Cablegate: Media Reaction On September 11, September 12, 2005

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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001874

SIPDIS

DEPT. FOR WHA/PD; IIP/G/WHA DIPASQUALE; AND IIP/T/ES
DEPT. FOR S/CT, PM, NEA,AND WHA/CEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KPAO PTER PREL PGOV IZ HO
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON SEPTEMBER 11, SEPTEMBER 12, 2005

1. On 09/12, the San Pedro Sula-based liberal daily
"Tiempo"
carried an op-ed by Billy Pena entitled "One more year."
"Yesterday we commemorated one more year of the terrorist
attack committed by the Islamic fundamentalists against the
majestic twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York
and the gigantic Pentagon building in Washington. The
airplanes piloted by the terrorists hit the target and since
that horrible day -9/11/2001- nothing would be the same. The
world would divide in two... the Cold War would be child's
play compared it to the situation today."

"After what happened four years ago the world has changed
radically. Those who think that only the lives of Americans
have changed are mistaken. No, we are all suffering the
consequences of irrational religious fanaticism. The twin
towers attack had serious consequences. Afghanistan and Iraq
were invaded. The saddest thing of all is that Iraq still
suffers the slaughter of an undeclared war, a war very
similar to the conflict of Vietnam that lasted approximately
seven years. Those are the conflicts that do not have any
explanation but they have arisen throughout history."

"There have been great tragedies in the world, as many
natural as those caused by man. The aerial attack on Pearl
Harbor, when the Japanese went against American bases and
ships during World War II, was dreadful."

"But we should forget the victims of hurricane Katrina that
devastated part of the southern States of Louisiana,
Mississippi and Alabama. There has also been pain, suffering
and death. Perhaps it will take many months and years before
everything returns to normal. The world was divided... no
longer are there Communists and capitalists. Now the
situation is worse, now the world only has "good" and "bad"
and is living in apocalyptic days."

2. On 09/11, the Tegucigalpa-based moderate daily "El
Heraldo" published an editorial entitled "Four years from
9/11." "The fourth anniversary of the first attack suffered
by the U.S. and the country hasn't been able to capture
Osama bin Laden. The country has been besieged not only by
the failures in the illegal and immoral war in Iraq, but by
the humiliation that it has represented for the great
superpower in the poor management of the prevention, rescues
and aid to the victims of hurricane Katrina."

"The Bush administration, whose excuses to invade and to
occupy Iraq were widely rejected, also used the traumas left
by 9/11 to obtain its re-election, but it has failed.
Despite all the technological power and the $25 million
reward for the maximum leader of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden,
considered the intellectual author of the hardest blow
received by the United States from an external enemy after
the military defeat in Vietnam, the U.S. hasn't been able to
capture him.

"If the Iraqi war also helped to refute the propaganda that
potrays the United States as a defender of human rights and
democracy, as the torture and murder of prisoners in the
jails of Iraq and Guantnamo demonstrates, hurricane Katrina
has unveiled the most intimate fissures of the superpower:
lack of disaster prevention, abandonment of most vulnerable,
social inequalities, politics, etc."

"9/11 was a great tragedy for the United States; the
disaster caused by Katrina is still worse. Hopefully this
second blow will provoke a reawakening of the northern
nation."

3. On 9/12, "El Heraldo" carried an editorial entitled "Two
U.S. tragedies." "In the middle of a new tragedy, the one
caused by the hurricane Katrina, North Americans
commemorated yesterday the fourth anniversary of the
terrorist attack in 2001 with a ceremony in the place the
Twin Towers occupied, and also with a controversial "March
of Freedom" in Washington, promoted by the Pentagon."

"9/11 and the disasters caused by Katrina shocked the United
States and the world, with the difference being that the
first caused a feeling of national unity and total support
of the global community, while the present tragedy revealed
the racial and class differences and a shower of criticism
by the delayed governmental reaction."

"There is no doubt that the Al-Qaeda attacks marked a
`before and after,' not only for the United States but for
all the rest of the world: the so-called `war against
terrorism;' the restrictions of the civil liberties; the
violations of international law have extended and, in many
cases, have worsened the damages caused by 9/11 to the
coexistence between individuals and the nations."

"Knowing the greatness of the American people, nobody should
doubt that these two great tragedies, one caused by man and
the other, nature's painful call for attention, will change
into points of reflection and new actions that will lead
towards the construction of a bigger superpower, less
arrogant and also more conscious of its own weaknesses.
After all, that would be the best tribute for the 9/11
victims, and victims of the war started by Bush and the
disasters caused by Katrina."
Williard

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