US embassy cable - 04AMMAN629

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000629 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR, 
I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN 
USAID/ANE/MEA 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH 
PARIS FOR O'FRIEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: KMDR JO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON VP CHENEY'S REMARKS AT THE 
DAVOS CONFERENCE AND STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead story in all papers, January 26, highlights 
the signing of the second implementation stage of the 
Arab natural gas pipeline.  Another lead story focuses 
on the prisoner exchange deal that was reached between 
Hizbollah and Israel.  Lead stories continue to 
highlight developments in Iraq. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "Cheney's remarks: more disappointment" 
 
Center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(01/25) editorializes:  "Shortly after President 
Bush's state of the union address, where he avoided 
talking about peace in the Middle East, came Vice 
President Cheney's remarks in Davos, raising questions 
about the future of peace and stability in the region 
and the world..  Once again, the Vice President 
addressed the Palestinian and Israeli leadership on 
the basis of double standards.  We do not differ with 
him that `terrorism' harms the Palestinian people's 
cause, nor with his call for establishing a genuine 
Palestinian democracy, but to turn a blind eye to 
Israel's state terrorism remains as one of the 
elements of contention with the U.S. administration.. 
We will not go into the reasons that make U.S. 
officials deal nicely with Israel, particularly during 
the presidential elections season.  But we do like to 
remind everyone that most of the hatred for the United 
States stems from the U.S. going along with Israel in 
its aggression against the Palestinian people and the 
U.S. denial of Arab rights..  Mr. Cheney's gentle 
demand that the Israeli prime minister ease the 
suffering of the Palestinian people and not do 
anything that would jeopardize the two-state solution 
in the future means nothing to Israel..  It is our 
right to feel sorry and disappointed with the 
continuation of the double standards and the bias in 
favor of Israel..  We had hoped that the U.S. 
administration would realize that the only way to put 
an end to violence and to give security and stability 
a chance is to impose peace on the basis of justice, a 
peace that ends occupation." 
 
-- "Cheney who was silent forever" 
 
Daily columnist Khaled Mahadin writes on the op-ed 
page of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(01/25):  "The same tense language used by President 
George Bush in his state of the union address was used 
by his Vice President Dick Cheney before the Davos 
summit: a language that does not speak of values and 
principles, nor does it call for compassion and a 
humane society, but rather threatens with the gun and 
the missile..  He attacked the Palestinian leadership 
because it did not join the Sharon leadership in its 
terrorist war against the Palestinian people, and 
failed to mention Israel's terrorism.  What he, and 
all the U.S. administration before him, said about the 
Palestinians, people and leadership, is enough to show 
that Washington seeks to exterminate the Palestinians 
completely as the only solution to the Israeli-Israeli 
conflict.  Washington and London did not ask the 
Israeli entity to abide by international legitimacy, 
nor to stop the terrorist war against the 
Palestinians, and nor did they talk about the entity's 
nuclear and biological arsenal.  This policy of the 
United States against Arabs and Muslims and their 
causes contributes greatly to changing the standoff 
between the Arab nation and its enemies from a 
confrontation to a holy confrontation." 
 
-- "Bush's state of the union address" 
 
Daily columnist Fahd Fanek writes on the back-page of 
semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(01/25):  "President Bush's state of the union address 
was an electioneering statement.  The President 
pretended that his war on terrorism has succeeded, 
although continued exhaustion of blood and money in 
Afghanistan and Iraq show otherwise..  The greatest 
failure of the U.S. administration's policy is clearly 
the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to which 
the President did not make a single reference in his 
address..  The Bush administration's war practices may 
have removed a regime that would not go along with the 
United States, but they also brought America many new 
enemies, isolated it from its Europeans allies, and 
turned American into an outlaw country.  If it is true 
that the Middle East is safer without Saddam, then it 
is also true that the whole world is safer without 
Bush." 
HALE