US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA1169

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001169 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR WHA/PDA, IIP/G/WHA, AND IIP/T/ES 
FOR PM, NEA/NGA, WHA/PPC, AND WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP, PREL, KPAO, PGOV, MOPS, IZ, HO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQ, MAY 20, 2004 
 
 
1. Op-ed by Ramon Villeda Bermudez (current Liberal Party 
Congressman and former presidential candidate) in 
Tegucigalpa-based liberal daily "La Tribuna" on 5/20 
entitled "The war in Iraq: was it worth it?"  "Senator 
Edward Kennedy has called the war in Iraq The Bushes' 
Vietnam, and his definition has definitely hit the mark, 
because among the historical mistakes to go to war, Vietnam 
has been the most disgraceful mistake of the U.S., which has 
now been surpassed by Iraq." 
 
"The release of the images of the Iraqi prisoners being 
tortured in Abu Ghraib proved the lack of military 
leadership and the ignorance of U.S. troops about the Vienna 
and Geneva Conventions.  They also uncovered a strange 
combination of sadism and homosexuality practiced by U.S. 
soldiers with the support of their superiors.  The scandal 
of the new Nazis has gone beyond our imagination." 
 
"Had the Bushes expected so many problems in their Vietnam 
of 2004?  Evidently, they believed that, after the invasion, 
after the justifiable lie of the presence of weapons of mass 
destruction (which were never found), it was all going to be 
a piece of cake.  I believe their advisors didn't expect or 
care about polarizing the world or motivating a religious 
hatred as we've never seen before." 
 
Palmer