US embassy cable - 03HARARE599

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Identifier:	03HARARE599
Wikileaks:	View 03HARARE599 at Wikileaks.org
Origin:	Embassy Harare
Created:	2003-03-24 15:14:00
Classification:	UNCLASSIFIED
Tags:	PREL KPAO KMDR IZ ZI
Redacted:	This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.

UNCLAS HARARE 000599 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, KPAO, KMDR, IZ, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "What will this war achieve?" the 
      pro-government "Daily Mirror" dedicated its 
      March 24 editorial to denouncing the war against 
      Iraq, saying, "Instead of freeing the Iraqis, he 
      (President George W. Bush) is ensnaring them 
      into deeper poverty and distress."  Excerpts: 
 
      ". . .It is becoming clear that instead of 
      delivering the world from danger, Bush is 
      endangering the world more.  Instead of freeing 
      the Iraqis, he is ensnaring them into deeper 
      poverty and distress.  Iraq is a country already 
      struggling under-year-old international 
      sanctions, with levels of poverty having already 
      reached alarming proportions, according to the 
      U.N.  A worse catastrophe is the mounting death 
      toll directly related to military operations. 
      For how long can the world afford this killing 
      and destruction of a city and a country that was 
      once the capital of the Islamic world. . .?  As 
      we have said before, the real objectives of this 
      war are being ignored.  President Bush himself 
      stated last week that the so-called allies 
      wanted to replace the present administration 
      with a U.S.-led military dictatorship before 
      installing a puppet government run by local 
      people.  That is hardly the way to create a 
      democracy.  What this will only achieve is the 
      looting of resources of the world's eighth 
      largest oil producer and boost the egos of the 
      Bush clan, which felt embarrassed about failing 
      to topple Saddam during the Gulf War.  The rest 
      of the story is about murder and mayhem." 
 
SULLIVAN