US embassy cable - 05AMMAN5247

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005247 
 
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 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: KMDR JO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S SPEECH ON 
IRAQ 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- President Bush's June 28 speech in Fort Bragg on 
the anniversary of the formal return of sovereignty to 
Iraqis received prominent coverage in all papers 
published today, June 30.  All papers carry wire 
service reports with extensive excerpts from his 
speech, mainly focusing on the President's refusal to 
commit to a  "timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops" 
from Iraq.  A number of editorial commentaries reflect 
on the President's remarks. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "Liberating Iraq" 
 
Chief Editor Ayman Safadi writes on the back-page of 
independent Arabic daily Al-Ghad (06/30):  "America 
launched war on Iraq on the pretext of liberating it 
from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein.  The war was 
successful in eliminating Saddam, but Iraq needs now 
to be liberated from the chaos that has become 
prevalent and from the foreign presence on its soil. 
America cannot deny that fact, and must prepare to 
leave Iraq by investing more seriously in the 
development of the Iraqi force that would be qualified 
to defend the rights of Iraqis to security and 
stability.  America is not going to beat terrorism, 
violence and the resistance in a direct military 
confrontation.  Restoring security in Iraq will not be 
accomplished except at the hands of Iraqi forces that 
defeat the terrorists and an Iraqi political regime 
that reacts positively towards the legitimate 
resistance, exposes terrorist organizations and 
establishes justice and equality among the various 
sects of the Iraqi people.  America thought that it 
had a grip on the entire truth when it launched the 
war on Iraq.  It acted with arrogance and snobbery 
that has since led Iraq to the current situation of 
collapse and deterioration.  American policies 
continue to be formed without sufficient care or 
concern for the Iraq reality.  Funds allocated for the 
reconstruction of Iraq have doubled the wealth of 
American companies, but they have not improved the 
living conditions of the Iraqis, and the military 
forces continue to act out of sync with political 
policies, arresting moderate people, provoking good 
families and violating the sovereignty of Iraqi 
institutions.  Unless the United States acknowledges 
its failures in Iraq and adopts effective steps 
towards correcting its policies, President Bush is 
going to find himself repeating his rejection of a 
timetable for withdrawing his troops in his farewell 
speech from the White House.  Getting out of the Iraqi 
dilemma requires in-depth planning that America seems 
to lack the will to do." 
 
-- "Bush's speech and the occupation's crisis" 
 
Daily columnist Samih Ma'aytah writes on the back-page 
of independent Arabic daily Al-Ghad (06/30):  "U.S. 
President George Bush was not particularly intelligent 
in saying  there will not be an announcement of a 
timetable for withdrawing his troops occupying Iraq on 
the grounds that such could be considered a victory 
for the resistance.  Yet, this American declaration 
confirms what Bush wanted to deny:  even the very 
thought of withdrawing is in the cards but its 
rejection is due to fear that it would be seen as a 
victory for the fighters..  America's problem in Iraq 
is not just in the military losses or even in the 
failure of its forces to maintain security; it is in 
reconstructing Iraq to what it used to be before the 
war.  America is good at disassembling but is totally 
helpless in reassembling.  What it has done so far is 
that it entrenched sectarianism in the political and 
public life..  The Iraqis are worse off than when they 
were living under the sanctions.  America knows that 
Iraq's problem is not going to be resolved by holding 
elections under the occupation, but rather by building 
a new Iraq where its citizens benefit from its riches, 
have control over their sovereignty and feel safe. 
This is where the occupation failed.  If President 
Bush refuses to announce a withdrawal timetable now, 
then he will have to someday." 
 
-- "Bush's speech ." 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back-page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(06/30):  "At first glance, someone reading Bush's 
recent speech about Iraq would have the impression 
that America is not going to withdraw from Iraq 
despite the fact that it has turned into a quagmire 
for the American troops.  Going back to Rumsfeld's 
remarks a few days ago that the rebellion may last 12 
years, the question becomes: will the American war in 
Iraq last all these years?  Bush considers setting a 
timetable for his troops' withdrawal a grave mistake, 
a bad message to the Iraqi people, the American 
soldiers and what he calls the terrorists.  The 
question is: is there anything worse for the Iraqi 
people and the American soldiers than the current 
situation, and is there anything better for the 
terrorists and the resistance than an Iraqi that has 
been turned by Bush's war into a perfect arena for 
booby-trapped cars, assassinations, kidnappings and 
decapitations?  Bush purposefully ignored the 
following facts:  the fact that there is a resistance 
against his troops, which has grown and expanded; the 
fact that the tragic situation under which the Iraqis 
live has made the slogans of freedom and democracy a 
moral and political farce; and the fact that the 
slogan of rebuilding Iraq has become nothing more than 
a bitter joke to cover up the theft of 7 billion 
dollars from the Iraqi people's money, as George 
Galloway had said..  The Iraqi people and America's 
soldiers and their families find nothing worse than 
Bush's messages, bringing them news of an extended war 
without further purpose or aim than what the world 
sees today." 
 
-- "Bush's ever shifting mission in Iraq" 
 
Columnist Nawwaf Abul Haija writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(06/30):  "U.S. President George Bush's speech did not 
simply defy the feelings of the American people, but 
also the feelings of the Iraqi people.  The American 
President declared that he is not going to respond to 
the demands for scheduling the withdrawal of 
occupation troops on the pretext that the mission is 
not yet accomplished, a mission that appears ever 
shifting.  In the beginning, it was the elimination of 
the Iraqi danger that threatened the world with 
weapons of mass destruction.  Then it became the 
liberation of Iraq, followed by the establishment of a 
model for democracy in Iraq, then combating terrorism. 
The freedom that Bush promised to the Iraqi people 
has, after two years of occupation, turned into 
forcing the people of Baghdad to search for water, 
electricity, fuel and means to stay alive, being the 
natural results of the loss of security and the 
destruction of infrastructure..  Why would setting a 
withdrawal timetable be grave mistake?  Because 
setting the timetable means finding light at the end 
of the tunnel for the Iraqis..  Bush is defying the 
fact and he is unwilling to take a decision that would 
spare the lives of thousands of American soldiers." 
HALE