Cablegate: Media Reaction Iraq; Harare

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HARARE 000493

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION IRAQ; HARARE

1. Under headline "Iraq (U. N.) debate: War mongers
shamed again" the pro-government weekly "The Sunday Mirror"
dedicated its March 9 editorial to call for a peaceful
disarmament of Iraq. Excerpts:

2. "After the latest presentation by the U. N. chief
weapons inspector Hans Blix and his colleague
Mohamed El Baradei on Friday 7 March, it is clear
that the United States will not get the 9 votes they
require for a moral victory on their proposed new U.
N. resolution for war on Iraq. . .An important trend
in the speeches presented by those opposed to war is
the expressed feeling that a war on Iraq would not
only destabilize the Middle East, but also disturb
world peace in general and worsen the already poor
economic situation in the Third World. . .But, even
as Powell and Bush continued to peddle the tired
assertions that Iraq is hiding some weapons of mass
destruction, the two U. N. inspectors reiterated
that they had so far not found any such weapons. .
.In the final analysis, the main message from the U.
N. inspectors on Friday was that Iraq had started to
cooperate with U. N. Resolution 1441 as indicated by
the on-going destruction of its long range missiles.
The majority of the 15 members of the U. N. Security
Council therefore feel that Iraq does not pose an
immediate threat either to the U. S. or to the world
and therefore should be disarmed peacefully. On the
other hand, the U. S. A. and Britain are now clearly
being perceived as the warmongers and the real
threat to world peace."

SULLIVAN

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