US embassy cable - 03HARARE1853

UNCLAS HARARE 001853 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PD FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
IRAQ PD 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 U. S. AND WAR AGAINST TERROR; 
HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "U. S. losing war against terrorism" 
      the pro-government weekly "The Sunday Mirror" dedicated its 
      September 14 editorial to encouraging the United States to 
      "abandon its current Middle East foreign policy" as a 
      panacea to win the U. S.-led war against global terrorism. 
      "Unless the U. S. abandons its current Middle East foreign 
      policy. . .its war on international terrorism would be a 
      futile exercise that no one will win," the editorial 
      warned.  Excerpts: 
 
  2.   "Two years after the 11 September bombings on the 
      World Trade Center and the Pentagon - symbols of America's 
      financial and military might - the Bush Administration 
      seems to be losing its war against global terrorism.  After 
      the attacks, Bush promised to take the war to the 
      "terrorists" but his efforts seem to have hit a brick wall. 
      Osama bin Laden. . .continues to be elusive and ideology is 
      spreading fast among most of the major Muslim countries. 
      The Al Qaeda network remains a potent force capable of 
      carrying out terrorist acts and the Mombasa bombings in 
      Kenya late last year, which killed dozens of Jewish 
      tourists, is an example. . .Although Washington may take 
      comfort from the fact that no major terrorist incidents 
      have taken place within its borders since the September 11 
      bombings, attacks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, some few months 
      ago, show that Al-Qaeda is as lethal as ever.  The U. S. 
      image in the Islamic world has taken a knock in the past 
      four months since it invaded and occupied Iraq on the 
      grounds that President Saddam Hussein harbored illegal 
      weapons of mass destruction and had close ties with Al 
      Qaeda.  American intelligence reports indicate that Iraq 
      has become a fertile nursery for the recruitment of young 
      Arabs joining the ranks of the Al Qaeda for the Jihad. 
      Unless the U. S. abandons its current Middle East foreign 
      policy, which seeks to weaken Arab nations and is skewed in 
      favor of Israel, its war on international terrorism would 
      be a futile exercise that no one will win." 
 
SULLIVAN