US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD4781

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 004781 
 
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, Elections, Media, Saddam Hussein 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQI GOVERNMENT, DECEMBER 15th 
ELECTION, NATIONAL RECONCILIATION, SADDAM HUSSEIN TRIAL, 
TRANSPARENCY, SOVEREIGNTY; BAGHDAD 
 
SUMMARY: The major theme in editorials of today's newspapers 
focused on the upcoming election, electoral platforms and 
Saddam's trial. 
 
Analysis: The independent Ad-Dustoor and quasi-independent 
As-Sabah focused on the voters and the difficulties they 
face in sifting through the huge number of electoral lists, 
candidates and platforms as well as concerns about a lack of 
democratic methods and sectarian tendencies in voting. 
 
Independent Az-Zaman highlighted the prisoner abuse scandal 
in its page-five editorial which accused the Americans of 
complicity. A second editorial on page-eight dealt with the 
"Impartiality of the [Shi'a] Religious Authority." 
 
The Kurdish Al-Ittihad published a page-three editorial 
entitled, "Khaniqeen: the City of Martyrs Prepares for the 
Upcoming Election," that addressed the city's tragedy and 
how it will always be a part of Kurdistan. At-Taakhi's 
editorials dealt with the upcoming election, democracy and 
the electoral platform of the Kurdish list No. 730. 
 
The partisan Shi'a newspapers (Al-Adala, Al-Bayyan, Ad-Dawa, 
and Al-Bayna Al-Jadidah) published editorials about the 
upcoming elections, electoral platforms and Saddam's trial. 
Al-Adala published a page-three editorial entitled 
"Disparagement," in which the author opined that the trial 
was fair but that Saddam did not deserve justice. Most of 
the Shi'a papers critiqued the trial as too lenient on 
Saddam and other defendants. 
 
Baghdad newspaper carried a back-page editorial entitled 
"Iyad Allawi Cultivates A Culture of Love" praising the 
candidate and encouraging voters to choose his list. 
November 29, 2005. END SUMMARY. 
 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
------------------------------- 
 
A. "The Teacher Is Against Me" (Al-Fourat, 11/29) 
B. "Saddam's Trial and the Farce of Human Rights" (Al-Bayna 
Al-Jadidah, 11/29) 
C. "Voters" (Ad-Dustoor, 11/29) 
D. "Differentiation" (As-Sabah, 11/29) 
E. "The Impartiality of the Religious Authority" (Az-Zaman, 
11/29) 
 
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SELECTED COMMENTARIES 
---------------------------------------- 
 
A. "The Teacher Is Against Me" 
(Al-Fourat - independent, anti-coalition, published this 
back-page editorial by Daoud Al-Farhan) 
 
"An assembly member revealed that the government has made 
critical decisions without reporting to the national 
assembly yet we all know that this government has been 
established by the national assembly. In addition, the Prime 
Minister is a member of the elected national assembly and is 
also a member in the UIA [United Iraqi Alliance] that has 
the overwhelming majority in the parliament. Hence, he will 
guarantee the majority of votes when he places an issue 
before assembly members. In any case, opposition members in 
the national assembly interpret this procedure as something 
along the lines of, `the national assembly is weak, it just 
questions the government and ministers but without taking 
legal action against negligent officials.' 
 
"I think that this is a weak excuse and it is similar to the 
pretext of school dropouts who claim that the teacher hates 
them which is why they have failed in their studies. I would 
like the speaker of the national assembly and the parliament 
to give an opinion on this issue because it is very 
dangerous matter. The parliament must not be merely dcor 
for what is called democracy. We all know that the 
government has twice extended the stay of the occupation 
forces without having approval from the national assembly. 
Many assembly members such as the Sadrists have objected to 
this decision. 
 
"Furthermore, the government has conducted deals with some 
countries without any notification of the national assembly. 
Recently, National Security Advisor Muafaq Al-Rubai'ee 
conducted a meeting on security cooperation with Iran. He 
also agreed to organize the mechanisms of access for Iranian 
pilgrims to Najaf and Karbala. In fact, we do not know what 
the powers of national security advisor are. Who gave him 
the authority to sign a security agreement with Iran without 
reporting to the national assembly? 
 
"Moreover, the national assembly knows nothing about oil 
revenues. Additionally, it does not know which cities have 
assumed security responsibilities from the occupation forces 
and the Iraqi people want an explanation from the government 
about these issues. How can the government extend the stay 
of occupation forces in Iraq? Occupation forces which have 
destroyed, killed and looted the country. And if the 
national assembly has no role in this issue, how can we 
speak about democracy?" 
 
B. "Saddam's Trial and the Farce of Human Rights" 
(Al-Bayna Al-Jadidah - no bias, affiliated with the Shiite 
Political Council, published this front-page unattributed 
editorial) 
 
"Saddam's speech during his trial yesterday reminds us of 
his former speeches. In fact, we and other families of 
martyrs thought that this trial would restore our Iraqi 
national pride which vanished during the era of the former 
regime. But, this trial, which was established in the name 
of human rights, has become nothing but a farce. 
 
"The trial should not have been a place for Saddam to give 
his bombastic speeches. These speeches could destroy our 
hopes in the new Iraq. How can we establish a fair trial for 
a tyrant that used his power to commit manslaughter and 
wasted the wealth of Iraq? Our people were suffering to 
death during Saddam's regime while Ba'athists and Arabs 
danced merrily. 
 
"We hope that our future will be new and civilized. But, 
civilization does not mean weakness--we have clear evidence 
that indicts the former corrupt regime. We have dreamed of 
establishing a new era that is free from oppression and 
terrorism but unfortunately, we have noticed that Saddam's 
trial was a farce for this criminal. 
 
"Democracy is not a theatre in which we wait for actors to 
put on a significant performance. Saddam was sentenced to 
the death penalty since 1959 after he tried to assassinate 
Abdul Karim Qassem but escaped to Egypt to be saved from his 
sentence. Therefore, we must decapitate the head of the 
snake so that we can get rid of the dwarfs of terrorism." 
 
C. "Voters" 
(Ad-Dustoor - independent, no bias, published this front- 
page editorial by Bassim Al-Sheikh) 
 
"We know that Iraqi voters are astonished by the huge number 
of electoral posters. But, at the same time, they are 
puzzled because they cannot distinguish between the enormous 
numbers of electoral lists and their platforms. Thus, we 
think that voters will, in the end, vote according to 
foreign influences that have nothing to do with the proper 
electoral awareness of voters. 
 
"Voters must distance themselves from emotional and 
psychological influences, as well as others, that may happen 
inside the polling center. Unfortunately, electoral 
campaigns coerce voters to choose according to grandiose 
slogans, which affect voters' choices. 
 
"When voters vote according to those factors, the democratic 
process will lose its most important chance to be 
successful. If we let our emotions determine our political 
choices, the final result will end in failure--emotions and 
politics often cannot be reconciled. If we vote according to 
our emotions, we will lament when we see those whom we 
elected fail to implement their promises. We must realize 
that elections represent a practice to identify the best, 
most truthful and efficient candidates that can deal with 
reality in Iraq." 
 
D. "Differentiation" 
(As-Sabah - Iraqi Media Network, government financed, pro- 
coalition, published this front-page editorial by Muhammad 
Abdul Jabbar) 
 
"Electoral lists and their candidates compete to win the 
votes of the populace. Each list seeks to obtain the largest 
number of votes to acquire more seats in the next parliament- 
-these lists use different methods and styles to convince 
voters to vote for them. These methods are numerous but they 
must not violate the laws of election lest they be subject 
to legal actions. 
 
"The electoral lists published and disseminated their 
political platforms but it is very important to distinguish 
between slogans and platforms. We know that slogans 
represent general goals while platforms represent practical 
plans to achieve those goals. It seems that most of the 
current political platforms are similar in their subjects 
and ideas. 
 
"We do not know the percentage of voters who will vote 
according to political platforms because it seems that this 
percentage is unknown so far. However, the similarity of 
political platforms among electoral lists will make it 
difficult for voters to distinguish among them. On the other 
hand, voters will be able to recognize names of candidates 
according to their factional, sectarian and ethnic 
affiliations. I think that this issue will harm the 
democratic perspective of the electoral process. We all know 
that democracy mandates that free choice and honest 
awareness must be primary conditions for public elections. 
 
"Candidates can provide voters a free service by announcing 
the differences between their electoral lists. These 
differences must be clear and decisive so that voters can 
choose the best list. This process will only work if voters 
vote according to political platforms." 
 
E. "The Impartiality of the Religious Authority" 
(Az-Zaman - independent, anti-coalition, published this page- 
eight editorial by Ibrahim Al-Khayat) 
 
"During the past two years, mosques were bombed, religious 
scholars were assassinated and we also heard calls for 
eradicating people according to sectarian reasons. However, 
the religious authority remained wise. After the downfall of 
the former regime, people thought that it was permissible to 
loot but the religious authority issued a fatwa which stated 
that looting is religiously prohibited. In addition, it 
called on Iraqis to cooperate to build their country. 
 
"When Al-Sistani issued a fatwa encouraging the public to 
participate widely in the election, people reacted quickly 
against terrorism. Today, the wise religious authority has 
confirmed its parental role by not supporting any specific 
electoral list at the expenses of others. This move has put 
an end to any political group that wishes to use Al- 
Sistani's name in the electoral campaign. The religious 
authority has announced it will not receive any government 
delegations so that they cannot portray their visit as 
endorsement for their electoral list. 
 
"The religious authority calls on Iraqis to participate 
widely in the election because voting is a legitimate right 
for citizens. This is not an obligation but the religious 
authority merely wants to advise citizens--it avoids 
interfering in the electoral competition so that nobody can 
speak against its holy position." 
 
KHALILZAD