US embassy cable - 05AMMAN8527

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 008527 
 
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 TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: KMDR JO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON IRANIAN PRESIDENT'S REMARKS 
AND SYRIA 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead stories in all papers today, October 30, 
address a variety of regional developments, including 
the toll of the latest bombing near Ba'qouba in Iraq 
and the Syrian President's announcement of the 
formation of a Syrian investigative committee in the 
Hariri assassination, as well as Israeli attacks 
against the Palestinians. 
 
 
  Editorial Commentary on Iranian President's Remarks 
 
-- "Wake Up Sleepy One!" 
 
Former Minister of Information Saleh Qallab writes in 
the semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al Rai 
(10/30):  "When the young bearded Mohammad Ahmadi 
Najad, who came to be the President of the Islamic 
Republic of Iran from the trenches of the 
revolutionary guard militias, launches the call for 
Israel's removal from existence, as Saddam Hussein had 
done before, it is in reality a call for all the 
wolves of this earth to come to eat at the banquet of 
this region at the expense of the poor people who are 
saturated with banquets of clumsy slogans and 
ideologies and sickening prospectus....  Whoever 
commits grave mistakes under egotistical pressures and 
pushes his country and people towards the abyss must 
bear the consequences.  The Arab Nation has nothing to 
do with such flamboyant actions and stances nor with 
wrong decision committed by some in circumstances of 
over zealousness, blind estimation and over- 
confidence.  The region is at the threshold of 
devastating quakes and what is going on today are mere 
indication of that". 
 
-- "Yes to Ahmadi Najad" 
 
Daily columnist Bassem Sakijha writes in the center- 
left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (10/30): 
"The world goes up in arms when Ahmadi Najad talks 
about wiping Israel off the map, but remains quiet 
when Israel removes Palestine not just from the map 
but from the conscience of the world....  The young 
Iranian President said what billions of people on this 
earth could not say: Israel is a fabricated entity and 
will continue to be so no matter how treaties 
countries sign with it.  There is no place for Israel 
in a land that does not belong to it, and if and when 
it succeeds in imposing its opinion on the world 
today, it will not be able to do so forever.  The 
destiny of this fabricated and imposed entity is 
doomed to disappear.  Najad did not talk about the 
Jews and I don't think he meant them at all, because 
these are human beings who deserve to find their place 
on this earth, and maybe even in Palestine, but not in 
Israel ... which is a name that represents the 
arrogance of power and devilish frivolity.  Is this 
hateful time going to allow us to declare our stand 
vis--vis what an elected Muslim head of state said so 
we can shout our yes." 
 
-- "The Iranian attack in the region" 
 
Columnist Khairallah Khairallah writes on the op-ed 
page of the independent, centrist Arabic daily Al-Ghad 
(10/30):  "What makes Iran capable of adopting this 
attack policy, by which it wants all to understand 
that it is the first and foremost regional power in 
the Middle East and that it has extensive influence in 
the region, be that in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine or 
even the Gulf?  The simple answer to this complicated 
question is that Iran is able to do that in view of 
the huge victory that the United States provided for 
it in Iraq.  The volume of this victory is so huge 
that the Iranian regime is able to cast aside all 
European and American stances and to continue its 
nuclear program.  This is all possible so long as the 
thousands of American and British troops in Iraq 
remain hostages in Iran's grip.  One cannot event talk 
Israel being really upset about the Iranian policy. 
The proof of that is that the Khudeira operation was 
as good as a gift for Ariel Sharon, who no longer 
feels the need to make any initiatives or take any 
steps towards meeting his serious and real opponent, 
the Palestinian National Authority, halfway....  It is 
Iran's right to choose the policy that best suits its 
purposes and to seek to have influence in all 
directions ... but for anyone to try and convince us 
that what Iran does is in opposition to Israeli 
interests is something to which the only response is 
this: any policy of a sectarian nature in the Middle 
East is always welcomed by Israel." 
 
-- "Ahmadi Najad's gift to Bashar Assad" 
 
Columnist Yasser Abu Hilaleh writes on the op-ed page 
of Al-Ghad (10/30):  "It is difficult to view the 
remarks made by the Iranian President as being an 
unintentional mistake stemming from a sudden bout of 
enthusiasm.  Most likely, the President's remarks 
calling for wiping Israel off the map are part of a 
strategy designed to confront the western pressures on 
Iran by escalating the situation.  It is a strategy 
that is parallel to that adopted by the Syrian 
President (Iran's only ally in the region) ever since 
the arrival of the Americans in Iraq.  The proponents 
of escalation in Iran and Syria believe that the 
concessions made during the Khatami era and the early 
days of Bashar Assad did not remove the two countries 
from the list of countries that support terrorism. 
The Iraqi lesson only confirmed that the Americans are 
serious about extracting what is left of the rogue 
regimes....  Ahmadi Najad and Bashar Assad may not 
fully realize the weaknesses of their own regimes, but 
it is easy for them to know the weaknesses of the 
United States in the region.  The United States is 
involved in Iraq and is looking for a way out, and the 
Republicans are going through the worst time for 
domestic and foreign reasons.  The United States might 
be able to bring down the two regimes in record 
time....  What is most serious about the Iran-Syria 
issue is that the Israelis are going to be a stone 
throw away from the Syrian artillery, and Hizbollah 
will not hesitate to execute higher orders, and, as 
for Iraq, Iran's allies will be right there.  The 
United States knows the weaknesses of the two regimes, 
but it also knows that their collapse will not expand 
the influence of Al-Qa'eda." 
 
             Editorial Commentary on Syria 
 
-- "The solution lies in the 'spring of Damascus'" 
 
Chief Editor Ayman Safadi writes on the back page of 
Al-Ghad (10/30):  "U.S. President George Bush is 
facing a severe political crisis that is eating away 
at the credibility of his administration, and this 
crisis is going to continue to push the level of the 
American people's satisfaction with Bush's performance 
down.  Such internal pressures are going to force Bush 
to look for exits that are undoubtedly going to be 
external or foreign exits in light of the lacking 
domestic options.  The U.S. administration is going to 
work on directing the American public opinion towards 
foreign issues in order to ease the focus on the 
President's domestic crisis and thus ease the pressure 
on Bush.  All indications from Washington show that 
the Syrian file is a strong candidate for pre- 
occupying the American public opinion, since it is a 
file that all the necessary elements of intrigue and 
excitement favored by the American people....  Facts 
say that America will not minimize its campaign 
against Syria.  This is a fact that Damascus must 
realize and deal with rationally and logically if it 
wants to protect itself from punitive measures that 
will be undertaken against it by Washington....  It is 
necessary for Syria to understand that the tools of 
the golden past - such as organizing 'spontaneous' 
demonstrations, releasing the arsenal of over-consumed 
slogans - are futile.  Managing the current crisis 
requires convincing tools, first of which is 
reorganizing the internal situation.  Meanwhile, the 
Arab world cannot stand with folded hands watching 
what goes in Syria and around it.  The region is going 
to be inevitably affected by the repercussions of the 
current labor in Damascus....  The Arabs must push 
Syria towards making the investigation announced by 
Assad yesterday a serious and genuine one where it is 
possible to punish anyone who is convicted of the 
assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister. 
More importantly, Syria must understand the importance 
of initiating a genuine democratization process.... 
The Syrian people represent the first line of defense 
for Syria.  There is a need for the Syrian people to 
pull in ranks around their homeland, and the way to do 
that is clear and the key to that lies with the Syrian 
regime, which wither must open up to its people and 
punish those who deserve to be punished or face a 
future whose outcomes will be destructive to the 
regime, to Syria and to the entire region." 
HALE