US embassy cable - 05AMMAN5859

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005859 
 
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 EGYPT TERROR ATTACKS 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead stories in all papers today, July 24, focused 
on the terror attacks in Sharm El-Sheikh yesterday. 
Reports describe attacks as "carnage," "mortal blow," 
or simply "a bloody dawn" in Sharm El-Sheikh.  A 
noticeable number of commentaries strongly condemn the 
attacks and their perpetrators as a faction of people 
who seek to kill and murder.  Furthermore, 
commentaries strongly absolve Islam of such terror 
actions and such terrorists, urging the world, 
particularly Arabs and Muslims, to speak out clearly 
against terror done in the name of Islam. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "The war on terrorism: a major failure story" 
 
Daily Columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(07/24):  "We must admit that the war on terrorism has 
failed to achieved its objectives, and that, despite 
its high cost, its noise, and its many fronts, it is 
still as far away from the finish line as it will ever 
be.  We must also admit that more bloody chapters of 
this war are yet to come..  We talk so much about the 
`reasons' for the terrorism and about its many violent 
and bloody phenomena, but we never do anything to 
overcome them and go beyond them.  The status of the 
Arab and Muslim regimes remains the same; in fact, it 
is getting worse.  Unemployment, hunger, and price 
hikes take on millions of people every day; corrupt 
and unjust regimes shoot and expand their prisons.  As 
for the west, the policies and strategies that stir 
hatred and the clash of civilizations continue to do 
their thing." 
 
-- "Damn the terrorism" 
 
Center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(07/24) editorializes:  "The bombings in Sharm El- 
Sheikh and the Egyptian, Arab, and foreign victims, 
Christians and Muslims, all stand witness and proof 
that the terrorists are criminals and murderers, that 
they have no justification, that one cannot defend 
their stand because they are not human and nor can one 
defend their viewpoint because they have none.  Their 
primary objective is to kill.  When we spoke in the 
past about the reasons that lead to the growth of 
terrorism, we had actually wanted to understand the 
facts, and not to find justification for their 
actions..  It is time to admit the fact that the 
terrorists are made of the same clay, that they are a 
united front despite the fact they come from separate 
groupings.  On the other hand, the world has not yet 
formed a united front, and it is not easy to do that 
when there are those who perpetrate terrorism in all 
its forms, and when there are those who claim to fight 
terrorism while they are the cause of it because of 
the injustice, aggression, and usurpation they 
exercise." 
 
-- "The world is no longer safe" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back-page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(07/24):  "The world cannot bear the continuation of 
this war [on terror].  Moreover, the world cannot keep 
quiet under this intellectual terrorism that Bush has 
imposed on everyone when he declared, "if you are not 
with us, you are against us."  If a person wants to 
talk about the roots and causes of terrorism, he is 
accused of `justifying terrorism,' but then the person 
realizes that sufficing with condemnation and 
denunciation of terrorism actually means that he is 
justifying the Bush-Blair war and with it, the daily 
crimes in Iraq..  There must be another way to fight 
terrorism.  There must be a third camp, different from 
the Bush-Blair camp and the Bin Laden-Zarqawi camp, 
that would establish a comprehensive international 
effort to put an end to terrorism and deal with its 
root causes; a camp that would include countries 
actually hurt by terrorism..  The Arabs and Muslims 
are the first and most to suffer from terrorism and 
there is plenty of evidence to that in Baghdad, 
Riyadh, Rabat, and Sharm El-Sheikh.  Without them, 
without respecting their viewpoints, their suggestions 
and their demands for fighting terrorism, humanity 
will continue to be hostage to the Bush-Blair policy 
that has left the world less safe in this open war 
between crazy people and ghosts." 
 
-- "Sharm El-Sheikh bombings: sinful terrorism and 
criminal murderers" 
 
Semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai (07/24) 
editorializes:  "Silence is no longer a virtue.  It 
has become nearly the same as complicity with barbaric 
actions committed in cold blood and dressed up by 
their perpetrators as religious actions.  What kind of 
Jihad is this that takes innocent lives, destroys 
public property, and puts peoples' lives at risk?  The 
most dangerous thing about these massacres perpetrated 
by terrorists all over this world is that they speak 
in the name of Islam, when Islam in fact is absolved 
of such people.  All Muslims must take the initiative, 
with fear or hesitation, to declare that these 
prodigal people have nothing to do with them, and 
prove with action and not just that they share the 
world feelings and tendency to act decisively and 
effectively against terrorism." 
 
-- "Terrorism cannot be condemned, but ." 
 
Columnist Khairallah Khairallah writes on the op-ed 
page of independent Arabic daily Al-Ghad (07/24): 
"Terrorism is terrorism.  What London faced is 
terrorism and cannot be justified in any shape or 
form.  There is nothing called condemning terrorism 
using the world `but.', as if it is possible to look 
for mitigating circumstances for terrorists who kill 
civilians who have nothing to do with their countries' 
policies..  True, one can criticize British and 
American policies in Iraq, but this criticism cannot 
provide justification for the terrorism perpetrated in 
London.  The only thing that we can say is that the 
only party that benefits from terrorism is the enemy 
of all Arabs and Muslims, whoever that enemy might 
be." 
HALE