DATE=9/5/03

TYPE=U-S EDITORIAL DIGEST

NAME=FRIDAY'S EDITORIALS

NUMBER=6-13077

BY LINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: The U-S request to the United Nations for military and other help in Iraq continues to fascinate American editorial writers. Other comments include paying for the war and the situation on the ground there; while other writers look at the current Israeli-Palestinian impasse; or dealing with terrorism in Indonesia. Now, here is V-O-A's _________ with a sampling in today's U-S Editorial Digest.

TEXT: President Bush continues to draw approval for approaching the United Nations for more help, but some papers are critical of his timing. Take Kentucky's Louisville Courier-Journal for example.

VOICE: As a candidate, [President] Bush promised a "humble" foreign policy. Until this week, he didn't conduct one, and as a result, it is his own policies that are being humbled by the escalating violence, paucity of progress and lack of allies in Iraq. An internal [Pentagon] review has confirmed that planning for post-war security and reconstruction was deplorable…

TEXT: In Nebraska, however, Omaha's World Herald says let's not be too critical of the White House.

VOICE: Critics of the administration can accuse it of sometimes being hard-headed, but no longer can they accuse it of being unable to learn. It is now clear that Washington will push for a fresh U-N resolution authorizing a true multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq. This is a good thing, and none too soon.

/// OPT ///

TEXT: Georgia's Savannah Morning News also wonders about the timing, coming as it does:

VOICE: At the same time [as news of] a classified Pentagon report [criticizing] the administration's postwar planning. Coincidence? No, a belated acknowledgment by the White House that it has a lot of unanticipated work to do in Iraq and it can't let pride get in the way of success.

/// END OPT ///

TEXT: In the view of today's Dallas Morning News:

VOICE: It would be all too easy for the U-N to say, "You made your bed, America, now lie in it." That would be a big mistake. The Security Council may have strongly opposed the war but the plain fact is that all responsible nations have a stake in a peaceful, stable and democratic Iraq.

TEXT: As for additional requests to Congress for 60-to-70 billion more dollars to rebuild Iraq, Iowa's Des Moines Register exclaims:" Getting those dollars means one or more of the following: Raise taxes, cut spending in other areas, [or] drive up the deficit. Also longer term, it probably means less spending on needs here in America."

Still on the budget, Michigan's Detroit News complains: "The Bush administration has shown no leadership in containing the growth of government, despite enjoying Republican control of Congress."

As for the deterioration of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, South Carolina's Charleston Post and Courier complains:

VOICE: If, as Yasser Arafat has pronounced, the road map to peace is "dead," it is obvious who killed it. [He blames] Israel, but he is the culprit. [Mr. Arafat's] refusal to cede control of Palestinian security forces to newly elected Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has made it impossible for Mr. Abbas to prevent terrorist attacks on Israel.

TEXT: In New York, The Post, on a related subject, says today is a "Moment of Truth" as European Foreign ministers consider putting the political wing of Hamas on its list of proscribed terrorist organizations, as the Post feels it must.

Moving to Asia, but still with terrorism, California's Sacramento Bee worries that:

VOICE: Given its size, location and increasingly radical Muslim population, it's been apparent for some time that Indonesia could become a major battleground in the clash between terrorism and civilization. Whether it will respond forcefully to the challenge has been, and continues to be, less clear.

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

NEB/ANG/RH