US embassy cable - 02HARARE2269

UNCLAS HARARE 002269 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR, AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION IRAQ; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "American war drums discord" the 
      independent weekly "The Sunday Mirror" used its 
      October 13 editorial to argue against an U.S. attack 
      on Iraq.  Excerpts follow: 
 
  2.   "As President George W. Bush presses ahead with 
      his plans to attack Iraq, there are more voices 
      opposing the war plan. . .   But, even as the U.S. 
      Congress was passing the war vote, there are important 
      dissenting voices to the war plan.  Indeed there are 
      some in the American Congress and House of 
      Representatives who believe that President Bush has 
      not proved that Iraq poses an imminent threat to the 
      USA.  Even American intelligence officials have 
      confirmed that Iraq does not possess any means in the 
      form of missiles capable of reaching the USA.  Iraq is 
      known to possess only short-range missiles capable of 
      reaching neighboring countries, but none of these are 
      capable of carrying nuclear weapons.  But George Bush 
      has insisted that `Saddam Hussein and his outlaw 
      regime pose a grave threat to the region, the world, 
      and the U.S.  Inaction is not an option, disarmament 
      is a must.'  This has widely been seen as an American 
      excuse to topple Saddam Hussein, which, it seems, 
      President George W. Bush is determined to do. 
 
      ". . .Another important voice against the 
      planned `Bush war' is that of the former U.S. 
      President Jimmy Carter who on Friday won this 
      year's Nobel Peace Prize.  Carter has been very 
      critical of the Bush administration's drive to 
      wage war on Iraq without UN support, warning 
      that this would be `a tragic and costly error.' 
      The Chairman of the Nobel Committee, Gunnar 
      Berge, is reported to have said, `With the 
      position Carter has taken, the award can and 
      must also be seen as criticism of the line the 
      current U.S. Administration has taken on Iraq.' 
      Also important, a coalition of Church leaders of 
      more than 60 Christian organizations has 
      condemned the American and British plan to 
      attack Iraq.  The Church leaders argue that the 
      threat posed by Saddam Hussein, though real, is 
      not imminent enough to justify military action. 
      The Episcopal bishop of Washington, John B. 
      Shane, summed up the Church leaders' feelings 
      and indeed that of many of us when he said: 
      `. . .In this case. . .I don't see the threat 
      from Iraq to the U.S. as an imminent threat, so. 
      . .military action against Iraq is 
      inappropriate.'" 
 
SULLIVAN