US embassy cable - 03AMMAN2240

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002240 
 
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 IRAQ 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead stories in all papers today, April 14, 
continue to focus on developments in Iraq.  Lead 
stories also highlight the "serious" escalation of 
U.S. threats against Syria, citing President Bush's 
accusation of Syrian possession of chemical weapons. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "After the fall of the illusion" 
 
Columnist Raja Talab writes on the op-ed page of semi- 
official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai (04/14): 
"With the fall of the biggest statue of former Iraqi 
President Saddam Hussein in the center of Baghdad, the 
ideology, which is closer to illusion more than 
anything and that prevailed in the Arab world and 
among the Arab elite for years, collapsed.  It is an 
ideology based on the belief that a dictator can 
become the liberator and the symbol of freedom and the 
maker of that freedom.  For many decades, Arab 
totalitarian regimes succeeded in marketing themselves 
as the refuge for the poor, as the road of salvation 
for the Arab people from the repercussions of defeat, 
and as the mouthpieces for the slogans to liberate 
Palestine.  These regimes managed to fool the Arab 
people for years and drag them from one defeat to 
another..  Saddam Hussein has become a thing of the 
past, but he did not go alone.  With him went the 
illusionary ideology of the Arab world that baseless 
political dreams can be achieved.  With him went the 
ideology that dictators can make freedom and victory 
and that they have the right, in the name of this 
freedom, to kill millions." 
 
-- "The Iraq lesson from the Palestinian viewpoint" 
 
Daily columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the back page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(04/14):  "The Iraq lesson bears so much significance 
for the Palestinian issue.  From the Palestinian 
viewpoint, the Palestinian reform program has acquired 
added importance in the post-Saddam era.  The people 
who resisted this program for one reason or another 
must realize that the fate of the Palestinian issue is 
now more closely linked to the achievement of this 
program than at any other time.  They must be careful 
not to give Israel the chance to draw a link between 
the Palestinian authority and the Iraqi regime, 
particularly when it succeeded in its `talibanization' 
of the Palestinian authority after the events of 
September 11.  Also from a Palestinian viewpoint, it 
is time to create a unified strategy that would be 
binding for all the Palestinian national and Islamic 
parties, that would regain the popular aspect of the 
Palestinian Intifada and would limit military action 
to operations against occupation soldiers and 
settlement areas only.  The current stage is crucial, 
and the experiment of a Palestinian prime minister 
must succeed, for its success is the only way to stop 
making the Palestinian the next in line in the series 
of regime changes after Iraq." 
 
-- "In defense of the Iraqi people" 
 
Columnist Abu Yazan writes on the back page of center- 
left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (04/14): 
"The feelings of contempt and anger that overtook the 
Jordanian people over the past three weeks have 
changed in the last days of the war, particularly 
following the fall of Baghdad, into feelings of 
resentment and denunciation that were not only 
directed against the late Iraqi regime, but also 
against the Iraqi people themselves..  We must be very 
careful about shooting accusations and jumping to 
conclusions.  The Iraqi people have nothing to do with 
this war.  They are its primary victim.  They were not 
consulted before it broke out, just as much as they 
were not consulted in any of the major events of Iraqi 
history.  The Iraqi people were denied freedom and 
security for over thirty years.  They have a huge sum 
of rejection for the dictatorship that made the people 
suffer the worst.  It is therefore natural that some 
of these people would act without discipline and even 
without any civility." 
 
-- "Hurry up before it is too late" 
 
Daily columnist Hilmi Al-Asmar writes on the back page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(04/14):  "The usurpation of Iraq has lifted the cover 
off the Arab political regimes.  All are now 
candidates for the `liberation' whether they like it 
or not.  It is best for the political elites to start 
changing their colors and taking cover with their 
people by `liberating' their people from oppression 
and tyranny now when there is no pressure, before this 
issue becomes a pretext for bringing down the 
rejectionists and before their files are taken out of 
the CIA drawers.  It is a new age, the age of 
liberation and democratization by force.  So hurry up 
before it is too late for you." 
 
-- "Help in several ways" 
 
Centrist, influential among the elite English daily 
Jordan Times (04/14):  "The Bush administration must 
indeed have a twisted notion of freedom if, as it said 
yesterday, it really believes that `looting is a 
natural expression of freedom'.  Many have already 
argued that the U.S.-British forces stood idle as 
chaos swept Iraq's major cities as part of a 
deliberate policy..  Today, we must think practically 
of what Jordanians can do, in concrete terms, to 
contain the damage..  There are plenty of good reasons 
for recrimination: U.S. commanders did put guards at 
Iraq's oil ministry, but not at hospitals, museums and 
other crucial buildings.  It is unfortunately too late 
to prevent many of those most precious, unique 
artifacts from being smashed, disfigured, or stolen. 
But it is likely that some of the looted items - 
testimonies to the first great civilization ever - 
might at some point pass through Jordanian soil.. 
Relevant authorities, including the military and 
police at all airports and crossing points, should 
immediately be mobilized and enlisted in the effort to 
restore to the Iraqi people what belongs to them.. 
One of the greatest services that Jordan could do for 
Iraq would indeed be to contribute to return at least 
part of the vestiges of its great history and 
heritage." 
GNEHM