US embassy cable - 04AMMAN2770

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002770 
 
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 IRAQ 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead story in all papers today, April 13, focuses 
on developments in Iraq and particularly the situation 
in Falloujah and the truce reached between Iraqi 
guerrillas and US marines.  Front-page reports 
highlight remarks made by the Coalition Forces 
Commander Ricardo Sanchez that the "Mission" of 
coalition forces is to "kill or capture" Muqtada Al- 
Sadr.  Other stories highlight President Bush's 
remarks that an Israelis withdrawal from Gaza is not 
an alternative to the Roadmap during a press 
conference with the Egyptian President. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "America looking for excuses" 
 
Daily columnist Fahd Fanek writes on the back page of 
semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(04/13):  "The excuse used to justify the Anglo- 
American invasion of Iraq was the disarmament of the 
weapons of mass destruction.  When it was proven that 
there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, 
American leaders began looking for other excuses, and 
hence the search began of Iraqi `programs' to 
manufacture weapons of mass destruction.  When these 
programs were proven not to exist, they started 
talking about Iraq's `intentions' to manufacture 
weapons of mass destruction.  These excuses convince 
no one.  America's aggression was already planned, 
because the neo-conservatives who dominate Washington 
policy-making believed that occupying Iraq would 
guarantee their control over not only Iraqi oil, but 
also Arab oil, and that establishing pro-American rule 
in Iraq would give them the chance to dominate the 
whole of the Middle East.  So the talk about reshaping 
the political map of the Middle East started, talk we 
no longer hear these days because it became evident 
that Iraq left a bitter taste in the mouth, that its 
occupation is no picnic, and that the occupier is 
paying the price everyday with money and blood.  The 
Americans need a new excuse to justify the viscous 
resistance they are facing in Iraq . and this excuse 
says that the terrorists are afraid of democracy and 
that they want to abort the American project of making 
Iraq a free and democratic country.  This is an 
attempt to belittle the minds of people who know that 
Iraq today is as far from democracy as it will ever be 
and that what awaits Iraq under the occupation is more 
bloodshed, destruction and sectarianism.  The only way 
for the American people to get out of the Iraqi 
quagmire is to oust the current administration or to 
bring about what is called a `regime change' in 
Washington.  The world will be a much safer and more 
stable place and America's position would be better 
off if it returned to respecting legitimacy and 
international law." 
 
-- "The country of people rejecting the occupation" 
 
Columnist Mohammad Kawash writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(04/13):  "The security situation in Iraq collapsed 
faster than the Americans expected.  The situation is 
so out of control that it worries the leaders of the 
occupation.  Meanwhile, resistance actions have 
reached their highest level, placing the occupation 
forces and collaborators in a situation that is 
similar to the last days of America's occupation of 
South Vietnam..  The occupation forces and the U.S. 
administration have committed a number of mistakes, 
slip-ups and human rights violations, so much so that 
the Iraqi people, of all sects, have become inflamed 
with anger and revolution.  What is going on in Iraq 
today confirms that those who painted a rosy picture 
for the occupiers' journey to the land of fire and 
anger are a group of orientalists who are so distant 
from the Iraqi people's concerns and who know nothing 
about the traditions, the values, the morals and the 
faith of this hard and stubborn Arab community.  These 
orientalists, who have taken up the seats at the 
governing council, do not have the support and respect 
of the Iraqis, and when the time of reckoning comes 
and when the occupation forces get ready to leave, 
these governing council members will be the first to 
take refuge in foreign embassies or to flee to 
American ships, exactly like the Vietnamese 
collaborators did when the occupation collapsed in 
Saigon."  gnehm