US embassy cable - 03AMMAN1910

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001910 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR, 
I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN 
USAID/ANE/MEA 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH 
PARIS FOR O'FRIEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: KMDR JO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON WAR IN IRAQ 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Front pages of all papers published today, March 
31, continue to focus on developments in the war in 
Iraq.  Major reports highlight the effect of the 
suicide bombings, a "division" in the Pentagon over 
the military operations, as well as the continued 
Iraqi resistance and the continued American and 
British bombing of Baghdad and Basra.  A banner 
headline in Al-Arab Al-Yawm reads "Four Thousand Arab 
Would-Be Martyrs [suicide bombers] for Iraq".  Al-Arab 
Al-Yawm also carries the text of a letter sent to the 
King by 99 well-known Jordanian former officials and 
others urging him to adopt a stand in defense of the 
Iraqi people.  Covers of all Jordan's dailies feature 
above-the-fold photographs of civilian-area 
destruction or armed coalition forces searching Iraqi 
civilians. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "An unclean war" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(03/31):  "To begin, it is an illegitimate and an 
unjust war, and it is a war by the armies of 
superpowers against a small third world country.. 
Bush and Rumsfeld are trying to keep under cover the 
war's developments so that their crimes stay in the 
dark..  There were bloodbaths in Baghdad and Basra 
where children, men and women became human pieces. 
That is why Rumsfeld gave strict orders to the 
American media not to publish any photos of the crimes 
being perpetrated against humanity..  Yet, blood is 
thicker than water.  Al-Jazira and other satellite 
televisions covered the atrocities of Rumsfeld's dirty 
war..  The least an Arab can do is not to keep quiet 
about the brutality of the American-British 
aggression.  The least we can do is to pursue the war 
leaders with their daily crimes and atrocities against 
the Iraqi people in order to expose them and put an 
end to them.  If the media is silent about a crime, it 
becomes as good as a supporter and an accessory." 
 
-- "Smart weapons and stupid policies" 
 
Daily columnist Fahd Fanek writes on the back page of 
semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(03/31):  "This unjust war launched by Washington and 
London against Iraq is not aimed to disarm Iraq's non- 
existent weapons of mass destruction, nor is it to 
fight terrorism or to spread freedom and democracy. 
All these are mere fabricated pretexts.  This war is 
being waged for the sake of Israel, the oil and 
controlling the region.  This war is being waged with 
smart weapons but with stupid policies.  This campaign 
of aggression is going to mark the beginning of the 
end of the America as the sole world superpower, just 
as the colonialist British empire ended following its 
aggression against in Egypt in 1956 and just as the 
Soviet Union collapsed with the failure of its 
campaign in Afghanistan..  We had imagined that the 
Anglo-American axis would secure a military victory 
but suffer a political defeat.  The surprise is that 
the military victory has not been achieved and the 
political defeat is being confirmed day in and day 
out..  What is required is to stop this crazy war now. 
It is a war that is costing Iraq and is incurring 
major losses for America and its allies.  There is 
still an opportunity for an acceptable peaceful 
solution that saves face for all parties." 
 
-- "Civil Jihad [non-violence] against the United 
States" 
 
Daily columnist Bater Wardam writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(03/31):  "We all feel much hatred for American 
policies.  We do not care about diplomatic or trade 
relations when the American army is committing 
monstrous massacres in Iraq.  Yes, we feel severe 
hatred and we are thinking of all possible means by 
which we can respond against the American aggression. 
The problem with the introverted, government- 
suppressed Arab societies is that they either resort 
to random military retaliation, which directs feelings 
of hatred in the incorrect direction, or they give up 
and war and aggression become just another 
`consumption method'..  Jihad is not just a military 
form, because not all Muslims have the capability to 
fight or use weapons..  The interesting thing is that 
the concept of `Jihad' is applied in the West and its 
societies that are more open-minded than the Arab and 
Muslim societies, because the latter simply has no 
concept of the idea of a civil society..  Civil Jihad 
includes many options such as the boycott of American 
commodities, strikes, and civil disobedience..  The 
Jihad against the United States and against its 
invasion of Iraq, its occupation of Iraq's territory, 
stealing Iraq's resources, killing Iraq's people, is a 
required and a legitimate Jihad.  It is not only a 
military action, rather it includes a number of 
peaceful and civil actions that would work to change 
the feelings of hatred into effective actions against 
the American invasion on all political, civil, 
economic, cultural and socials levels." 
 
-- "The future is bleak" 
 
Daily columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the back-page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(03/31):  "The coalition media is engaging in what we 
used to think are special characteristics of the Arab 
media alone:  lying through the teeth, taking sides, 
and thwarting its professionalism and credibility.. 
It is shameful that this media cannot find anything 
other than the image of the British soldier giving an 
Iraqi child in Umm Qasr some chocolates as proof of 
`the humanity of the war, its legitimacy and its 
cleanliness'.  This media is ignoring the horrific 
images of the civilian victims of the markets in 
Baghdad, Mosul and Basra, and ignores the images of 
the dead and the wounded of the allied forces.  We 
used to not believe the Iraqi official media - and the 
media in Iraq is all official, its credibility shaken 
and its performance desperate - yet, in this war, we 
are not looking for the truth in the stories of 
western media, because they too have become involved 
in lies and misinformation." 
GNEHM