US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD4503

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 004503 
 
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 
SUBJECT: DAILY IRAQI WEBSITE MONITORING - November 2, 2005 
 
SUMMARY: Discussions of Barzan Al-Tikriti and calls to offer 
him cancer treatment, as well as anger over U.S. 
"occupation," were the major editorial themes of Iraqi, 
Arabic language websites on November 2, 2005. END SUMMARY. 
 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
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A.   "Criminals Stand Together" (Kitabat, 11/2) 
B. "To Murderers of Man and Culture" (Watan Lil Jamee, 11/2) 
 
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SELECTED COMMENTARIES 
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A. "Criminals Stand Together" 
(Editorial by Nezar Riheg - Kitabat - "Writings" - 
http://www.kitabat.com/i9634.htm - Independent, based in 
Germany) 
 
"Saddam's half brother, Barzan Al-Tikriti, is suffering from 
cancer and his treatment can only be found abroad; thus, he 
wrote a plea to his personal and family friend, Jalal Al- 
Talabani, whom he used to visit from time to time during the 
latter's efforts to strengthen his bonds with the 
dictatorship. It was not only a plea, but a reminder of 
previous crimes they shared together. 
 
"The criminal felt sorry for his fellow criminal, so he 
agreed to respond to the plea on the condition that none of 
the shared secrets be revealed. The massacre of `Bashtashan' 
followed a meeting between Al-Talabani and Al-Tikriti in 
which they agreed to purge Arabs who opposed the fascist 
regime... In return, Al-Talabani's bank accounts were filled 
by his close friend, Al-Tikriti, who was based in 
Switzerland at the time. 
 
"This new plea seems to be a bargain that will prove very 
costly for Al-Talabani, as he needs to incorporate other 
parties to guarantee Barzan's rescue from imprisonment, if 
not death, and transform the whole issue into a humanitarian 
one. This is why Al-Ja'fari came on board even though he had 
no justification for his people. He and his family suffered 
a great deal from Saddam's regime and from Barzan Al- 
Tikriti, who spared no one-not Arabs, Kurds, Communists, 
Nationalists, nor any others who all shared the same fate: 
dismembered and mutilated bodies dumped in mass graves. 
 
"Al-Ja'fari does not mind Barzan leaving prison, nor will he 
mind the others like Taha Al-Jezrawi or Abid Humood. It is 
as if he was the one who toppled the previous regime and is 
the gentle dictator of Iraq who cannot confess that such 
decisions should be made by the tribunal. since it is a 
democracy. 
 
"What will Al-Ja'fari say to the families of victims who 
perished in the prisons of the previous regime? Why all this 
interest in this criminal when thousands of detainees are 
neglected? Where was he when abuses took place at Abu Ghraib 
and when Al-Talabani's statement that `Saddam used to do 
worse' indicated that everything is a legitimate right for 
the Americans? How many Iraqis are suffering from cancer due 
to the depleted uranium from American weapons used in wars 
against Iraq? Why didn't Al-Talabani and Al-Ja'fari address 
the concerns of thousands of people with cancer, or demand 
the occupiers provide medical care for those infected? Why 
is it that only now the noble emotions of Al-Ja'fari drive 
him to save the life of Barzan Al-Tikriti and no one else? 
 
"The amazing thing is that despite the essential differences 
between Al-Talabani and Al-Ja'fari and the exchanged 
accusations between them, the two seem to agree over two 
things: occupation forces remaining in Iraq, and the release 
of Barzan Al-Tikriti. As for future agreements, well, only 
God and Zalmay Khalilzad know." 
 
B. "To Murderers of Man and Culture" 
(Editorial by Hamza Shamkhi - Watan Lil Jamee - "Homeland 
for All" - 
http://wattan4all.com/viewarticle.php?id=6808 &pg=articles - 
Affiliated with Faili Kurd Party of Iraq) 
 
"You have violated humanity, culture, and civilization 
through your terrorist actions and dark methodologies. You 
have killed man and destroyed life. But this time you have 
taken it a step too far by destroying our national culture 
and attempting to wipe out our humanitarian heritage that 
crosses Iraqi borders and reaches out to the world. 
 
"Not long ago, you targeted a symbol of our civilization 
represented in the spiral minaret in Samara, followed by the 
statue of the founder of the Republic of Iraq and the leader 
of the revolution, Abdul Kareem Qasim. Today your craven 
actions violate another symbol: the statue of Abu Ja'far Al- 
Mansour. 
 
"All these monuments frighten you; our culture frightens you 
and so do our poetry, portraits, plays, and science. You 
live alone in your era of ignorance, this era that will 
inevitably vanish. 
 
"Governmental and non-governmental organizations carry the 
onus of protecting our priceless national culture from the 
enemies of civilization, especially the monument of freedom 
in central Baghdad, which symbolizes our beloved and proud 
city." 
 
SATTERFIELD