 
      to be crumbling around him as he continues to be dogged by 
      resignations of some key officials in his regime over the 
      same issue. . .To add to his woes, the Hutton Judicial 
      Inquiry into the mysterious death of government weapons 
      adviser David Kelly, heard evidence that during the run up 
      to the Gulf war Blair tried to persuade the British 
      Parliament that Saddam Hussein was a serious threat to 
      world peace.  The issue is that Blair lied in order to 
      justify a war that subsequently killed more than ten 
      thousand people in Iraq, and the honorable thing for him to 
      do is to resign now." 
 
SULLIVAN