US embassy cable - 05DHAKA326

UNCLAS DHAKA 000326 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR I/FW, B/G, IIP/G/NEA-SA, B/VOA/N (BANGLA SERVICE) STATE 
FOR SA/PAB, SA/PPD (LSCENSNY, SSTRYKER), SA/RA, INR/R/MR, 
AND PASS TO USAID FOR ANE/ASIA/SA/B (WJOHNSON) 
 
CINCPAC FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR, J51 (MAJ TURNER), J45 
(MAJ NICHOLLS) 
 
USARPAC FOR APOP-IM (LTC HEDRICK) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR, OIIP, OPRC, KPAO, PREL, ETRD, PTER, ASEC, BG, OCII 
SUBJECT: Media Reaction: Bush Inauguration, Iraq;Dhaka 
 
 
Summary: English Daily "New Age" opines that the Bush 
administration should rely more on diplomacy in the coming 
second term. 
 
"The Daily Star" another English newspaper comments that 
Iraqi elections will need more than votes to create a real 
democracy. 
 
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1. BUSH INAUGURATION 
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"Of Two Presidential Inaugurations" 
Independent English language newspaper "New Age" editorially 
comments (1/25/05): 
 
Two presidential inaugurations in the past few days have 
naturally aroused two different kinds of feeling around the 
globe.  The thousands of people who decided to demonstrate 
in protest at the inaugural ceremonies for the re-elected 
George W. Bush were clearly speaking for a very large number 
of people the world over.  Mr. Bush's zeal about making the 
world safer for America and its friends has not diminished 
at all since his victory last November. 
 
President Bush, assuming he has his eye on history, will 
need to demonstrate that after a first term given over to 
military might, he is ready to apply diplomacy in the 
pursuit of American interests. A failure to do that will 
prove incalculably damaging for the man or woman who will 
succeed him in January 2009. 
 
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2. Iraq 
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"Iraq Elections And Thereafter" 
English daily "The Daily Star" op-ed article by former 
Bangladeshi Ambassador Kazi Anwarul Masud said (01/25/05): 
However tragic, despicable and morally reprehensible the 
9/11 terrorist attacks might have been, people throughout 
the world will always wonder if the retribution for the 9/11 
carnage needed the destruction of one of the oldest 
civilizations of the world based on grounds which have now 
proved to be totally baseless. 
If the Bush administration wishes to usher in a wave of 
democratization in the broader Middle East and North Africa, 
then the White House may be in for disappointment. Western 
thinkers are unanimous in their belief that building blocks 
for a modern democratic political culture are not elections, 
parties and legislatures. Rather building blocks are 
supportive cultural values -- political trust, social 
tolerance, basic political liberties and gender equality. 
Thomas