US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA652

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 000652 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR WHA/PDA, IIP/G/WHA, IIP/T/ES, NEA/NGA, WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP, PREL, KPAO, PGOV, HO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ, MARCH 17, 2004 
 
 
1. Editorial in Tegucigalpa-based moderate daily "El 
Heraldo" on 3/17 entitled "They should come back."  "The 
bloody terrorist attacks in Madrid last week, the defeat of 
Jose Maria Aznar's Partido Popular in Spain, and the 
announcement by recently elected Spanish Prime Minister 
Rodriguez Zapatero that their troops will leave Iraq by June 
30 if the U.N. doesn't approve a resolution on the Iraqi 
occupation, confirm that everyone who opposed the first 
illegal and immoral `preventive war', including EL HERALDO, 
were absolutely right, as well as all those who opposed the 
sending of Honduran troops to the Iraqi occupation." 
 
"In many ways, the Honduran people have expressed their 
disagreement with the decision to get involved in the Iraqi 
conflict.  The disclosure of all those lies used by the Bush 
administration to justify the invasion and occupation has 
done nothing but confirm the fact that there were no valid 
reasons to destroy the cradle of human civilization and 
cause so much pain and suffering to the Iraqi people." 
 
"The war in Iraq wasn't even about fighting terrorism, 
because, so far, no one has been able to prove any ties 
between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden." 
 
"On the other hand, Honduran troops shouldn't be expected to 
ensure public safety and help rebuild another country, as 
long as there's so much insecurity and so much to do here in 
our own country." 
 
"The Maduro administration made a terrible mistake by 
sending Honduran troops to Iraq, and that needs to be fixed, 
before we seriously have something to regret by getting 
involved in a cause that's not fair, moral, legal, and, 
especially, not ours." 
 
Palmer