US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA2128

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 OTTAWA 002128 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PDA 
WHITE HOUSE PASS NSC/WEUROPE, NSC/WHA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, KMDR, OIIP, OPRC, CA, TFUS01, TFUS02, TFUS03 
SUBJECT:  MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ; MIDDLE EAST; AFRICA; 
ARGENTINA 
 
IRAQ 
1.   "Two down, one to go" 
Under the sub-heading, "The good news from Iraq: 
There's food in the markets, a new governing council 
and Saddam's sons are dead," columnist Margaret Wente 
wrote in the leading Globe and Mail (7/24): "As for the 
situation in Iraq, I have a hunch it's going better 
than the daily dose of woe dished up by the media might 
lead us to believe. According to the media, Iraq is 
Vietnam, with an all-out guerrilla war, a hostile local 
population, anarchy in the streets, and American troops 
who are ready to frag the brass.... Don't get me wrong. 
Iraq will be a three-Excedrin headache for a long time 
to come. Maybe it will all blow up. But please allow me 
a tiny scrap of optimism. It could be going a whole lot 
worse. And it's probably going a whole lot better than 
you'd think if you watched the news." 
 
2.   "Bush needs the UN" 
Editorialist Serge Truffaut wrote in the liberal Le 
Devoir (7/24): "This past week, the White House has 
been juggling again with the UN. More precisely, 
Secretary of State Colin Powell is dueling with the two 
 
SIPDIS 
most UN-allergic people, Vice-President Dick Cheney and 
his mentor Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Between 
the lines, Powell is letting it be known that a new 
resolution could be presented to the members of the 
Security Council in order to envision a larger 
coalition. This about-face is caused by the 
difficulties facing the military on the ground and the 
interim administration of Paul Bremer.... According to 
Bush's legal position, Resolution 1483...allows any 
country that so wishes to support the military effort 
without rewording the [UN] resolution. France and 
Germany, for example, could send troops under the aegis 
of NATO. Nothing is less certain or desirable.... More 
fundamentally, if an increase in the number of soldiers 
is vital for the security of the Iraqis, then the Blair- 
Bush duo should take a lower profile while the case is 
handed over to the UN." 
 
3.   "Pacifying Iraq" 
Editorialist Julie Lemieux wrote in the centrist Le 
Soleil (7/24): "The key to the success of the military 
operations in Iraq resides in the ability of the 
Americans to raise the standard of living of the Iraqi 
people. This won't be achieved as long as the country 
remains mired in chaos, violence and crime.... In light 
of the difficulties facing the British-American troops 
on the grounds, one can wonder if the time has not come 
for the Americans to admit they need help. By calling 
on Old Europe to create a UN-led neutral coalition, the 
U.S. would give itself all the chances in the world of 
restoring order in Iraq and helping it recovering its 
freedom. For now the Americans still seem to be 
considered an occupation force rather than an army of 
liberation by a good part of the Iraqi people. But one 
could think this scenario would change if the 
international community were called upon to play a 
greater role." 
 
4.   "Two troubling questions about Iraq" 
Columnist Gilles Paquin wrote in the centrist La Presse 
(7/24): "Iraqis are waiting for irrefutable evidence. 
After having been fed propaganda for thirty years, we 
can understand their skepticism towards the powers that 
be.... The evidence unveiled by General Sanchez is 
essentially based on the identification of the bodies 
by old regime officials detained by the Americans.... 
It also rests on X-rays that made it possible to 
identify old wounds suffered by the two men.... 
Meanwhile doubts remain.... Iraqis will remember with 
bitterness the bragging of American military officials 
who claimed to have killed General Ali Hassan al-Majid, 
aka Chemical Ali, this past April 7.  On June 6, 
General Myers admitted the man was still alive." 
 
5.   "The Failure" 
Editorialist Mario Roy wrote in the centrist La Presse 
(7/23): "Yesterday Koffi Annan presented to the 
Security Council a first report on the post war 
situation in Iraq.... Let's not insist too much on the 
apparent contradiction between the concern for security 
and the desired withdrawal of the only group which can 
at the present time insure that security...precisely 
because no on else wants to step in. Let's rather focus 
on the fact that the debate will center on the 
opportunity of voting on a second resolution at the 
Security Council (which roughly speaking is wished for 
by `Old Europe,' deemed superfluous by the U.S. and put 
on hold by the UN).  This is more a matter of power 
than legal correctness.  The point is to extract from 
Washington the control over the reconstruction of Iraq, 
the flow of money that will be funneled into it and 
eventually the important levers for the economic future 
of the country. This time, the Americans find 
themselves in the position of having to make some 
concessions." 
 
6.   "Better than they deserved" 
The conservative National Post opined (7/23): "The U.S. 
military turned up two aces in Mosul, Iraq yesterday - 
Uday and Qusay Hussein, respectively 
the aces of hearts and clubs in the 'most-wanted' card 
decks issued to U.S. troops.... Indeed, our single 
regret is that the brothers were not taken alive. Uday 
and Qusay were spoiled, pampered men who - like most 
cruel bullies - would no doubt have spilled out 
everything they knew once they found themselves on the 
wrong side of the interrogation table. An Iraqi 
court might then have passed sentence on them for their 
crimes against humanity, and they would have spent the 
rest of their lives in jail (assuming an Iraqi mob did 
not tear them limb from limb first). Death in battle 
was too dignified a fate for these foul human 
specimens." 
 
MIDDLE EAST 
7.   "Israel's prisoners dilemma" 
The conservative National Post opined (7/24): "Will the 
road map to Middle East peace go the way of the Oslo 
accords? We hope not. But there are many troubling 
signs. Principal among them is Israel's recent 
announcement that it may accede to demands to release 
several thousand of the roughly 6,000 Palestinian 
prisoners held in the nation's jails and detention 
centres - even without first obtaining a promise from 
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to disarm the 
very terrorist groups in whose ranks many of Israel's 
prisoners once served.... The Bush administration, 
which is pushing Israel to release as many prisoners as 
possible, should learn from history. 
Israel released 415 members of the terrorist group 
Hamas in 1992; many of them returned to the practice of 
terror.... There is some room for compromise here. Many 
of Israel's Palestinian prisoners are not terror 
suspects, and Israel might be able to release these men 
without too much risk. Such a gesture would go some way 
to validating Mr. Abbas in the eyes of ordinary 
Palestinians -a worthy objective given that he is a 
sensible man whose loss would set the peace process 
back years. Any compromise along these lines will 
likely fail to satisfy the Palestinians: They demand 
the release of the imprisoned terrorists, too - whom 
they refer to euphemistically as 'political prisoners.' 
But unless and until Mr. Abbas agrees to liquidate and 
disarm the terrorist groups who operate in the West 
Bank and Gaza, any talk of releasing Palestinians 
implicated in terrorism from Israeli jails is 
premature." 
 
AFRICA 
8.   "Bush must not fail to pick up the challenge of 
Liberia" 
The left-of-center Vancouver Sun (7/23) commented: 
"...Intervention in Liberia is a tough call for 
President George Bush. His country has no direct 
national interest in the country where President 
Charles Taylor is under UN indictment for war crimes in 
neighbouring Sierra Leone, one of a patchwork 
of regional civil wars that include Guinea and Ivory 
Coast.... There are good arguments against Americans 
being the first on the ground to try to halt the war, 
and equally good ones for it to intervene. But the tone 
coming from the White House on Liberia is one of dither 
and indecision. The U.S. and Liberia have strong 
historic links. The country was established in the 
1840s as a homeland for freed American slaves.... While 
the U.S. may have no direct and contemporary interest 
in Liberia, that presents President Bush 
with an opportunity. Critics say the U.S. is only using 
its pre-eminent military power in its own self- 
interest; Liberia could prove that's not so. The U.S. 
could show it's willing to shoulder responsibilities 
shirked by the UN. It may be the most practical 
strategy is for a West African force supported by the 
U.S. But president Bush does no favour for either 
himself or his country by failing to pick up this 
challenge." 
 
ARGENTINA 
9.   "Argentina's popular President" 
Foreign affairs columnist Marcus Gee observed in the 
leading Globe and Mail (7/24): "When Nestor Kirchner 
was elected president of Argentina in May, his chances 
of success seemed slim.... Many said that the 
colourless 53-year-old with a pronounced lisp was 
doomed to become a lame duck. Some duck. Barely 
two months later, Mr. Kirchner, who travelled to 
Washington this week for his first official meeting 
with President George W. Bush, is the most popular man 
in his country, with a 75 per cent approval rating. 
Promising to bring 'a cold wind of change' from his 
chilly southern province, Mr. Kirchner has thrilled the 
public by taking on just about every power bastion 
in the country. First, he forced most of the military 
top brass into early retirement.... Then he forced the 
unpopular chief justice to resign. Most inspiring has 
been his decision to take on Argentina's unpunished 
human-rights abusers.... To make sure that justice is 
done, Mr. Kirchner is preparing to repeal a decree that 
made it impossible for human-rights violators to be 
extradited for trial abroad.... Mr. Kirchner and his 
ministers have also indicated they will seek to 
overturn two much-disputed 1987 laws that bar the 
prosecution of military officers for dirty-war 
crimes.... Cynics say that Mr. Kirchner is only making 
a fuss about human rights to draw attention away from 
the country's present-day troubles, such as the 
crippled banking system and the country's $197-billion 
debt. But he has a point about impunity. People who 
don't face up to the misdeeds of their past are not 
likely to be happy or successful in life. Countries are 
no different.... A country with a recent past as 
terrible as Argentina's cannot just pretend it never 
happened. Like a festering wound, the unpunished crimes 
of the dirty war have infected the nation, undermining 
faith in government and contributing to the deep and 
bitter disillusionment that afflicts almost every 
Argentine. In his inaugural address, Mr. Kirchner 
promised to govern 'without rancour but with memory.' 
More power to him." 
 
CELLUCCI