US embassy cable - 03HARARE642

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 000642 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPAP FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IZ, PREL, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ - OPINION 
PIECES; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   The March 30 editions of the government- 
      controlled weekly "The Sunday Mail" and the pro- 
      government weekly "The Sunday Mirror" carried a number 
      of opinion pieces focusing on the war in Iraq. 
      Excerpts: 
 
  2.   Under headline "U.N. becomes irrelevant" the "The 
      Sunday Mail" (03/30) carried the following opinion 
      piece by William Godwin Nhara, Executive Director of 
      the Southern African Institute for Democracy and Good 
      Governance: 
 
      ". . .The unilateral invasion of Iraq by the 
      U.S., the United Kingdom and four others will 
      have reverberating and long-lasting 
      consequences.  This unholy alliance has thrown 
      the United Nations, its covenants and Charter 
      out of the window and plunged the world body 
      into an irrelevant body (sic) that will 
      henceforth not have any moral voice and 
      authority within international diplomacy and 
      relations. . ." 
 
  3.   Under headline "U.S., UK seek to silence Iraqis" 
      the same newspaper carried the following opinion piece 
      by Tafataona Mahoso: 
 
      "On March 26, the U.S. and the UK authorized, 
      carried out and tried to justify the bombing of 
      the Iraqi television system.  This act followed 
      a similar one on April 24, 1999, when NATO 
      forces bombed and destroyed Serbian television 
      studios in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, killing at 
      least 20 journalists. . .   These two cases 
      indicate that, when it suits them, the 
      imperialist powers will not hesitate to trash 
      their own usual slogans about free flow of 
      information, free flow of ideas, freedom of 
      conscience, freedom of expression and freedom of 
      the Press. . ." 
 
  4.   Under headline "Attack on Iraq compromises U.N. 
      peace efforts" the "Sunday Mail" (03/30) also carried 
      an opinion piece by Clever Chirume: 
 
      "The current attack on Iraq by America and 
      Britain should be castigated as it is an assault 
      on the world's most august institution, the 
      United Nations.  It has cast a shadow on the 
      effectiveness of international law and the 
      function of democracy, compromising any future 
      united efforts for peace and stability in the 
      world.  The attack, which comes amid worldwide 
      protests against war, legitimizes state 
      terrorism and violates not only the human rights 
      of the people of Iraq but also the integrity and 
      credibility of the U.N. Security Council and all 
      other U.N. institutions. . ." 
 
  5.   Under headline "The U.S./UK invasion of Iraq" the 
      pro-government weekly "The Sunday Mirror" (03/30) 
      carried the following op-ed: 
 
      ". . .The (U.S.) National Security Strategy 
      itself is, therefore, an attempt to provide both 
      a justification and framework for the `Manifesto 
      for world dictatorship.'  Accordingly, the world 
      will have to acknowledge now that the debate on 
      Iraq in the U.N. and, indeed, even the program 
      of weapons inspections that was attendant to it, 
      was completely farcical on the part of a super- 
      power already intent and prepared to invade the 
      Arab country and thereby effect a regime 
      change." 
 
  6.   Under headline "And so the world turns" the same 
      newspaper carried an opinion piece by Patricia 
      McFadden about western media coverage of the 
      war: 
 
      ". . .All one gets is a deafening cacophony of 
      conformist voices, screeching out the same 
      message over and over about the might and 
      invisibility (sic) of the `coalition' forces, 
      and the inevitability of the fall of Baghdad. 
      It's like playing `cowboys and Indians' - with 
      the fore-knowledge that the cowboys must win, 
      and there simply cannot be any other outcome to 
      this infamy. . . ." 
 
  7.   Under headline "The battle of hearts and minds in 
      Baghdad" the "Sunday Mirror" (03/30) carried an 
      opinion piece by Tendai Chari: 
 
      ". . .The point is the military control of the 
      media is immoral and a transgression of 
      journalistic ethics.  At the end of the day the 
      news that we get is contaminated with the 
      military's points of view.  Manipulation of the 
      media by the invading forces poses the gravest 
      threat to media freedom and independence of the 
      war on Iraq (sic).  The bombing of the Iraq 
      broadcasting station is further testimony that 
      the invading forces are determined to feed the 
      rest of the world with lies while concealing 
      their heinous acts. . ." 
 
SULLIVAN