US embassy cable - 04AMMAN7319

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 AMMAN 007319 
 
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 AND THE MIDDLE EAST 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- The lead story in all papers today, September 1, 
focuses on the two bus bombings in Beersheba, Israel. 
Only one commentary was noted on this event, 
justifying the bombings as retaliation to Israel's 
aggressive policies against the Palestinian people. 
The issue of the kidnapping of the two French 
reporters in Iraq continues to dominate media coverage 
in the local print media.  Reports highlight King 
Abdullah's talks with the French Foreign Minister, 
during which Jordan's readiness to seek the release of 
the hostages was relayed.  Majority of the editorial 
commentary yesterday and today condemn the kidnapping 
of the French reporters as a "terrorist" and "stupid" 
act against a country that has stood by Iraq right 
from the beginning.  A few columnists denounce hostage 
taking of civilians being done in the name of Islam 
altogether as a defamation of Islam and Muslims and 
Arabs in general.  A couple of columnists see 
"American and Zionist anti-Iraq foreign hands" behind 
the kidnapping of the French reporters. 
 
             Editorial Commentary on Iraq 
 
-- "This is not how favors are repaid" 
 
Chief Editor Usama Al-Sharif writes on the front page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily in Al-Dustour 
(08/31):  "The kidnapping of two French reporters in 
Iraq and the kidnappers demand that France cancel the 
law banning the Hijab in government schools made the 
issue of kidnapping foreigners for political reason a 
major issue that seems to have overtaken the grave 
events taking place in that wounded country.  We have 
always opposed foreign occupation and condemned its 
motives and crimes, but we are concerned that 
resistance methods would not be employed to harm the 
Iraqi people, the Arabs and Muslims.  What makes the 
situation worse is that the kidnapped people are 
reporters, who enjoy the immunity and the protection 
that we, in particular, are keen to provide to anyone 
who puts himself at risk in order to tell the truth. 
For the kidnapped reporters to be French actually 
makes the situation even more critical.  France is the 
country of brave stances before, during and after the 
war on Iraq.  It is the country that defends our 
causes in the international arena and does not bargain 
even if that made of it a target for the Zionist media 
machine.  What are the kidnappers calling for anyway? 
France was never a Muslim country that applies the 
Islamic law so that we can ask it to cancel or amend 
one of its laws to match our beliefs.  The French 
people are the ones who make the laws and adopt 
whatever is their best interest.  Have Iraq's problems 
been resolved so that we can now preoccupy ourselves 
with the issue of the Hijab in France?  Do the 
kidnappers really serve the interests of the Muslim 
people of Iraq...?  France cannot succumb to the 
demands of the kidnappers and we support it in that, 
because the kidnappers do not represent the Iraqi 
people and they are bringing harm to every Muslim and 
Arab with what they are doing.  We apologize to France 
and its friendly people and we say that Islam washes 
its hand of this group of misguided people who claim 
whatever they claim in the name of Islam.  We stress 
the fact that the media and reporters have immunity 
that should be safeguarded in Iraq and everywhere 
else." 
 
-- "Kidnapping and arresting reporters is a terrorist 
and stupid action" 
 
Daily columnist George Haddad writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(08/31):  "The gravity of the situation lies in the 
fact that this kidnapping is being done in the name of 
the Iraqis' resistance to the Anglo-Saxon occupation 
and in the name of the `Islamic Army' in Iraq.  This 
means, simply, that there is something suspicious and 
doubtful about the motives behind the kidnapping of 
the French reporters.  France has always stood against 
the invasion and occupation of Iraq.  In fact, this 
stand has brought France much headache from the U.S. 
administration, be on the political level or the 
economic and trade level..  The kidnappers' unduly 
claim to Islam and to their objective as being wanting 
to pressure France to cancel the law banning the Hijab 
in French schools could only be seen as a viscous and 
stupid attempt, at best, to defame Islam and Muslims. 
The French are free to do and decide whatever they 
want in their country, whether we agree with them or 
not, and they did not come to Iraq, Egypt or Jordan 
and they did not try to impose their viewpoints on us. 
Besides, there are millions of French Muslims who 
reject such methods as being terrorist actions that 
have nothing to do with the tolerance and good nature 
of Islam..  Iraq is a war zone suffering from chaos 
and the absence in security.  It is a model situation 
for misguided people, conspiracies and operations by 
international intelligence forces to exist.  Without a 
doubt, the American and Israeli intelligence apparatus 
are lead among those forces now roaming as they like 
and doing what they like.  The kidnapping and hostage 
taking of reporters is by all standards a foolish and 
terrorist action that could never serve any cause or 
come to any good.  Imagine when the hostage reporters 
are friends of the people suffering from occupation 
and brutality." 
 
-- "The suspicious kidnapping" 
 
Daily columnist Ibrahim Absi writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(08/31):  "The kidnapping of the two French reporters 
in Iraq draws more than a question mark.  This 
kidnapping harms Islam, Arabs and Iraq and opposes the 
religion, morality and the Iraqi resistance, and thus 
cannot be done by a responsible Islamic group that 
claims to be fighting the American occupiers in Iraq. 
This kidnapping is staged by the enemies of Iraq, of 
Islam and of the resistance, and is aimed at diverting 
attention from the actions of the real Iraqi 
resistance against the American occupation and from 
the massacres and horrific actions that occupation 
forces are committing against the Iraqi people.  After 
all, the two kidnapped reporters' task was to expose 
these American crimes in Iraq.  For whose benefit was 
the kidnapping for those two innocent Frenchmen done? 
Why do they have to do with the law banning the Hijab 
in France?  Has the battle of Iraq and the Iraqi 
resistance become the Hijab in France or is it still 
Iraq's liberation from the occupying American forces? 
Why did the kidnapping take place at this point in 
time when the city of New York is witnessing massive 
demonstrations against the current U.S. 
administration, against the occupation of Iraq, and 
against the policies of the neo-conservatives that 
brought hared and enmity to the United States?  Is the 
kidnapping meant to steal the light from these 
demonstrations and ease the burden on the U.S. 
administration.?  The kidnapping of the French 
reporters is not far from being done by American and 
Zionist anti-Iraq foreign hands, even it hides behind 
Islamic banners.  We join hands with the Muslims of 
France and the Arab and Muslim world in denouncing 
this horrible incident and in calling for the 
immediate release of these reporters and apologizing 
to France that has stood by Iraq in its darkest of 
hours much more than some Arabs and Muslims have." 
 
-- "Consensus against this type of operations" 
 
Daily columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(08/31):  "Kidnapping civilians, whatever their 
nationality, is rejected and denounced out of 
principle, but the kidnapping of the French reporters 
in particular has raised widespread condemnations 
because France was one of the lead countries to oppose 
the occupation and continues to be the title for 
international opposition to American policies in the 
region..  The international campaign, which included 
national and Islamic forces in our region, against the 
kidnapping of the French reporters must be the 
beginning of unifying the stand against such 
operations altogether; whatever may be the nationality 
of the hostages.  Such operations divert attention 
from the real issue, and it is useless to speculate 
about who is responsible for the kidnapping every 
time.  A strong and direct message must be delivered 
that such operations are worthy of only gangsters and 
criminals and not political or military struggles 
against occupations." 
 
-- "Kidnapping the media: `the Islamic Army' imitates 
the American army" 
 
Columnist Yaser Abu Hilaleh writes on the op-ed page 
of independent Arabic daily Al-Ghad (09/01): 
"Certainly the `Islamic Army' that claimed 
responsibility for the kidnapping of the two French 
reporters does not have the capability to imitate its 
opponent with its missiles, tanks, nuclear weapons and 
other deadly weaponry.  However, it can imitate it in 
targeting the media and in the objectives, such as 
changing the culture of a society by force (the Hijab 
in France).  Demanding the change to the Hijab law is 
exactly like demanding the change to the curricula in 
the Arab countries..  Which sect did the kidnapping is 
not important, because those who did it are Arabs and 
Muslims who brought harm to their people and their 
religion by imitating the invading army.  These people 
seems to have forgotten to distinguish between the 
western media and the western governments, and they 
seem to have forgotten that the one who exposed the 
Abu Ghraib scandal was the American CBS..  I hope that 
when this article is published, the two French 
reporters would be free.  They may not be free and we 
hope that the worst would not happen.  Enough mourning 
for reporters and enough damage to Islam.  The Islamic 
Army can imitate the one with the upper hand in many 
things, such as using technology and digital cameras 
to photograph real resistance operations instead of 
illusionary resistance operations that target unarmed 
reporters.  The `Islamic Army' is the making of the 
culture borne and raised by America: a culture of 
violence devoid of moral controls.  The kidnappers 
know that their people have been kidnapped for more 
than a decade under the headline of the blockade and 
the search for weapons of mass destruction.  They know 
their country has been kidnapped by multi-national 
forces.  They know so much..  It is in the interest of 
the one with the lower hand not to imitate the one 
with the upper hand when it comes to dealing with the 
media.  Why kind of victory is it that is achieved 
over the dead body of a reporter?" 
 
-- "The awakening against `kidnapping the innocent': 
what is the difference between the French and the 
Nepalese?" 
 
Daily columnist Bater Wardam writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(09/01):  "For the first time, the Arab and Muslim 
world, particularly political Islamic organizations, 
express a clear-cut rejection of kidnapping innocent 
people.  This is a very important point of transition, 
because it marks the first explicit condemnation by 
non-governmental organizations vis--vis the 
kidnapping of civilians, which in itself indicates the 
rise of an actual `awakening of the conscience' in the 
Arab and Muslim world vis--vis aggression against and 
kidnapping of innocent people and civilians in the 
name of Islam..  We want a clear and comprehensive 
Arab and Muslim stand towards crimes of kidnapping and 
political bargaining with the lives of the innocent. 
. 
We want to see protests and genuine efforts to seek 
the release of those kidnapped, be they French, 
Italian, Turkish, Nepalese and even Americans if they 
are as innocent civilians as the reporters..  If our 
stand vis--vis the kidnapping of the French reporters 
was a comprehensive and general stand vis--vis all 
kidnappings, then it would be a stand to be proud of. 
If this stand is specific to the French for 
exceptional political reasons, then it is a stand that 
political hypocritical, racist and immoral." 
 
          Editorial Commentary on Middle East 
 
-- "Beersheba: blood in return for Israel's 
intransigence" 
 
Columnist Hasan Shobaki writes on the op-ed page of 
independent Arabic daily Al-Ghad (09/01):  "Israeli 
blood was shed yesterday in Beersheba in a clear 
message to the Israeli Prime Minister that the 
Palestinian resistance will remain so long as there is 
an occupation.  The explosions in Beersheba represent 
a language that is well understood by Sharon and his 
s 
gang of experts in the extermination, killing and 
destruction of all that is human.  The terrorist 
scheme that Israel is adopting, in terms of 
frustrating the Palestinians in villages and refugee 
camps and the organized crimes against Palestinian 
prisoners, shows beyond the shadow of doubt that 
Israel seeks to nullify the Palestinian existence from 
the human viewpoint, just as it had sought before to 
nullify it from the geographic viewpoint.  The most 
indicative of this is Israel's refusal to listen to 
the voice of the world calling for putting an end to 
the massacres being perpetrated against four thousand 
Palestinian prisoners..  The bloodshed series led by 
extremist of the Israeli occupation forces will not 
stop as long as Israeli voters insist on selecting 
leaderships like that of Sharon's, and as long as U.S. 
elections continue to be governed by Israeli interests 
and by turning a blind eye to the organized 
extermination of non-political criminals in Tel Aviv 
and Washington against a people who are accustomed to 
fighting back and resisting." 
HALE