DATE=8/7/03

TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST

NAME=THURSDAY'S EDITORIALS

NUMBER-6-13036

BY LINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT-

INTRO: The terrorist attack at an American-owned hotel in Indonesia continues to draw comment as does the build-up of peacekeepers in Liberia and concern for stalled revitalization in Afghanistan. There are other editorials on Iraq and approval of a homosexual Bishop in a major U-S Church. Now, here with a sampling is __________ and today's US Editorial Digest.

TEXT: The explosion of a car bomb at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Jakarta Tuesday mainly killed and injured Indonesians, though it was apparently aimed at Americans. In Nashville, The Tennessean warns:

VOICE: If Americans needed any reminding that terrorism remains a global threat, the attack this week should jolt the memory. The attacks provide a link to a long line of associations with violent Islamic fundamentalism.

TEXT: Today's Washington Post is upset at what it says is a lapse in security. The Post complains that although Indonesian police found documents a month ago warning of the attack, they failed to tell either the nearby U-S Embassy or the hotel. Back in Tennessee, The Memphis Commercial Appeal suggests:

VOICE: The target was not just the West [but rather] the overthrow of representative, secular government in Indonesia [with] replacement [by] the terrorists' repressive creed.

TEXT: The arrival of more peacekeepers, including a few U-S Marines, in Liberia draws this from Nebraska's Omaha World Herald.

VOICE: There may be hope for Liberia yet. The arrival this week of Nigerian troops - vanguard of a West African peacekeeping force - was greeted with near-riotous joy by war-battered Liberians. This [is] a good time to use the two thousand U-S Marines stationed just off the coast. They can serve as a valuable placeholder while West Africa assembles and deploys the rest of its force.

TEXT: However, Missouri's Saint Louis Post-Dispatch proposes: "It makes sense for President Bush to leave most of the peacekeeping to West Africans, keeping two thousand Marines offshore.

On to Afghanistan. There is growing concern about rising lawlessness there in the pages of Melbourne's Florida Today.

VOICE: Remember Afghanistan? It was the first battleground in the war against terror [ousting] the Taleban and [ending] al-Qaida's use of the nation as a terrorist training base. But nearly two years after victory was declared, Afghanistan remains devastated and time may be running out in the Bush administration's attempt to bring stability and create democratic institutions in the country… [According to a new non governmental report.]

TEXT: Today's Washington Times adds this warning: "To some degree, American success in both Afghanistan and Iraq is linked, since attacks on troops in Afghanistan could embolden coalition enemies in Iraq."

Regarding North Korea's turnabout on joining multi-lateral talks about its expanding nuclear weapons program, The Columbus [Ohio] Dispatch says:

VOICE: If North Korea keeps its word and takes part, the Bush administration will deserve credit for resisting months of pressure for one-on-one sessions with the rogue nation.

TEXT: Georgia's Savannah Morning News is equally pleased: "driving a hard bargain with Pyongyang has finally produced the first evidence of progress in a rapidly escalating crisis on the peninsula."

As far as Iraq is concerned, San Antonio's [Texas] Express-News suggests it is time for the Bush administration to ask the United Nations for help because: "it becomes ever clearer that the [U-S] needs help to secure a nation still in chaos and buttress legitimacy for its missions. The United States also needs Europe's financial assistance to help rebuild Iraq…

Domestically, the Episcopal Church's appointment of an openly homosexual priest as the Bishop of New Hampshire is drawing both pro and con reaction. The [New York] Daily News proclaims: "The Episcopal Church deserves praise for its courageous approval of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the church's history, as bishop of New Hampshire."

But in nearby Connecticut, The Waterbury Republican-American objects: "The Anglican Communion and conservative Episcopalians would gain the respect of Christians and non-Christians throughout the world if they let the [Bishop] Robinson faction go its own decadent way.

On that note, we end this editorial sampling of Thursday's U-S press.

NEB/ANG/RH