DATE=03/20/02

TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST

TITLE=WEDNESDAY'S EDITORIALS

NUMBER=6-125610

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=YES

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: As Vice President Dick Cheney ends his Middle East trip, Wednesday's U-S press has plenty to say about prospects for peace or war in the region. National security also comes in for comment; and there is more on the Afghan conflict; as well as the church attack in Pakistan.

Still other commentaries focus on the Catholic Church sex scandal; reaction to Zimbabwe's presidential election; Angola's future and the first day of spring. Now, here is ______________ with a closer look and some quotes in today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: As Palestinians and Israelis again try to negotiate a cease-fire, The Houston Chronicle in Texas, wonders if there is, yet again, "reason for hope?"

TEXT: Things beside bloodshed and enmity seem to be moving in the Middle East - - at least for the moment - - and that may be the basis for a small measure of hope. … a temporary cease-fire, as a first step, may be in the offing. Meanwhile … Vice President Dick Cheney rightly stood firm in his refusal to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat before the vice president left Jerusalem on Tuesday.

TEXT: A major focus of Mr. Cheney's trip was Iraq, which this comment from today's (Wednesday's)Louisville [Kentucky] Courier-Journal.

VOICE: Vice President … Cheney … [promoting] the American view that the war against terrorism must turn to ousting … Saddam Hussein … [encountered] uniform, public opposition to attacking Iraq. Instead … Arab leaders … urged the United States to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. … Saddam Hussein sees the sickening violence between Israelis and Palestinians as his insurance policy. Instead, peace must become the tightening noose around his neck.

TEXT: In Wisconsin, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also sees things in the region "Edging toward a cease-fire," while The Seattle [Washington] Times suggests the "World [is telling] Israel to stop" adding that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "tough-guy" strategy is failing today as it did 20 years ago in Lebanon.

In Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says "The U-S should stop beating the drums to fight Iraq."

Turning to homeland security, both The New York Times and The [New York] Daily News are questioning the Bush administration decision to end the 24-hour jet-fighter patrols over New York City and some other major U-S cities that were instituted after last September's terrorist attacks.

The Times is also critical, as is Pennsylvania's Allentown Morning Call, of the Bush administration's refusal to allow Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge testify before Congress. To the White House claim that presidential advisors, unlike other government officials are not required to give testimony, The Morning Call says:

VOICE: … to consider an official with his responsibilities and control over so much money just an adviser is stretching credibility and the good faith of Congress. The Bush administration needs to recognize that if the job … is as important as is claimed, it needs elevation to Cabinet-level status and [Congressional] … oversight …

TEXT: Today's [Cleveland, Ohio] Plain Dealer editorially supports a tentative Bush White House plan to merge the Customs Service with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, to better guard entry into the nation.

Commenting on Afghanistan, The DesMoines [Iowa] Register suggests there is plenty to be learned from sorting through the rubble there, including whether higher-ups in the Taleban network were killed. DNA testing will be used to tell.

The New York Times says its reporters findings of various warfare training manuals in Afghanistan indicates "The ingenuity of the al-Qaida trainers [in] … their ability to adapt the professional practices of … American and Russian armies to the purposes of their multinational, Islamist fighting force…"

Boston's Christian Science Monitor says the terrorist attack on a Church in Islamabad,that killed and injured mostly foreigners, is not only a signal to the U-S but also is "aimed at President Pervez Musharraf …"who now supports the U-S anti terror campaign."

Domestically, the Catholic Church sex scandal continues to draw attention, as more active and retired priests are charged with molesting young boys in their care. Chicago's Sun-Times compares the shock waves of the scandal to a major earthquake, while today's Saint Louis Post-Dispatch says sexual misconduct by priests in Saint Louis should be treated as it is being in Portland, Maine, as a crime investigated by civil authorities. It criticizes the Saint Louis authorities for laxity.

Elsewhere, The New York Times, calling the situation a "Tragic Crisis for the Church," adds:

VOICE: … the repercussions … are bound to force hard choices, and the question of whether the church can continue to attract enough qualified candidates for the priesthood while barring women and married men is not likely to go away.

TEXT: Commenting on Zimbabwe's presidential election, The Los Angeles Times says the result is in fact a "daylight robbery," adding:

VOICE: The one-year suspension of Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth … the coalition of 54 nations that are mostly former British colonies … should impress on [Mr.]Mugabe the anger of other countries at his intimidation and disenfranchisement of opposition voters. … The sad tug of [President] Mugabe's corruption and demagoguery has brought …Zimbabwe … low, but the rest of southern Africa need not sink with it.

TEXT: As for Angola's future, now that veteran UNITA guerilla leader Jonas Savimbi is dead, today's New York Times suggests his death:

VOICE: … opens a possibility of finally ending the fighting, introducing more accountable government and using oil revenues to build a better life for Angola's people.

TEXT: As regards the political situation in post-Milosevic Yugoslavia, today's Washington Post says:

VOICE: The improper arrest of a U-S diplomat in Belgrade has dramatically demonstrated that the Yugoslav federal government and military establishment remain entirely unfit for Western support and cooperation. … The episode should greatly simplify an administration decision due by the end of the month on whether to certify that Yugoslavia has met congressionally mandated conditions for receiving further U-S aid. Quite simply, it has not.

TEXT: Domestically, today's planned vote on campaign finance reform in the U-S Senate draws this comment from The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch.

VOICE: The Senate is on the verge of making history … with passage of the long-stymied … bill [banning] soft-money contributions that buy political favors and corrupt elections.

TEXT: With that observation, we conclude this editorial sampling of Wednesday's U-S press.

NEB/ANG/FC