US embassy cable - 05BAGHDAD4855

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 004855 
 
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, TRANSPARENCY, SADDAM HUSSEIN TRIAL; BAGHDAD 
 
SUMMARY: The major theme of today's editorials was the 
upcoming election and the secondary topic, in some papers 
was the Saddam Hussein trial. 
 
Analysis: Independent As-Sabah's front-page editorial dealt 
with violations committed during the current electoral 
campaign. Though As-Sabah never specifically mentioned 
Allawi, the inference is that he has been a victim due to 
the widely reported news of his posters being defaced and 
torn down. 
 
Independent Al-Mada highlighted Saddam's trial and expressed 
characteristic impatience and frustration with the pace and 
what Al-Mada sees as Saddam's pedestal for grandstanding. 
 
Baghdad's front-page editorial entitled, "Glass Houses and 
Reality" by Abdul Jaleel Muhsin dealt with how the current 
Iraqi government pays little attention to assassinations and 
violations against the Iraqyia List and its members. The 
writer implores the government to "stop accusing the Iraqiya 
List and provide services for the people and complete 
honestly in the electoral process." 
 
Al-Jaridah, affiliated with the Arab Socialist Movement, 
published a back-page editorial entitled, "Why We Are Voting 
for the Iraqiya National List 731." The editorial goes on to 
explain and summarize the list's political platform. 
 
Al-Taakhi continues publishing editorials on page three 
supporting the Kurdish list 730. Al-Ittihad published a page- 
three editorial entitled the "Iraqi Democratic Scene Is A 
Result of Iraqis' Sacrifices" which dealt with competition 
among electoral lists. Another editorial on the same page, 
"The Upcoming Election and the New Future," encouraged Kurds 
to vote for the Kurdish Coalition, list 730. 
 
Independent Al-Mashriq distributed a special free, eight- 
page electoral supplement, `The Eyes of the Voter' along 
with its newspaper. The supplement contains articles about 
the upcoming election designed to educate the citizenry 
about the democratic process and encourage Iraqis to 
participate in the coming election. 
 
Independent As-Sabah Al-Jadeed, also distributed a free 
electoral supplement simply called, `The Election.' In 
addition to voter education material, the supplement 
contains interviews with candidates, broad discussion of the 
political scene in Iraq and an opinion poll on the last 
page. END SUMMARY. 
 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
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A. "Turn the Page Please" (Al-Mada, 12/5) 
B. "Electoral Slogans" (Al-Bayyan, 12/5) 
C. "A Special Democracy" (Ad-Dustoor, 12/5) 
 
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SELECTED COMMENTARIES 
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A. "Turn the Page Please" 
(Al-Mada - independent, no bias, published this back-page 
editorial by Amir Al-Qaisi) 
 
"Let the families of the martyrs try him. That is what a 
seven-year old child said when she saw, on television, a 
young girl crying after her father was taken away by the 
Ba'athists. In fact, that child did not have any family 
members who were killed by the former regime but she 
expressed her real feelings saying, `Why did Saddam kill all 
those people?' Who can save this child from her bewilderment 
and who can answer her questions? 
 
"On the other hand, the adults lived and witnessed all 
details of that sadness and loss of our beloved people. We 
are still patient despite seeing the commander of defeat 
behind the bars but at the same time, we hope that he will 
be grateful to us for giving him a fair trial. Actually, we 
are not against giving that criminal a fair trial because we 
believe that in the new Iraq, suspects are innocent until 
they are proven guilty. However, we all know that Saddam is 
a unique criminal. 
 
"We understand the importance of establishing fair trials 
but we do not like to see Saddam use the trial to give 
political speeches, which we are sick of. This trial seems 
to be a badly managed melodrama that will cause others to 
mock the Iraqi people. More than one opinion poll showed 
that the Iraqi people do not like the continual extension of 
this play. Moreover, the second session did not receive 
widespread popular interest. We do not know why the suspect 
was addressed as `Mr.' If all suspects were addressed as Mr. 
then how would we address [real] misters? In addition, 
Saddam's lawyers entered the court-root without wearing the 
official attire. The Iraqi people want this trial to be 
expedient-it's one that's costing us blood and tears. 
Frankly speaking, if this trial continues along the same 
path I will be the first one to call for the government to 
accede to strong popular demand, which is to turn the page, 
please." 
 
B. "Electoral Slogans" 
(Al-Bayyan - affiliated with Ad-Dawa (led by Al-Ja'fari), no 
bias, published this page-five editorial by Salim Rasoul) 
 
"There are a lot of electoral slogans displayed on walls of 
buildings all over the country. But, we should not be 
astonished because this is an electoral season. Most of 
these slogans are similar but there are some that make us 
really laugh. 
 
"In order to make electoral slogans acceptable and 
convincing for people, these slogans must satisfy real 
popular needs. In addition, they must be credible. However, 
there are slogans that make Iraqis laugh because such 
slogans promise citizens that they will possess real estate 
and receive shares of oil. Such slogans disparage the minds 
of common Iraqis because everybody knows that the economic 
situation Iraq suffers from has many major problems; Iraq 
suffers from huge debts that were inherited by the deposed 
regime. 
 
"In fact, we should not let our citizens think about day 
dreaming. Incredible electoral slogans may reduce the 
credibility of candidates. We think that such electoral 
slogans deceive people and we do not want politicians to be 
deceptive through their electoral platforms. Politicians 
cannot risk their political future by calling for ambitious 
slogans they know are impossible to achieve." 
 
C. "A Special Democracy" 
(Ad-Dustoor - independent, no bias, published this page- 
three editorial by Bassim Al-Sheikh) 
 
"The electoral competition among lists has reached a serious 
stage. Lists have started to exchange accusations among each 
other. In addition, there is a huge percentage of political 
liquidation among the electoral lists. I think we should 
solve this problem as soon as possible. 
 
"The reasons behind these problems are a lack of awareness 
and education. In addition, the Iraqi mind lacks 
enlightenment about the meaning of disagreement of opinions. 
Many Iraqis still believe that disagreement of opinions 
means confiscation of opinions and this is one of the 
dictatorship's residuals. If we encouraged such philosophy 
in the new Iraq, there would be a fire that destroys 
everything because this fire is lurking beneath the ashes. 
Perhaps, those who conduct assassinations may justify their 
deeds saying that they were brought up with a negative 
education and during a dictatorial era, causing their 
personality to become aggressive. 
 
"However, the most dangerous issue is that such 
assassinations were conducted with the blessings of 
political parties and foreign powers. These parties and 
powers support and provide protection for perpetrators of 
those assassinations. Therefore, such assassinations do not 
represent individual acts but rather represent the 
ideologies of political groups. At this point, these 
political parties are double-dealing. On one hand, they 
publicly denounce and reject violence while on the other, 
they support violence and perhaps plan and implement it in 
secret. These parties openly reject dictatorship but seek it 
 
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clandestinely. 
"These days, we find ourselves living in mini dictatorships 
that everybody is trying to establish; it seems that they do 
not understand the meaning of democracy yet. Democracy means 
that we should accept dissenting opinions as long as these 
opinions are lawful. If there are groups that believe in 
assassinations in order to control political life, how can 
we trust our future if they have a chance to run the 
government?" 
 
 
KHALILZAD