Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=9/3/03

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

NAME=IRAQ MOSQUE BOMBING

NUMBER=6-13073

BY LINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: American newspapers are commenting on the car bomb that killed a leading Shiite cleric and at least 100 of his followers last Friday at the key Shiite mosque in Najaf. We get a sampling now from V-O-A's ___________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: The blast at the close of Friday prayers outside the Najaf, Iraq mosque might do more than kill people. Many American news analysts say it could set off a religious war between Shiite and Sunni muslims, or within the Shiite community itself, as various mullahs vie for power. California's Los Angeles Times however sees some progress in other news from Iraq.

VOICE: The appointment of the first post-Saddam Hussein cabinet should mark a significant advance toward getting Iraq governed by Iraqis. A key task of the 24 men and one woman chosen by the U-S-appointed Iraqi Governing Council will be to persuade their fellow citizens that they are not puppets of the U-S-led occupation forces. Some council members have sought to distance themselves from the Americans; they should continue and the Cabinet should too.

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Friday's mosque explosion killed Ayatollah Mohammed Bakr Hakim, whose brother, a member of the governing authority, on Monday demanded that the occupation be ended. Even anti-Hussein Iraqis have been embittered by the abysmal security in Baghdad and other cities.

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TEXT: In Texas, the Houston Chronicle digests the latest news, and proposes:

VOICE: Even a great power cannot conquer, stabilize, reform and rebuild a prostrate dictatorship in a few months. However, the news suggests that the situation will get worse before it gets better. The assassination of Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir was but the latest attack on Iraqis who share the U-S goal of forming an Iraqi government and improving living conditions.

TEXT: Wisconsin's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel agrees with that assessment, that pro U-S Iraqis are targets, and calls for more U-S troops to improve security.

VOICE: A spokesman for Paul Bremer, the U-S civilian administrator, said protection has been given to all council members who sought it. But one council member told The New York Times that she had been pleading in vain for protection for days, [even giving] [Mr.] Bremer's office a list of local Iraqis to be trained as bodyguards, only to be told that the list had been lost. Iraqi lawmakers who have summoned the courage to risk their lives for their country deserve the kind of protection that Americans are giving to power plants and electrical grids.

TEXT: The idea that Islamic terrorists from adjoining nations are flooding into Iraq to do damage worries Oklahoma's Tulsa World.

VOICE: As daily bombings and ambushes in Iraq are no longer surprising, neither is the news that nine of the 25 people arrested in last week's mosque bombing have ties to al-Qaida and three of them were non-Iraqis. The unrest in Iraq and porous borders with Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iran make Iraq fertile ground for terrorists.

TEXT: New York's Newsday on Long Island worries about a possible religious war.

VOICE: The bomb blast that killed a key leader of Iraq's Shia majority and as many as 120 of his followers carries disturbing implications for the U-S occupation. Last Friday's bombing has the potential to spark inter-religious fighting between Shia and the Sunni minority - a possible civil war with disastrous consequences.

TEXT: However, in Ohio, a worried [Cleveland] Plain Dealer suggests a different motive.

VOICE: The massive car bomb that killed the most politically prominent Shiite cleric in Iraq removes all doubts that a major Shiite power struggle is underway. U-S soldiers who are doing their best to bring order to Iraq's chaos cannot possibly guard every mosque against car bombs.

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TEXT: In Boston, The Globe sees the attack as "an all-too-familiar continuation of the long war. Saddam Hussein's regime waged against Shi'ites" and urges accelerated transfer to the Iraqis of political power and security.

While in San Francisco, the inability of the coalition forces to provide enough security, says The San Francisco Chronicle, "is a major flaw in President Bush's plan for [Iraq's] democratic future."

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Along the Southeast coast, Charleston's [S-C] Post and Courier proposes:

VOICE: What is needed is greater cooperation between the occupying forces and the Shias. As Paul Bremer said "I completely agree with the argument that we should find ways quickly to give Iraq and Iraqis more responsibility for security. Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim did cooperate, cautiously, with the coalition forces and had announced, upon his return from exile in Iran, "We don't want an extremist Islam," but "an Islam of independence, justice and freedom." [He] was a voice of moderation in Iraq. That was why he was murdered.

TEXT: With that idea, we conclude this editorial sampling of comment on the bombing of the holy site in Najaf.

NEB/ANG/RH