IRAQI PRESS MONITOR, 5 Aug 05

Institute of War and Peace Reporting: IWPR


To access the Iraqi Press Monitor on the web, please go to: http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?iraq_ipm_index.html

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EDITORIAL: SADDAM COURT COMMITTED TO HUMANE VALUES

By: Ismail Zair

(Al-Sabah al-Jadeed, 1 August 2005) -We thank God that the special criminal court to try Saddam Hussein and his regime's men has denied any physical aggression ogainst Saddam. We know that some who fish in the disturbed water and those made by Saddam might exploit this to defame the Iraqi judicial system. The denial will prove the commitment of the Iraqi judicial system to the values of humanely treating the detainees, and the seriousness of Iraqis in dealing with complicated issues. The body that announced the rumor aims to raise suspicions about the credibility of the Iraqi judicial system and of the special court. These kinds of rumors should not pass like that; we have to condemn them and say our words about them and warn those behind them not to gamble on the truths or distort the facts. We have to assure that the enmity between Saddam and the Iraqi people is so big that it is not easy to forget or neglect. This does not mean to humiliate or mistreat even a big criminal like Saddam. (Al-Sabah al-Jadeed is an independent daily paper.)


OPINION: CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS HELP WOMEN ACHIEVE GOALS

(Al-Ittihad, 2 August 2005) - The women who demonstrated at al-Firdaws Square under the heat of summer drew our attention. They were a strange mixture, as there were the young lined up with old. They represented civil society organizations protesting the women's issues stated in the drafting of the constitution. According to the interim law, they are represented in the National Assembly by a 25 percent quota and they want to raise it to 40 percent. They rejected the intention to be marginalized. The gathering of women through the civil society organizations gives them the chance to get their rights better than doing it individually. Women might get their rights through their struggle in the civil society organizations, and a good example of this is the declaration of the head of the committee to draft the constitution, who said the committee is ready to take the women's suggestions into consideration before the completion of the constitution. (Al-Ittihad is published daily by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.)


EDITORIAL: NO PUNISHMENT GIVEN IN CORRUPTION CASES

By: Basim al-Sheikh

(Addustour, 3 August 2005) - The intense campaign against the ministers of the former government of Iyad Allawi, in which they are accused of corruption, puts Iraq at the top of countries that severely suffer from corruption. Up until now, we have not seen any of those accused with corruption exposed to just punishment for misusing public properties. This leads to two conclusions: either the information about the corruptive elements is not accurate, or corruption cases kept on the shelves of the Integrity Committee are under pressure from political or legal authorities due to nepotism. I wonder whether those hindering the Integrity Committee from achieving its tasks are capable of dealing with compensating the looted properties by the former officials, or they just like to avoid trying the corruptive elements in order not to reveal other political bodies involved in the corruption issues. Iraqi properties are sacred; I don't think it will be forgotten just like that. (Addustour is an independent daily published by former journalist Basim
al-Sheikh.)


OPINION: GOVERNMENT STAFF SHOULD SERVE THE PEOPLE

By: Farhad Omar al-Sulaifani

(Al-Taakhi, 4 August 2005) - The government should serve the people better, especially after they were elected under a dangerous atmosphere and after swearing to offer the people better services. The offices and their staff should be at the disposal of the citizens, but we notice that the staff violate the citizens' human rights when contacting them and treat them inhumanly. They do not serve the people unless they pay them money as if the offices are their own and do not belong to the people. We know it is a heavy burden the new government deals with, as corruptive elements are everywhere. They are used to not serving the people unless bribing them. We have to line up with the government to eliminate those corruptive elements and to educate the people with their rights and duties till we reach the era when the government official perceives that his main job is to serve the people. Otherwise, there is no need for having him beside his desk. (Al-Taakhi is issued daily by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.)


OPINION: GOVERNMENT RIGHT TO STOP RANDOM ARRESTS

By: Omar al-Shahir

(Al-Mada, 4 August 2005) - The government's decision to stop random arrests was greeted positively by the people, giving hope to achieving many other procedures on the level of human rights in Iraq. This will lead to bridge the relations between the people and the government after being negatively affected due to the inhuman practices of the security forces toward the people. Violating human rights points to the incapability of the government and the weakness in the mechanism of the security forces mentality. This new decision puts the government face to face with the slogans of democracy it keeps calling, and proves its independence in taking such important decisions. This is an additional step to enhance respect for the legal framework and to deepen the relation with the democratic example from which Iraqis have been deprived for decades. (Al-Mada is issued daily by Al-Mada Institution for Media, Culture, and
Arts.)


OPINION: MEDIA SHOULDN'T ENCOURAGE INSURGENCY, SECTARIAN CONFLICT

By: Moosa Husein al-Mutair

(Al-Sabah, 30 July 2005) - Iraqis feel desperate when reading some stories in the daily newspaper that encourage terrorist acts, sectarian crisis, and violence among the Iraqi people. These articles adversely affect the country more than they benefit it. Iraq is in bad need for journalists to support the principles of democracy and to bravely oppose those who penetrated media outlets to spread their hostile thought to disunite Iraqis and tear out their will. They try to destroy the Iraqis' psychology and to stand apart from the people and the government to prevent them from taking part in the political and constitutional process, and in the rebuilding of Iraq. The different Iraqi media outlets are required to mobilize their efforts and energies toward achieving security, building democracy, cancellation of foreign debts, and opposing the neighboring states, which aim at exporting terrorism to Iraq. They have to oppose the campaigns of some Arab media outlets to ignite sectarian conflict and to expose their lies and hypocrisy.

(Al-Sabah is a daily, independent, publicly-owned newspaper.)


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