Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=02/11/03

TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST

TITLE=TUESDAY'S EDITORIALS

NUMBER=6-12817

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: Editorial attention in the U-S press is focused on the growing rift within NATO over a potential war with Iraq. Other editorials deal with a proposed extension of a domestic security law that many papers oppose. There are also comments about Israel forming a new coalition government, and possible democratic reforms in Saudi Arabia. Now, here is _____________ with a brief sampling in today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: A standoff within NATO over the issue of defending Turkey in the event of a U-S-led war with Iraq looms large in the editorials of many papers. A concerned New York Times writes:

VOICE: The NATO alliance is facing what may be its greatest crisis in a generation - an unnecessary argument about whether to fortify Turkish defenses in advance of a war in Iraq. Obviously, Turkey should get what it needs. But this has become a charged debate because it is a proxy for another more fundamental argument - whether our allies should be expected merely to accede to American policy. [A] war [with] Iraq has turned into far too personal a dispute over American leadership.

TEXT: From The New York Times to The Washington Post which adds caustically:

VOICE: France and Germany have finally responded to Iraq's flagrant violation of [U-N] disarmament orders by mounting an offensive ... [against] the United States - and the proximate casualties look to be not the power structures of a rogue dictator, but the international institutions that have anchored European and global security.

TEXT: A Miami Herald [Florida] editorial cartoon shows two weasels dressed in military uniforms representing France and Germany, under the heading "axis of weasels." The weasel is associated with treachery in this country. A livid New York Post, recounting French help during the American Revolution and U-S help in World War Two, says: "...today France is virtually an enemy of the United States."

Minnesota's Minneapolis Star Tribune is worried by what it sees as a lack of diplomacy exacerbating the rift. "It would help a lot if voices were lowered (stay home, Donald Rumsfeld) and the differences, the legitimate differences, were explored rather than papered over." ... In Texas, The Houston Chronicle is also concerned, but after citing the areas of conflict adds reassuringly:" ... Predictions of NATO's eminent demise are wildly premature."

A hopeful Seattle [Washington Post-Intelligencer suggests that: "...the unlikely combination of European leaders' reluctance to use military force and [President] Bush's urgency to do so may be forging alchemy of peace." Domestically, there is a good deal of editorial opposition to an extension of the domestic security law called the Patriot Act. Tennessee's Memphis Commercial Appeal complains:

VOICE: Under the bill, an American [citizen] who associates with a group that the Justice Department defines as a terrorist organization could have his or her citizenship revoked and could be deported. ... If the proposed [law goes] before Congress, lawmakers should not ... be stampeded into enacting it, as they were with the [original] Patriot Act. Instead, they should give this bill the harsh scrutiny it deserves.

TEXT: Internationally, a secret meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Sharon and Yasser Arafat's second in command is cheered in Pennsylvania's Allentown Morning Call. While the Boston Globe praises reported political, social and economic reforms about to be announced in Saudi Arabia.

Marking the passing from power of The Czech Republic's Vaclav Havel, Northern New Jersey's [Bergen County] Record hails him as "A giant of the 20th century. who helped to channel the . currents that washed away the Soviet empire .[transforming] the world." On that historic note, we conclude this editorial sampling of Tuesday's U-S press.

NEB/ANG/RAE