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 000562

SIPDIS

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

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

1. Under headline "End of the road for U.N. system" the
pro-government daily "The Daily Mirror" used its March 19
editorial to accuse the United States and Britain of
usurping United Nations authority over the Iraq crisis.
".the U.N. system will never be the same again after the
U.S.A. and Britain openly disregarded not only the majority
of the U.N. Security Council members, but the voices of all
those people who demonstrated against war in their millions
all over the world," the editorial said. Excerpts:

2. ". . .The past one month has clearly shown the world
how the power of the U.N. has been eroded. . . It
is sad that, after so much hard work of inspections
and weapons destruction, the U.N. weapons inspectors
led by Hans Blix were not given a chance to complete
their work. There was so much hope that Blix and
his team were going to accomplish the disarmament of
Iraq without a single shot being fired. Now, it
appears as if the United States President was using
the U.N. inspectors to point out whatever weapons
Iraq possesses, and neutralize them to allow
American forces to invade Iraq with minimum
resistance. It is now clear that the U.S. President
was never really serious about U.N. diplomacy. It
is also ironic that in his war speech, Bush asks the
U.N. to continue with its work and provide
humanitarian assistance to Iraq. True, some U.N.
agencies will not stand by and leave Iraqis to die
after the expected bombardment by American and
British forces. But the U.N. system will never be
the same again after the U.S.A. and Britain openly
disregarded not only the majority of the U.N.
Security Council members, but the voices of all
those people who demonstrated against war in their
millions all over the world. . . ."

SULLIVAN

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