Cablegate: Media Reaction: Iraqi Government, December 15th

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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 004855

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/PPD, NEA/PPA, NEA/AGS, INR/IZ, INR/P

E.0. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO IZ
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQI GOVERNMENT, DECEMBER 15th
ELECTION, TRANSPARENCY, SADDAM HUSSEIN TRIAL; BAGHDAD

SUMMARY: The major theme of today's editorials was the
upcoming election and the secondary topic, in some papers
was the Saddam Hussein trial.

Analysis: Independent As-Sabah's front-page editorial dealt
with violations committed during the current electoral
campaign. Though As-Sabah never specifically mentioned
Allawi, the inference is that he has been a victim due to
the widely reported news of his posters being defaced and
torn down.

Independent Al-Mada highlighted Saddam's trial and expressed
characteristic impatience and frustration with the pace and
what Al-Mada sees as Saddam's pedestal for grandstanding.

Baghdad's front-page editorial entitled, "Glass Houses and
Reality" by Abdul Jaleel Muhsin dealt with how the current
Iraqi government pays little attention to assassinations and
violations against the Iraqyia List and its members. The
writer implores the government to "stop accusing the Iraqiya
List and provide services for the people and complete
honestly in the electoral process."

Al-Jaridah, affiliated with the Arab Socialist Movement,
published a back-page editorial entitled, "Why We Are Voting
for the Iraqiya National List 731." The editorial goes on to
explain and summarize the list's political platform.

Al-Taakhi continues publishing editorials on page three
supporting the Kurdish list 730. Al-Ittihad published a page-
three editorial entitled the "Iraqi Democratic Scene Is A
Result of Iraqis' Sacrifices" which dealt with competition
among electoral lists. Another editorial on the same page,
"The Upcoming Election and the New Future," encouraged Kurds
to vote for the Kurdish Coalition, list 730.

Independent Al-Mashriq distributed a special free, eight-
page electoral supplement, `The Eyes of the Voter' along
with its newspaper. The supplement contains articles about
the upcoming election designed to educate the citizenry
about the democratic process and encourage Iraqis to
participate in the coming election.

Independent As-Sabah Al-Jadeed, also distributed a free
electoral supplement simply called, `The Election.' In
addition to voter education material, the supplement
contains interviews with candidates, broad discussion of the
political scene in Iraq and an opinion poll on the last
page. END SUMMARY.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
-------------------------------

A. "Turn the Page Please" (Al-Mada, 12/5)
B. "Electoral Slogans" (Al-Bayyan, 12/5)
C. "A Special Democracy" (Ad-Dustoor, 12/5)

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SELECTED COMMENTARIES
----------------------------------------

A. "Turn the Page Please"
(Al-Mada - independent, no bias, published this back-page
editorial by Amir Al-Qaisi)

"Let the families of the martyrs try him. That is what a
seven-year old child said when she saw, on television, a
young girl crying after her father was taken away by the
Ba'athists. In fact, that child did not have any family
members who were killed by the former regime but she
expressed her real feelings saying, `Why did Saddam kill all
those people?' Who can save this child from her bewilderment
and who can answer her questions?

"On the other hand, the adults lived and witnessed all
details of that sadness and loss of our beloved people. We
are still patient despite seeing the commander of defeat
behind the bars but at the same time, we hope that he will
be grateful to us for giving him a fair trial. Actually, we
are not against giving that criminal a fair trial because we
believe that in the new Iraq, suspects are innocent until
they are proven guilty. However, we all know that Saddam is
a unique criminal.

"We understand the importance of establishing fair trials
but we do not like to see Saddam use the trial to give
political speeches, which we are sick of. This trial seems
to be a badly managed melodrama that will cause others to
mock the Iraqi people. More than one opinion poll showed
that the Iraqi people do not like the continual extension of
this play. Moreover, the second session did not receive
widespread popular interest. We do not know why the suspect
was addressed as `Mr.' If all suspects were addressed as Mr.
then how would we address [real] misters? In addition,
Saddam's lawyers entered the court-root without wearing the
official attire. The Iraqi people want this trial to be
expedient-it's one that's costing us blood and tears.
Frankly speaking, if this trial continues along the same
path I will be the first one to call for the government to
accede to strong popular demand, which is to turn the page,
please."

B. "Electoral Slogans"
(Al-Bayyan - affiliated with Ad-Dawa (led by Al-Ja'fari), no
bias, published this page-five editorial by Salim Rasoul)

"There are a lot of electoral slogans displayed on walls of
buildings all over the country. But, we should not be
astonished because this is an electoral season. Most of
these slogans are similar but there are some that make us
really laugh.

"In order to make electoral slogans acceptable and
convincing for people, these slogans must satisfy real
popular needs. In addition, they must be credible. However,
there are slogans that make Iraqis laugh because such
slogans promise citizens that they will possess real estate
and receive shares of oil. Such slogans disparage the minds
of common Iraqis because everybody knows that the economic
situation Iraq suffers from has many major problems; Iraq
suffers from huge debts that were inherited by the deposed
regime.

"In fact, we should not let our citizens think about day
dreaming. Incredible electoral slogans may reduce the
credibility of candidates. We think that such electoral
slogans deceive people and we do not want politicians to be
deceptive through their electoral platforms. Politicians
cannot risk their political future by calling for ambitious
slogans they know are impossible to achieve."

C. "A Special Democracy"
(Ad-Dustoor - independent, no bias, published this page-
three editorial by Bassim Al-Sheikh)

"The electoral competition among lists has reached a serious
stage. Lists have started to exchange accusations among each
other. In addition, there is a huge percentage of political
liquidation among the electoral lists. I think we should
solve this problem as soon as possible.

"The reasons behind these problems are a lack of awareness
and education. In addition, the Iraqi mind lacks
enlightenment about the meaning of disagreement of opinions.
Many Iraqis still believe that disagreement of opinions
means confiscation of opinions and this is one of the
dictatorship's residuals. If we encouraged such philosophy
in the new Iraq, there would be a fire that destroys
everything because this fire is lurking beneath the ashes.
Perhaps, those who conduct assassinations may justify their
deeds saying that they were brought up with a negative
education and during a dictatorial era, causing their
personality to become aggressive.

"However, the most dangerous issue is that such
assassinations were conducted with the blessings of
political parties and foreign powers. These parties and
powers support and provide protection for perpetrators of
those assassinations. Therefore, such assassinations do not
represent individual acts but rather represent the
ideologies of political groups. At this point, these
political parties are double-dealing. On one hand, they
publicly denounce and reject violence while on the other,
they support violence and perhaps plan and implement it in
secret. These parties openly reject dictatorship but seek it

SIPDIS
clandestinely.
"These days, we find ourselves living in mini dictatorships
that everybody is trying to establish; it seems that they do
not understand the meaning of democracy yet. Democracy means
that we should accept dissenting opinions as long as these
opinions are lawful. If there are groups that believe in
assassinations in order to control political life, how can
we trust our future if they have a chance to run the
government?"

KHALILZAD

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