US embassy cable - 03HARARE714

UNCLAS HARARE 000714 
 
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: IZ, PREL, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR IN IRAQ; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "Give Iraqis the peace they 
      deserve" the government-controlled daily "Chronicle" 
      used its April 10 editorial to accuse the United States 
      and Britain of "butchering" journalists "at will" in 
      the ongoing war to free Iraq.  Excerpts: 
 
  2.   "A bloodbath of calamitous proportions is taking 
      its toll on Iraqi citizens. . .in the ongoing illegal 
      war in the Gulf. . .  While the Americans and British 
      have continued to celebrate the success of their air 
      strikes, what they fail to notice is that the rest of 
      the world is restless, and the anger is building up 
      against the two countries' leaders over their open 
      defiance of all nations of the world just to build up 
      their egos. . .  While some of the newspapers openly 
      supported the attack on Iraq, no one should celebrate 
      the death of journalists, though their deaths should 
      save as a wake-up call to the countries involved in the 
      war. . .   The same Americans and British are always 
      singing and chastising other countries over their 
      treatment of journalists that they are butchering at 
      will in the Gulf. . ." 
 
SULLIVAN