• The Times, London, on Colin Powell’s resignation: • La Repubblica, Rome, on Fallujah fight. • La Nacion, Buenos Aires, on press freedoms: The Times, London, on Colin Powell’s resignation: … For some, (Colin Powell’s) resignation will be presented as
• The Times, London, on Colin Powell’s resignation:
• La Repubblica, Rome, on Fallujah fight.
• La Nacion, Buenos Aires, on press freedoms:
The Times, London, on Colin Powell’s resignation:
… For some, (Colin Powell’s) resignation will be presented as the removal of the last “civilized” figure in the Bush administration with whom Europeans could feel comfortable doing business. Others will contend that Gen. Powell ended an otherwise distinguished public career in failure. He was unable, it will be said, to prevent George W. Bush from embarking on his intervention in Iraq. He then damaged his reputation by an appearance at the United Nations during which he made claims about Iraq’s efforts to conceal weapons of mass destruction that now look somewhat less credible than when he offered them. …
All this is too simplistic. General Powell has proved to be the figure in the Bush administration most fluent with audiences outside America. … That is not, however, to conclude that his private views were the same as those of his French or German counterparts. …
His tenure must also be evaluated in the round and not solely by reference to Iraq. Gen. Powell and Richard Armitage, his tireless deputy, have not received the credit they are due for their efforts to soothe Indo-Pakistani relations. The secretary of state has also helped the U.S. to come to a more coherent view of China and seen off some in the Republican Party who were almost obsessed with the notion that Beijing could be only a rival and a menace, not an ally and a partner, to Washington. He helped the president to frame a new U.S. approach to Africa, and especially AIDS, which it is still unfashionable to recognize. …
His exit will not transform the character of American foreign policy. He himself observed in an interview last week that Mr. Bush’s “aggressive” foreign policy would continue, not least because that was what the times and U.S. interests demanded. …
Irish Times, on the murder of CARE International’s Baghdad director, Margaret Hassan:
… Margaret Hassan’s brother and sisters yesterday summed up their anger and horror at the news that she has been murdered by those who captured her on October 19th.
She stood for solidarity and fraternity between peoples and religions and practiced her beliefs in the most extraordinary way, by bringing electricity and water supplies to hospitals until the moment of her kidnap. Her death symbolizes all the failures of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and how urgent it is to resolve the conflict there.
Her family’s feelings will be shared all over the world, including this country, where the realization that she was a citizen of Ireland, as of Britain and Iraq, reinforced identification with the war’s many victims. … The fact that she worked on aid projects for 30 years in Iraq, helping an estimated 17 million of its people over that time, and vehemently opposed United Nations sanctions and the U.S.-led invasion last year, makes her death all the more heartbreaking.
… Her kidnappers called for British troops to be withdrawn from Iraq and women prisoners released there, in a clear attempt to affect public consciousness about the war there by raising demands that were impossible to meet. It is appalling that such a remarkably good woman should have become so involved and that her kidnappers should have so callously disregarded the moving appeals for her release by her husband, Mr. Tashen Ali Hassan. …
One can only hope that such inhumanity will help turn Iraqis decisively against those responsible for kidnapping her in the name of a war between peoples and their religions. …
La Repubblica, Rome, on Fallujah fight.
The United States stated they have invaded Iraq to set it free from Saddam Hussein’s undeniable abuses and turn it into a democratic country. Whether we agree or not, such a statement gives the U.S. a specific duty to behave accordingly with these purposes.
Images like those of Fallujah … speed up the clash of civilizations that, in words, everyone wants to avoid.
Following the rules when fighting in Iraq doesn’t only mean giving strict orders so that what happened in Fallujah won’t happen again. It also means allowing the Red Crescent or the local sanitary services to help the injured, both fighters and civilians.
The U.S. refusal to let a humanitarian convoy in, at least in the controlled area, violates the basic rules … of war. An attitude that doesn’t help America or the whole West, who will not get any advantage in the radicalization of the hatred in the Islamic world.
Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on Iran’s nuclear deal with Britain, France and Germany:
Many observers believe Iran will never give up its hope of developing nuclear weapons. Israel possesses nuclear arms, they point out. U.S. troops are stationed in Iran’s two neighbors — Iraq and Afghanistan. Skeptics argue this security environment inevitably convinces Iran that becoming a nuclear power itself is the only means to ensure its security.
Iran, however, must never try to use the latest agreement for buying time. It should faithfully comply with the terms of the deal and abandon all nuclear efforts other than the ones for peace. Tehran has said the suspension of uranium enrichment will only be temporary. But the country should try to regain the trust of the international community by freezing for a long period all the activities that could lead to the development of atomic bombs.
There are many reasons why a diplomatic solution to the issue is so important. First, referring the case to the Security Council, as Washington calls for, would not improve the prospect of an early settlement of the dispute. …
The only realistic choice for the international community is try to talk Iran into discarding its efforts to develop nuclear arms, using various rewards, such as support for the country’s peaceful nuclear program. It is also necessary to urge the Bush administration to restrain itself.
La Nacion, Buenos Aires, on press freedoms:
“Reporters Without Borders” has just released its third-annual global study, which includes a survey of press freedoms found around the world. The report shows that currently the freedom of the press is particularly threatened in Eastern Asia, where the isolated North Korea earned the lowest ranking of 167. …
Cuba, the only dictatorship in Latin America, figures woefully in the report, ranking 166th. … Cuba is surpassed only by China in the number of journalists in prison. China has 27 men behind bars; Cuba has 26.
The greatest press freedoms are found in Europe, where the top rankings were given to Denmark, Finland and Ireland. …
Freedom of the press is an ideal that is far from being unanimously respected in the world. A great distance remains on the path toward appreciating this essential institution of free societies.
