US embassy cable - 04AMMAN4427

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 004427 
 
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 NEW IRAQI GOVERNMENT 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- The formation of the new temporary government of 
Iraq received extensive straightforward front-page 
coverage in all papers published today, June 2.  A 
minimal number of commentaries express very cautious 
optimism regarding the new Iraqi government. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "Another transition step not to be belittled" 
 
Daily columnist Mahmoud Rimawi writes on the op-ed 
page of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(06/02):  "It is not unnoticed that the majority of 
Iraqis view the selection of a new `temporary' 
president for their country and the appointment of a 
temporary new government as an inevitable step in the 
second transition after the governing council, whose 
role has expired.  Naturally, no Iraqi has the 
illusion that these decisions are immediately going to 
lead to the transfer of sovereignty and the end of the 
occupation.  Yet, Iraqis know the importance of having 
political representatives to revive the Iraqi state.. 
The occupation had imposed its presence partly by 
relying on the status quo, but also because many 
Iraqis believe - and this is important to acknowledge 
- that the United States, despite its mistakes and 
sins, has contributed to delivering them from the 
former regime, without retaining any right to 
prolonging its occupation or receiving any legitimacy. 
Yes, ending the occupation is a precious objective, a 
constant strategic objective that is indisputable. 
However, this does not nullify the fact that on the 
path to achieving this objective, the Iraqis have 
vital needs that must not be taken for granted, such 
as achieving security, eliminating the dangers of 
domestic disputes, accomplishing national 
reconciliation, and restoring basic services..  A 
genuine challenge faces the state's temporary 
presidency as well as the new government in terms of 
fulfilling the aforementioned tasks..  Resisting the 
presence of the occupation is a core issue that must 
be fulfilled with the least of cost and the best 
possible of results.  However, Iraqis are also 
required to resist tendency towards domestic struggles 
and sectarian divisions, as well as attempts to 
deprive them from reviving their state. 
 
-- "The formula of occupation and sovereignty" 
 
Chief editor Taher Udwan writes on the back-page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(06/02):  "We fear that the Arab world and the 
international community will be led towards solutions 
for the issue of the occupation of Iraq that are 
similar to the solutions by which the issue of the 
Israeli occupation of Palestine is being addressed.. 
In today's Iraq, there seems to be an American 
determination to reproduce the same Israeli formula 
and implement it in Iraq by merging occupation with 
sovereignty.  Through the appointments for the new 
presidency and the government, we believe that the 
United States is not serious about ending its 
occupation, but rather is seeking to create an Iraqi 
front that would allow the continuation of this 
occupation.  The Iraqi issue, as is the Palestinian 
issue, will not find a permanent solution except by 
going back to the Security Council to issue 
international decisions that explicitly state the end 
of the occupation, that put a timeline for the 
withdrawal of the occupation troops, and that give the 
Iraqi people the right to self-determination, without 
maneuvers or tricks or international decisions cooked 
under American pressure..  The new appointments in 
Baghdad were made by the governing council and the 
coalition authority and cannot be attributed to the 
Iraqi people, even if the production was done with 
Brahimi's touch." 
 
-- "A conclusive step towards a new dawn for Iraq" 
Daily columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back-page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(06/02):  "A new dawn is about to break for Iraq if 
the new government succeeds.  The alternative is 
destruction.  The current path was not chosen by the 
occupation.  Prior to the invasion of Iraq, the choice 
was to appoint a military governor for at least two 
years.  The occupation then took one step back when a 
civilian governor was appointed, followed by two steps 
back when the governing council was appointed without 
real authority.  With the escalation of the 
resistance, the search started for a different 
political path through the United Nations, and the 
final nail in the occupation's coffin was dug in when 
the scandal of the tortures broke out..  The new 
government has more expanded and more in-depth 
representation than the governing council.  We hear 
unconvincing criticisms of the new government, such as 
that it is elected by the governing council that is 
itself appointed by the occupation, and that it is not 
independent..  Let us be frank here: has there been in 
Iraq, in the past thirty years, a government that 
included more expanded political and social trends 
than this one?  As for the criticism that this 
government was formed under the occupation, we say it 
a temporary situation, because the occupation is 
leaving whatever happens, but an Iraq without such a 
government and without elections is an Iraq that is 
prisoner to chaos and destruction..  The occupation is 
no longer acceptable as unanimously expressed by the 
Iraqis.  These recent developments would not have 
happened had not the Americans felt that they were 
hated and despised and that no one wants them.. 
Whoever wishes this government to fail does not care 
for the Iraqi people, who have already paid dearly and 
horrifically, but is rather wishing for more 
deterioration and the continuance of the occupation." 
 
-- "Al Yawar as president" 
 
Daily columnist Basem Sakijha writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(06/02):  "After the collapse of the declared reason 
for the war on Iraq, in terms of the weapons of mass 
destruction weapons that did not show up, the 
liberation of the Iraqi people that was proven wrong 
after what happened in the jails, and the Iraqis' 
acceptance of the occupation that was also proven 
wrong by the continuing resistance, the issue of 
formulating the political future of Iraq comes along, 
proving that the occupation is not concerned with 
achieving democracy.  Tribalism cannot exist with 
democracy, and hence what is happening now is a step 
backward, even from the old regime's status quo, and 
an entrenchment of the status quo of the Iraqi 
society." 
 
-- "A new leadership formation and an old Iraqi 
agenda" 
 
Daily columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(06/02):  "As Iraq embarks on a new age after the 
formation of the new government and presidency, the 
tasks and challenges remain the same..  There is some 
optimism in what is going on.  The Iraqi parties and 
personalities represented in the governing council 
have clearly indicated their desire to avoid American 
dictates and to impose their own choices..  If this 
government manages to take genuine steps towards 
restoring security and stability and towards 
establishing state and civil institutions, then the 
hour of the departure of the occupation will be sooner 
than many had anticipated." 
 
-- "An auction for the presidency of Iraq!" 
 
Daily columnist Bater Wardam writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(06/02):  "It is a shame that the presidency of a 
great and noble Arab republic like Iraq's has turned 
into a silly charade closely resembling an auction or 
a bidding event..  After coups and assassinations that 
have marked the declarations of Arab leaders over the 
past decades, the United States has brought us into a 
new form of technology for selecting Arab leaders, 
namely the auction..  There is going to be a president 
for Iraq, whose legitimacy is not different from the 
legitimacy acquired by anyone who came on the top of a 
tank.  But the Iraqi people are not going to hail the 
new leader, for the statue has fallen, but many 
smaller statues are arising, and each of these statues 
wants to gulp down everything around him.  The Iraqi 
people, who have suffered Saddam's atrocities, will 
not receive the new president except with sarcasm 
against this farce that has offended the history and 
greatness of Iraq." 
GNEHM