US embassy cable - 03AMMAN2155

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002155 
 
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 
 
-- Papers published today, April 9, are almost 
entirely dedicated to coverage of and reaction to the 
death of Al-Jazeera TV reporter, Tareq Ayyoub, a 
Jordanian, and other reporters yesterday as a result 
of fighting in Baghdad.  Ayyoub is portrayed as a 
"martyr of the search for truth" and "a victim of 
American brutality that wants to silence witnesses to 
American and British crimes against Iraq and the Iraqi 
people."  Strongly worded headlines and commentaries 
describe the reporters' deaths as a "massacre", such 
Al-Arab Al-Yawm's headline, which reads: "The Invaders 
Execute a Massacre Against Witnesses in Baghdad". 
Strongly-worded commentaries condemn Ayyoub's 
"killing" and say that his "blood is on the hands of 
the invaders". 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "A crime in Baghdad" 
 
Daily columnist Nahed Hattar writes on the op-ed page 
of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al- 
Yawm (04/09):  "The Americans are going to pay a 
political price for committing the murder of our 
colleague, the martyr Tareq Ayyoub.  All efforts 
exerted by the American Embassy in Amman to establish 
relations with Jordanian journalists died with the 
death of Tareq.  The martyrdom of Tareq Ayyoub is a 
heinous crime against Jordanian journalists.  The 
American invaders have outdone the Nazis and the 
Zionists by cowardly targeting representatives of the 
Arab and international media in Baghdad.  Is it enough 
to say that it is a flagrant and barbaric violation of 
international accords that ban the targeting of the 
media during wars?  And yet, this aggressive and 
colonialist war was launched in the first place out of 
a clear violation of international legitimacy and of 
the right-wing recklessness with international and 
Arab public opinion." 
 
-- "Tareq Ayyoub: a martyr of the battle of Baghdad" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(04/09):  "The martyrdom of colleague Tareq Ayyoub 
confirms the fact that the media is not neutral, and 
that, particularly in this war, should not be.  Tareq 
Ayyoub, the correspondents of Al-Jazeera and other 
Arab satellite stations in Baghdad, are enemies in the 
eyes of the invading forces, because they are Arabs 
and because the public opinion that they belong to and 
seek to address is an Arab public opinion..  The fall 
of Tareq Ayyoub as a martyr at the hands of the 
invading forces must push Arab media representatives 
and the representatives of Arab satellite stations to 
take the side of their nation and of the blood of the 
martyrs of this nation.  Baghdad today is not much 
different from Ramallah or Gaza or Hebron or Jenin or 
Nablus when they fall under the fire of Israeli 
bombing.  Just as Arab journalists and media 
professionals who belong to their nation and their 
doctrines must not stand `neutral or objective' when 
covering the crimes of the Israeli occupation in the 
West Bank and Gaza, this `neutrality or objectivity' 
would neither be understood nor accepted when in it 
comes to covering the crimes of a foreign invasion of 
an Arab country, so that an American General can rule 
and lays the foundation for an American-Zionist empire 
over the lands of Arab and Islam." 
 
-- "Tareq's blood is on the hands of the invaders" 
 
Daily columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(04/09):  "The blood of Tareq Ayyoub, who fell a 
martyr yesterday, is on the hands of the leaders of 
the coalition in London and Washington.  No words of 
sorrow or apology will do, not ready-made accusations 
that try to acquit those responsible for his blood or 
the blood of hundreds of Iraqis who fell victims by 
the bullets of guns and by the shrapnel of the 
American missile attacks all around Iraq." 
 
-- "The enemies of the press, the enemies of the truth 
and Tareq Ayyoub, the symbol of the noble profession" 
 
Semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai (04/09) 
editorializes:  "We did not need all this terror, 
targeting and recklessness with which the reporters 
covering the American-British invasion of Baghdad were 
faced, to prove that the invaders have had it with the 
media, apart, of course, from that media that is with 
them, who abide by their strict and programmed 
instructions..  For the killers to say that they were 
shot at from the Palestine hotel that was targeted by 
the bombing, while all the journalists were denying 
that, is a mark of shame to be added to disgrace that 
they afflicted upon themselves when they shed the 
blood of innocent media people." 
 
-- "Tareq Ayyoub: your role harassed them and so they 
killed you" 
 
Daily columnist Sultan Hattab writes on the op-ed page 
of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(04/09):  "Killing our colleague Tareq Ayyoub is a 
clear message against the new changes in the Arab 
media that are represented by the active Arab 
satellite stations, such as Al-Jazeera and Abu Dhabi 
TVs.  What Tareq Ayyoub said in his last report from 
Baghdad was sufficient for the circles of American 
aggression to kill him..  Tareq exposed them and so 
they killed him, because whoever is not with them is 
their enemy.  Bush said that and now his forces are 
saying it too." 
GNEHM