Cablegate: Media Reaction: Iraq

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

UNCLAS OTTAWA 000591

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PDA
WHITE HOUSE PASS NSC/WEUROPE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO KMDR OIIP OPRC CA
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ

IRAQ
1. "No really, it could work"
Under the sub-heading, "Though counterintuitive, Bush's
warpath might lead to Mideast peace," columnist Marcus
Gee commented in the leading Globe and Mail (2/28):
"...As Mr. Bush sees it, solving the Arab-Israeli
dispute would remove one of the grievances that helps
fuel anti-Americanism and complicates the fight against
terrorism. The American desire for peace
springs from the strongest motive: self-interest. So
after the United States goes to war, it will turn once
again to the harder job of peace."

2. "U.S. serious about democracy in Mideast"
Columnist Marcus Gee wrote in the leading Globe and
Mail (2/27): "...Whatever Washington's critics may say,
there is no way that the United States is going to
replace Saddam Hussein with a friendly thug and get
out. Idealistic? Dangerous? Perhaps. There is always
the danger that Muslims would see the attempt to build
democracy in Iraq as an imperial enterprise, setting
off a backlash that would make anti-Americanism worse,
not better."

3. "George W. Bush, the engineer"
Editorialist Mario Roy wrote in the centrist La Presse
(2/28): "George W. Bush redrew the map of the Middle-
East and undertook some spectacular political
engineering work on Wednesday.... Everything is
coherent with what could be called the Wolfowitz
doctrine...the U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary and a high
level strategist who considers it the West's duty to
spread its values of liberty and democracy. But we have
said it before: imposing democracy by force is not a
good idea.... Moreover, one cannot imagine a worst
guide than America to show the way especially in this
region where, rightly or wrongly, the U.S. is
thoroughly detested. The fact that the Bush
administration fails to see these pitfalls leaves us
speechless."

CELLUCCI

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