US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA592

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000592 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PDA 
WHITE HOUSE PASS NSC/WEUROPE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, KMDR, OPRC, CA, TFUS01, TFUS02, TFUS03,  OIIP 
SUBJECT:  MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ; NAM 
 
 
IRAQ 
1.   "Only George Bush could make Chirac look like a 
dove" 
Columnist Paul Knox commented in the leading Globe and 
Mail (2/26): "...Mr. Bush has managed to drive the 
deepest wedge in half a century between the 
United States and Europe over an issue tangential to 
counterterrorism, which is the central challenge of his 
presidency. Every time his pal Tony Blair 
digs himself out of a public-opinion hole, Mr. Bush 
pushes him back in with another dose of illogic and 
mendacity. The U.S. President has single-handedly 
resuscitated the global antiwar movement - no mean feat 
in a post-9/11 world. And he's accomplished something 
Bill Clinton could only dream of: He's actually made 
people feel good about being liberals once again. That, 
of course, is not such a bad thing. But there is a 
great tragedy about Mr. Bush's meltdown in the arena of 
international public opinion. His obsession with 
military action has made it easy for others to avoid 
addressing the plight of civilians in Iraq, and their 
claim on a brighter future.... The humanitarian plight 
of Iraqis has been trotted out 
so belatedly by Mr. Bush and his allies that it lacks 
all credibility as a pretext for war. In any case, 
their overwhelming focus continues to be WMD.... If the 
current crisis is defused, there is no reason why the 
focus of United Nations involvement can't be broadened 
from weapons of mass destruction to include a mechanism 
to address the civil, political, social 
and economic rights of Iraqis. Those who would be 
peacemongers should make that their overriding goal." 
 
2.   Saddam's Missiles 
Editorialist Serge Truffaut wrote in the liberal Le 
Devoir (2/26): "If not for the interview granted by 
Saddam Hussein to Dan Rather, the chances the memo 
written by Paris and Berlin - and endorsed by Moscow 
and Beijing - had of being adopted by the Security 
Council would have been much greater. But Saddam caught 
everybody by surprise and gave the Bush-Blair 
duo...everything it wanted, namely a reason to send 
armies to Baghdad. Indeed, Saddam's clear refusal 
during this interview not to destroy the missiles 
constitutes the motive the war side was waiting for.... 
If Hussein sticks to his guns, it is likely neither 
Bush nor Blair will be forced to demand a vote at the 
Security Council on their new resolution. More exactly, 
if Hussein decides to keep arms prohibited by the UN, 
he will reduce to ashes the position defended by 
Germany, France, China and Russia." 
 
NAM 
3.   "No friends, only enemies" 
Under the sub-heading, "Paranoid North Koreans shun 
even sympathetic leaders," columnist Jonathan Manthorpe 
observed in the conservative tabloid 
Vancouver Sun (2/26): "...The efforts of the NAM summit 
have been models of moderation beside the sometimes 
charged language in the meeting hall. NAM members 
include the three countries of Bush's axis of evil as 
well as five temporary members of the 15-member UN 
Security Council that will soon turn thumbs up or down 
on military action against Iraq. Their resolution on 
Iraq, for example, supports the disarming of Saddam 
Hussein's regime, but only by 
the UN and not by the U.S. acting independently with 
allies. The resolution does not preclude military 
action under a UN mandate if all else fails.... 
NAM delegates wanted to take a similar stance over 
North Korea. A draft resolution negotiated in corridors 
and back-rooms over the past few days 
would have called on Pyongyang to reverse its decision 
late last year to withdraw from the nuclear Non- 
Proliferation Treaty.... The problem for everyone - 
North Korea's neighbours at least as much as the U.S. - 
is that Pyongyang does have weapons of mass destruction 
and a highly competent and motivated million-man army. 
Saddam, in contrast, probably has only the remnants of 
his dreams to acquire a mass killing machine. Erratic 
North Korea is such a dangerous proposition it has to 
be handled delicately while Iraq does not." 
 
CELLUCCI