Despite the absence of any proof of attempts to disrupt this
Despite the absence of any proof of attempts to disrupt this
year's general election, the recent discovery of five bombs in
Medan Mall, North Sumatra, and the explosives blast in Cimanggis
in the West Java town, Depok, indicate the possibility of
security disturbances in the run-up to the elections.
The Medan bombs in Medan and Cimanggis explosion should remind
us of a similar series of terror acts toward the end of the New
Order and the beginning of President Megawati Soekarnoputri's
administration.
The spreading of terror through bombs seems to be an effective
way of creating public restlessness, nervousness and anxiety.
Such a situation will certainly cause instability and turmoil,
which could reduce public trust in the government and the
security apparatus.
However, in the midst of campaigning and preparations for the
elections, the public is in desperate need of security and
stability because these are the keys to the success of the
elections.
Thus, Bisnis Indonesia shares Indonesian Police chief Gen.
Da'i Bachtiar's belief that certain parties are trying to disrupt
this year's general elections.
Hence, any such attempt must be anticipated and prevented.
Within this context, the security apparatus must tighten
security, and all elements of society must try to help make the
election a success. -- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta
Violence and campaigning
People's premonitions are usually spot-on. Political party
rallies resulted in severe traffic congestion in several parts of
South Jakarta on Tuesday.
Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, was also "occupied" by
thousands of supporters of a political party for hours, causing
serious traffic problems in Menteng.
In the East Java town, Kediri, a pregnant woman had to be
hospitalized after she fell off her motorbike in hectic traffic
as hundreds of supporters of two political parties sped around on
motorbikes from two opposing directions.
In Denpasar, Bali, and some other areas, supporters of
different parties came close to brawling.
All of this is far from people's expectations, in which hopes
have been expressed that campaigning will be both well-behaved
and peaceful.
Leaders of political parties should be aware that campaigning
is simply a means to assist parties in achieving their final
objective. The presidential election is also the means to
identify the best leader for the country. Therefore, political
campaigning should not be carried out in a brutal way. To achieve
its objectives it should be carried out properly.
Street rallies will start next week, and concern about an
escalation of violence may be well-founded.
We just hope that the political parties will employ more
civilized campaigning methods.
-- Republika, Jakarta
The death of Yassin
Whatever Yassin's death was meant to achieve, its symbolism is
disastrous for Israel. Did Mr. Sharon and his advisers consider
how the spectacle of helicopter gunships rocketing an old man in
a wheelchair outside his mosque would appear to the world? Did
they intend to turn this merchant of death into a victim - the
Palestinian equivalent of Leon Klinghoffer? Despite intensive
efforts to improve Israel's image abroad, and despite sympathy
for victims of suicide bombings (most recently in Ashdod), the
Jewish state now looks more isolated than ever. Like Napoleon's
decision to execute the Duc d'Enghien, which transformed his
image from that of a liberator into that of a tyrant, Sharon's
decision to execute Yassin is worse than a crime: It is a
blunder.
-- The Daily Telegraph, London
The killing of Hamas leader
Israel has to be reined in. Its violent and increasingly
irrational actions are ratcheting the situation to a fever pitch.
The assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin marks a new and
unprecedented escalation. Needless to say, it will push any hopes
of a resumption of negotiations well out of the picture and, in
the meantime, the military wings of Hamas and all the other
Palestinian factions will redouble their efforts at retaliation.
A cycle of violence will ensue that may reach hitherto untouched
levels.
This is in no one's interest except, perhaps, the Israeli
prime minister's. In fact, it may be argued that (Ariel) Sharon
is in win-win position. By assassinating Yassin, he has shown the
loony right in Israel that he is a "tough" leader ahead of any
possible withdrawal from Gaza.
By provoking the inevitable retaliation, he can
retrospectively justify to a toothless West the need for even
harsher military action, and postpone indefinitely, if he should
choose, such a withdrawal.
It is time for the international community, spearheaded by the
United States, to step in no uncertain terms.
Washington must start to realize that for as long as the
Israeli government is allowed to act with complete impunity,
without respect for international law or human life, nothing, not
in the Palestinian-Israeli sphere, nor at a regional level, will
change.
-- The Jordan Times, Amman, Jordan
The wisdom of an Iraq war
A former White House coordinator of anti-terrorist efforts,
Richard Clarke, charges that the Bush administration paid too
much attention to Iraq and not enough to al-Qaeda. One can
quibble about who said what when, but overthrowing Saddam Hussein
was clearly the administration's first priority right from the
start.
Joining former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, Clarke is the
second administration insider to report that President Bush
started pushing and planning for an invasion of Iraq soon after
he was inaugurated. Clarke further alleges that after 9/11, Bush
ordered him to try to link Saddam to the terrorist attacks.
The White House maintains that President Bush early on wanted
a strategy to eliminate al-Qaeda. Either he did not get such a
strategy, or the strategy has not worked. ...
The question that remains is not whether Clarke's allegations
are accurate in every detail. His is only one side of the debate.
The overriding question is whether the United States' war on
terror has benefited in some measurable way from the war in Iraq.
So far, the answer is no.
-- Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas
The presidential race
At the rate that President Bush and John Kerry have been
duking it out lately with personal and nasty exchanges, the 2004
presidential campaign could wear out voters long before the Nov.
2 election.
The kind of in-your-face sniping that's been occurring lately
is usually seen in the fall as Election Day nears. At this point,
eight months out, the candidates typically are busy raising
campaign funds and staking out their positions.
It's obvious that both camps have concluded that it's more
important to go on the offensive and let no assertion by the
other side go unchallenged...
OK. There's more than a grain of truth in the back and forth.
Still, the candidates need to talk more about the future. There's
no shortage of critical issues: Iraq, the Middle East, the
economy, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and homeland
security top the list.
Enough of the "Liar, liar, pants on fire" sniping.
Voters deserve better.
-- The Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester, New York
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian, London, on the killing of Hamas leader:
... Mr. Sharon may feel that "the gates of hell" have been
opened before, and Israel has survived. The same calculation
looks very different from the point of view of the Palestinian
militants. The response they will unleash on Israel is bound to
be qualitatively different. A total of 62 Palestinians have been
killed in the last month by Israeli action in the Gaza and the
West Bank, many of them Hamas. But Sheikh Yassin was
different. ...
The question, as always is, why and why now? The dissenting
voice in the Israeli cabinet, Interior Minister Avraham Poraz,
said that Yassin had not been a "ticking bomb." Ahmed Qureia, the
Palestinian prime minister, claimed Yassin was a "moderating"
influence within Hamas and that his murder opened the door wide
to chaos. If Yassin was being a "moderating" influence when he
encouraged young Palestinian women to follow the example of a 22-
year-old Palestinian mother of two who blew herself up at a
checkpoint in Gaza killing four Israelis, then it would be good
to know what course an immoderate Hamas leader would advocate.
But with the death of Shanab and, to a lesser extent, Yassin,
Hamas lost the two leaders associated with the emerging de facto
Islamist acquiescence of a two-state solution: the acceptance of
22 percent of historical Palestine as an interim solution and the
deferment of the armed struggle against Israel to "future
generations." The timing of Yassin's assassination is also
unclear. He lived openly in Gaza and could have been killed any
time in the last five years. What does Israel gain from killing
him now? Does it truly believe that beheading Hamas will make a
pullout from Gaza easier? Or is Mr. Sharon playing to a domestic
audience, acting as the bulldog of Israel, when in fact he is
about to make (in Israeli terms only) a large territorial
concession? ...
The answer is that everything is wrong with targeted
assassinations if, as Peace Now says, the effect is to pour
barrels of petrol on a fire that is already out of control. In
the 1980s Israel supported Hamas, when it was the fledgling
cultural movement countering Yasser Arafat's secular Palestine
Liberation Organization. Israel will one day have to negotiate
with the enemy it helped create, but that day, after yesterday's
killings, is further away than ever.
[
[
The News-Press, Fort Myers, Florida, on saving the Hubble Space Telescope:
Since NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced two months ago
that the Hubble Space Telescope would be allowed to die an early
death, the space agency has been flooded with demands that the
telescope be saved.
We agree with the critics and hope you will add your voice to
those urging that the decision at least be reconsidered. The
maintenance mission needed to keep Hubble running should be
restored to the NASA agenda if it can be done in time and safely,
perhaps robotically instead of by a space shuttle crew.
One reason for the outpouring of feeling is that Hubble is
seen by many space devotees as the most productive NASA project
in years. As late as last week, Hubble was still sending back
thrilling images from deep space, images that tantalize
scientists with possible answers to the origin of the universe.
Consigning Hubble to the dustbin at this exciting time, while
pushing expensive and problematic missions such as a manned
return to the moon or a voyage to Mars, is absurdly wrong-
headed. ...
---
---
---
The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on civil union and same-sex marriage:
The distinction between a religious marriage and a legal
union, unfortunately, has been lost. If more people understood
the difference - indeed if the word "marriage" weren't used to
describe two different statuses - the controversy over gay
marriage might not be as heated as it is today.
As we see it, marriage is the business of the church,
synagogue, mosque or other religious institution. Each religion
and each division within religions should decide what level of
commitment between what kinds of people represents a holy
union. ...
So, what is the business of government in the union of two
people? If it took no role at all in traditional marriage, the
government could still define a civil union and bestow upon such
a union whatever rights and responsibilities the government found
appropriate...
With their authority, states will vary on the issue of same-
sex marriages, some granting full marriage rights to gays, some
allowing a union with fewer rights and some banning homosexual
couples from any type of state-sponsored union. ...
Just as people may flee the Catholic or Episcopal church
because doctrines conflict with their personal beliefs, so let
people flee Massachusetts or Virginia if they don't like the
permissive or restrictive codes of the state. ...
---
Pensacola News Journal, Pensacola, Florida, on wavering U.S.
support in Iraq:
By now President Bush must know the United States is in
trouble around the world. Recent events involving Poland, South
Korea and Spain make it crystal clear.
The White House has to understand that this isn't just about
the usual resentment of American power and influence, and that
some serious fences need mending.
Meanwhile, our allies should not lose sight of the greater
imperative. Free nations have to stand strong against terrorism
and totalitarianism, no matter what other differences they might
have. ...
Why this lack of support from these free nations, each of
which democratically elects its leaders?
Mostly, it is the mistakes of the Bush administration. The war
revealed no WMD, no connection between Iraq and al-Qaida, and
that the United Nations inspectors were effective in suppressing
Iraq's WMD programs.
U.S. prestige is on the line: What these nations are saying is
that they don't believe or trust the White House. Given that
these are our friends, the problem is obvious.
GetAP 1.00 -- MAR 26, 2004 02:13:50
;AP;
ANPA ..r..
Editorial Roundup
By The Associated Press=
JP/
By The Associated Press=
Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers around the
world:
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on the killing of Hamas leader:
Peace has even less of a chance in the Middle East after
Israeli missiles on Monday killed Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder of
the militant group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian
self-autonomous region.
Why did Israel kill him now? Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon has given up hope of a negotiated peace with the
Palestinians and suggested a unilateral dismantling of Jewish
settlements in Gaza. It appears that he planned to crush the
Hamas movement before Israel pulls out of the settlements and
thus eliminate the threat of terror.
But exactly the opposite is likely to result from this
killing. All Yassin's death will do is add fuel to the fire.
The Sharon government characterizes the attack on Palestinians
as part of the fight against terror, which it presses ahead
together with the United States. On the other hand, it also says
it aims at coexistence with a Palestinian state. But will
responding to terror with terror lead to reconciliation?
The situation is grave. This endless cycle of violent
retaliation must be shut down. Concrete action should be taken
promptly for effective intervention through the United Nations
Security Council.
---
Straits Times, Singapore, on international support for the
U.S. occupation of Iraq:
The failure to find WMD (in Iraq) has severely harmed U.S.
credibility. Washington's unwillingness to admit it was wrong has
worsened matters. The Western alliance, badly divided in the run-
up to the war, has since drifted further apart. One of America's
strongest allies, Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski said
last week that he had been "misled" about Iraq's WMD, and that
Polish troops might be withdrawn from the country next year. The
new Spanish leader has threatened to do the same, unless the
United Nations is given a significant role in Iraq by June 30,
when an interim Iraqi government is due to be installed. The U.S.
is still supported by many countries - including Singapore, Japan
and South Korea from Asia - but public opinion in most countries
has turned against America and its occupation of Iraq seems to
have become a new recruiting tool for Islamic terrorist groups.
The top priority now is to deny these groups a beachhead in
Iraq. Whatever the merits or demerits of war a year ago, the U.S.
cannot withdraw until Iraq is stabilized. Indeed, the force
strength it has in the country now - 130,000 troops, soon to be
reduced to 110,000 - is woefully inadequate. But it is not going
to get more troops unless the U.N. gains a greater say in Iraqi
affairs. Washington's reluctance to cede real authority to the
world body has prevented many countries, especially Muslim ones,
from sending peacekeeping troops. With the June 30 deadline
looming, Washington should do what it didn't a year ago: Involve
the world.
---
Clarin, Buenos Aires, Argentina, on global warming:
Environmental degradation is one of the consequences of a lack
of planned economic development. Emissions of greenhouse gases,
coupled with deforestation, have triggered a growing global
warming trend. ... yet most industrialized nations still show no
signs of seriously limiting their gas emissions despite the
emergence of growing environmental concerns. The main air
purifier for earth's atmosphere is the Amazon, but this lung is
now severely threatened. Scientists estimate that the Amazon will
lose 15 percent of its territory by 2020, owing to logging and
increased agriculture ... Rational methods of exploiting these
natural resources must be put in place, along with international
accords to safeguard the environment. Until then, these trends
will continue unchecked, imperiling many life forms until human
beings are increasingly affected.
[
Liberation, Paris, U.S. President Bush:
Could Bush be 'Aznarized'? Will the election make him pay for
playing with the truth? ...
In a country in a state of war, citizens' confidence in their
president, in his honesty, and above all, in his competence,
counts more than ever. Now the question ... is simple: By
claiming to fight terrorism with a war against Saddam Hussein's
dictatorship, did Bush and his administration miss their target?
And worse, did they deceive their citizens and allies? ...
It is not good for Bush that more and more Americans are
asking themselves if he was seriously mistaken - a question the
rest of the world has already asked - or if he lied.
[
Neue Zuercher Zeitung, Zurich, Switzerland, on the killing of
Hamas leader:
To be perfectly clear: the slaying of Hamas leader Sheik
Yassin will not bring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict one iota
closer to a reasonable solution. But the victim of this Israeli
rocket attack doesn't deserve any special pity. Yassin was the
ideological head of a bloodthirsty terror organization which by
its own admission doesn't want a compromise peace with Israel,
but the elimination of this state at least in the long term. ...
"Like any other internationally recognized country, Israel
naturally has the right to defend itself against terrorist
attacks. But it is an entirely different question whether the
Sharon government is using the appropriate means in this
battle. ...
Why wasn't an attempt made to arrest Sheik Yassin ... and try
him in an Israeli court? Such a procedure would have brought more
honor to a state under the rule of law ... than a so-called
extrajudicial killing. ...
Sharon has promised tirelessly since his election over three
years ago that he would root out the hydra of Palestinian
terror. ... But what has been achieved? ... More dead and wounded
through terror and military violence than ever before - including
many innocent civilians on both sides. ...
[
Dagbladet, Oslo, Norway, on the killing of Hamas leader:
The spiral of violence in the Middle East sped up when rockets
from Israeli helicopters killed Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder
and ideological leader of the Palestinian organization Hamas.
Most suicide bombers who have taken young Israelis and innocent
bus passengers with them in death were recruited by Hamas ... but
the suspected organizers must be brought to trial, not
liquidated.
Israel embraces international laws in principle but Israel's
violations ... have become more frequent, more obvious and much
coarser after Ariel Sharon was elected prime minister.
The murder will not weaken Hamas, and only gave then a new
martyr. There will not be fewer terror attacks now, but probably
more, harder and more comprehensive ... and that undermines any
chance of a negotiated settlement. We think that is the key
motive for the liquidation. Ariel Sharon does not want a
negotiated settlement. He thinks he can get more by using
military might.
[
Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm, Sweden, on the killing of Hamas
leader:
It is not hard to understand Israel's will to strike against
those who want to annihilate the country. However, it is
unacceptable to regularly issue and execute death sentences
without a previous trial.
Israel would have much more to gain from catching and
convicting rather than killing those who are responsible for
terrorism. For (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon, the death
of the Hamas leader is a big political success. Whether what has
happened is also good for Israel is an entirely different matter.
Hamas will respond by sending new suicide bombers, but the
organization is possibly so weakened that the reaction becomes
quite lame, after all. Meanwhile, the hatred against Israel among
Palestinians has strengthened. The Sheik's death can also have
repercussions by inspiring Muslim terrorists in Europe and the
United States to new attacks.
To move ahead in the long term, different policies are needed
to those that Sharon manages to pursue. But the same is of course
true for the Palestinian side; the chance for peace has existed,
but (Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat hasn't taken it.
[
ThisDay, Johannesburg, South Africa, on the killing of Hamas
leader:
And so here we are again, contemplating the way forward for a
state that has - in defiance of world opinion - continued to
stoke its own funeral pyre and now threatens to drag the whole of
the Middle East down with it ...
What now? Hamas will surely send in more suicide bombers, who
will strike the only target within their range: Israeli
civilians. Israel will send in its own killers and continue to
punish the Palestinian people for their resistance. An eye for an
eye.
But Israel should know by now that of all possible
permutations towards peace, murdering Palestinian figures is the
least likely to yield a solution.
The attempts of Israel and its most dogmatic supporters to
paint all criticism of its actions as resurgent anti-Semitism
will not wash. Indeed, if today the most risky place in the world
to be a Jew is within Israel, it is largely the fault of the
political and military course pursued by Ariel Sharon and
company.
Israelis and Palestinians sorely need to grow a new political
leadership that can begin to carve out peace in a single
democratic society. The divided solutions of the present and the
past are a dead end, not a road map.
[
Trouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands, on the killing of Hamas leader:
Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon has developed his own unilateral
peace plan after the "roadmap" developed by the United States and
others broke down. He plans to pull out of the Gaza Strip next
year and wants to leave with a show of force, so he had Ahmed
Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, killed. Yassin is not a
man to mourn, but assassination as a means of politics must be
rejected. Some would argue that it causes fewer civilian deaths,
but we fear that a greater number of leaders will rise in
Yassin's place and the violence will only escalate. Furthermore
it's a black mark for Israel. A constitutional democracy must
force itself to combat the insanity of terrorism by the rule of
law. The eye-for-an-eye strategy of both Israelis and
Palestinians in recent months extinguishes any hope of movement
toward peace.
[
De Telegraaf, Amsterdam, netherlands, on the killing of Hamas leader:
It's true that the assassination of Ahmed Yassin was against
international law and contradicts Israel's own laws. But it can't
be forgotten that that this man had blood on his hands, and he
was a terrorist. He bore responsibility for the many suicide
attacks in Israel that killed so many innocent civilians in a
gruesome manner. He blocked every attempt to make peace between
Israel and Palestine. With his poisonous behavior, he
marginalized the peace movement in Israel. He refused to
recognize Israel's right to exist, something that is guaranteed
by the international community. All this should be said along
with any condemnation. Israel's action won't deescalate conflict
in the Middle East, but that's as much the fault of the
Palestinians as of Israel.
[
The Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Egypt, on Israel's terrorism:
Israel's killing of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the
Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, was designed to undermine
Palestinians' spirit of resistance. The Jewish state should
expect just the opposite.
Though "marked for death" as a senior Israeli official said
Monday, the wheelchair-bound Yassin was a potent symbol of
Palestinians' resolve to regain their rights. His assassination
is turning him into a timeless hero not only for the
Palestinians, but for many in the Muslim nation.
Yassin, 66, was killed in an Israeli airstrike as he left a
mosque after dawn prayers in Gaza. Israeli media reports said
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has personally supervised the bid on
Yassin's life. By acting like this, Sharon, whose only claim to
fame is a long list of gory acts, has buffed his image as a
ruthless tactician and an advocate of "state terrorism."
Yassin's physical disappearance is most likely to radicalize
more Palestinians, especially young people. When a regular army
like Israel's targets a frail old man like Yassin, what do the
Israelis anticipate in return? His slaying has galvanized
different Palestinian factions into declaring national unity and
vowing revenge "like an earthquake.
[ MORE[
GetAP 1.00 -- MAR 26, 2004 02:13:37