US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD3889

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 003889 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/PPD, NEA/PPA, NEA/AGS, INR/IZ, INR/P 
 
E.0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, KPAO, IZ, Terrorism, Media 
SUBJECT: DAILY IRAQI WEBSITE MONITORING - September 20, 2005 
 
SUMMARY: Discussion on the Corruption and Terrorism were the 
major editorial themes of Iraqi, Arabic language websites on 
September 20, 2005. END SUMMARY. 
 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
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A. "Timing of the Scandal" (Iraq 4 all news, 9/20) 
B. "Zarqawi's Plague or Tal Afar's Plague?" (Kitabat, 9/20) 
C. "This Is Why Al-Mutlag and Al-Dhari Reject the New 
Constitution" (Nahrain, 9/20) 
D. "Responsibility" (Al-Soat Al-Iraq, 9/20) 
 
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SELECTED COMMENTARIES 
 
 
A. "Timing of the Scandal" 
(Editorial by Fatih Abdul Salam -Iraq 4 all news - 
http://iraq4all.org/viewnews.php?id=9944 - Based in Denmark, 
not affiliated with any political party) 
 
"A minister talks about a $2 billion embezzlement and the 
National Assembly talks about similar thefts to such an 
extent that it seems as if Iraqis are drowning in an ocean 
of organized looting. These incriminating facts may reveal 
information about the lack of security, electricity, and 
services in the country, as well as where hundreds of 
millions of dollars could have gone in a war-devastated 
country like ours. These numbers do not appear to be final, 
nor do they give the full picture because other types of 
theft and embezzlement are committed in the name of the 
people, claiming to serve the public interest. 
 
"What has surfaced of late does not necessarily represent a 
major scandal for Iraqis because most of them already knew 
that their country was being robbed in an organized manner. 
The competition for official posts was for the glory of 
millions of dollars, not to serve the people who have long 
awaited a savior. 
 
"The oil for food scandal was investigated by the U.N. for 
two years and resulted in nothing more than a mild reproach 
directed at the Secretary General. Given this precedent, who 
will investigate this Iraqi scandal, and why was it brought 
up at this time despite being well-known long before - 
especially in a country that does not need scandal to settle 
political records? 
 
"Whenever conditions deteriorate in this country you should 
search for a scandal to explain it. 
 
"Iraqis who have suffered already are not willing to wait 
for twenty or thirty years to be faced with corruption; no 
one can force them to be patient. If you wish to understand 
the nature of the scandal you need to uncover the reasons 
behind its announcement." 
 
B. "Zarqawi's Plague or Tal Afar's Plague?" 
(Editorial by Jassim Al-Biyati - Kitabat - "Writings" - 
http://www.kitabat.com/i8356.htm - Independent Iraqi site) 
 
"Since the fall of Baghdad, Iraq's Sunni cities have 
witnessed a significant jump in mass casualty operations. We 
can name it, "The Katrina Lab of Iraq for Testing America's 
Weapons." 
 
"The workers in this lab, which stretches from Tal Afar to 
eastern Iraq, received permission to use any light and heavy 
weapons from their leaders in the Defense Department and the 
White House to treat their people for the terrorism disease, 
with which they were afflicted after 9/11. 
 
"Despite the grave disease in the Sunni areas it has not 
affect the Kurdish region in northern Iraq nor the Shiite 
region in southern Iraq, although they are two parts that 
cannot be separated from the country. It does not take a 
philosopher like Descartes to figure out the solution, it is 
quite simple: the northern and southern cities have 
diplomatic immunity and official passports with British or 
American visas to prevent them from catching the disease. 
 
"The poor Sunni cities, including Tal Afar, haven't gotten 
that immunity for two reasons: Tal Afar belongs to Iraq and 
it is an authentic Turkmen city. That is why it became easy 
prey for this disease and its lethal germ. Physicians are 
unable to diagnose this disease because they haven't 
differentiated between Zarqawi and Tal Afar's plague." 
 
C. "This Is Why Al-Mutlag and Al-Dhari Reject the New 
Constitution" 
(Editorial by Ali Al-Badran - Al-Nahrain - 
http://www.nahrain.com/d/news/05/09/20/nhr092 0p.html) 
 
"Spectators of the Iraqi political scene will see that 
political interests are behind all the destruction and 
killing even though these interests are disguised behind 
false claims of resisting occupation and defending Sunni 
rights. We have heard these pretexts from those who hinder 
the political process and those who cause this destruction 
in Iraq. 
 
"While there was not Sunni political or military opposition 
directed at the former regime (aside from an attempted coup 
by Major General Mohammed Madhlum Al-Dulaimi, who was later 
executed) the Shiites and Kurds were known for their long 
history of opposition to the dictatorship. Sunnis do not 
have well-known figures or parties to occupy the void 
created after the fall of the former regime; some took 
advantage of this opportunity, attempting to play a large 
role. Two blocs emerged, both claiming to represent the 
Sunnis. 
 
"The first is the Muslim Scholars Association which adopts 
radical infidel-like concepts; the other consists of the 
nationalists and Ba'athists linked to the former regime, 
which adopted the same method of killing and destruction to 
achieve its political aims. Both of these blocs carried 
slogans of defending Sunnis and resisting occupation. Both 
blocs sought to facilitate terrorist operations that target 
innocent people to give the impression they were honest, 
untouchable resistance fighters. 
 
"To rid us of this dilemma the government should establish a 
safe environment for moderate people and provide them with a 
real chance to represent the Sunni community. This will not 
be achieved unless we eliminate the threats from militants, 
infidels, bearded men and those masked as clerics who give 
legitimacy to criminal acts and encourage sectarian discord 
whenever they get the chance." 
 
D. "Responsibility" 
(Editorial by Mohammed Abdul Jabar Shabout - Al-Soat Al-Iraq 
- "The Voice of Iraq" - http://www.sotaliraq.com/articles- 
iraq/nieuws.php?id=15732) 
 
"Our government is not comprised of a winning party as would 
be the case in the British government where the party that 
wins a majority of parliamentary seats forms its government 
and the others become opposition parties awaiting the next 
election. Our government is a coalition consisting of 
elected blocs. The Alliance and Kurdish lists both consist 
of a number of parties in addition to independent figures 
representing a spectrum of Iraqi society. This is a good 
system given the ethnic, ideological and political pluralism 
in Iraq. But public opinion polls show a majority of 
citizens are not satisfied with the government, even though 
it enjoys electoral legitimacy, since it can not demonstrate 
competency. 
 
"It is known that a government which is incompetent will 
fail in future elections. Some allied parties in the 
government are not satisfied with the government's conduct. 
Many memos were presented to the Prime Minister who never 
responded to them. One of the memos was written by the 
Minister of Water Resources, Dr. Abdul Lateef Raheed whose 
ministry does not even have a chance of being listed within 
the ministerial cabinet agenda. A political party leader 
told me he blamed the Prime Minister for the government's 
failure. Another political figure who assumed a prominent 
post in the government intends to participate in elections 
on a separate list. Dr. Laith Kubba, the Prime Minister's 
spokesperson, criticized the government publicly in a 
symposium held in London. 
 
"This situation presents difficult choices for political and 
party figures. Either they continue to be silent, share 
responsibility for the government's general failure, and 
consequently be included as part of the failure, or they 
evade responsibility for the government's failure. Some 
believe that this kind of announcement is more costly than 
silence because an announcement might lead to the fall of 
the government-particularly its head. The country would then 
descend into a political crisis from which it would be 
difficult to emerge. 
 
"Silence will result in decreasing popularity for these 
parties. Some are preparing to discuss the situation frankly 
and avoid blaming themselves for others' failures, hoping to 
maintain their popularity and get lucky in the upcoming 
elections." 
SATTERFIELD