US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA591

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000591 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PDA 
WHITE HOUSE PASS NSC/WEUROPE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, KMDR, OIIP, OPRC, CA, TFUS01, TFUS02, TFUS03 
SUBJECT:  MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ 
 
 
IRAQ 
1.   "No really, it could work" 
Under the sub-heading, "Though counterintuitive, Bush's 
warpath might lead to Mideast peace," columnist Marcus 
Gee commented in the leading Globe and Mail (2/28): 
"...As Mr. Bush sees it, solving the Arab-Israeli 
dispute would remove one of the grievances that helps 
fuel anti-Americanism and complicates the fight against 
terrorism. The American desire for peace 
springs from the strongest motive: self-interest. So 
after the United States goes to war, it will turn once 
again to the harder job of peace." 
 
2.   "U.S. serious about democracy in Mideast" 
Columnist Marcus Gee wrote in the leading Globe and 
Mail (2/27): "...Whatever Washington's critics may say, 
there is no way that the United States is going to 
replace Saddam Hussein with a friendly thug and get 
out. Idealistic? Dangerous? Perhaps. There is always 
the danger that Muslims would see the attempt to build 
democracy in Iraq as an imperial enterprise, setting 
off a backlash that would make anti-Americanism worse, 
not better." 
 
3. "George W. Bush, the engineer" 
Editorialist Mario Roy wrote in the centrist La Presse 
(2/28): "George W. Bush redrew the map of the Middle- 
East and undertook some spectacular political 
engineering work on Wednesday.... Everything is 
coherent with what could be called the Wolfowitz 
doctrine...the U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary and a high 
level strategist who considers it the West's duty to 
spread its values of liberty and democracy. But we have 
said it before: imposing democracy by force is not a 
good idea.... Moreover, one cannot imagine a worst 
guide than America to show the way especially in this 
region where, rightly or wrongly, the U.S. is 
thoroughly detested. The fact that the Bush 
administration fails to see these pitfalls leaves us 
speechless." 
 
CELLUCCI