VZCZCXRO7204
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHKU #0499/01 1280456
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070456Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1360
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RHWSMRC/USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000499 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, NEA/PI, INR/NESA, R/MR, I/GNEA, 
B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA 
LONDON FOR NEA WATCHER 
PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER 
 
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y (Name change in first para) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO XF KU MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: CORRECTED COPY - KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - KUWAITI AND FORMER 
GUANTANAMO DETAINEE ALLEGEDLY BEHIND RECENT MOSUL SUICIDE ATTACK 
 
KUWAIT 00000499  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
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Summary 
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Monday, May 5, 2008 
 
Summary:  Kuwaiti citizen and Guantanamo Bay detainee, Abdullah 
Al-Ajmi, and his friend Naser Al-Dosary, also Kuwaiti, are alleged 
to have been behind a recent suicide bombing in Mosul, Iraq.  Almost 
all Kuwaiti newspapers have criticized the attacks and extremism in 
general, with the exception of Al-Watan, which characterized Al-Ajmi 
as a martyr.  According to al-Qabas newspaper, anonymous sources 
have reported that Al-Ajmi was not psychologically sound due to 
torture allegedly conducted at Guantanamo Bay.  As a reaction to 
news of the attack, the government of Kuwait announced to the media 
that the Ministry of Interior is considering the creation of a 
center to rehabilitate extremists returning to Kuwait from 
Guantanamo Bay.  End summary. 
 
Block Quotes: 
-- In an investigative report, the conservative Kuwaiti daily 
Al-Watan quoted an unidentified cousin of Al-Ajmi (05/03):  "it 
seems he managed to get his passport issued either by sympathy or by 
bribes. Moreover, as we thank the Government of Kuwait for providing 
the ex-Guantanamo detainees a decent life, we call upon the Ministry 
to investigate this matter because whoever helped Abdullah led him 
to his death." 
 
-- Also in al-Watan, conservative columnist Shamlan Yousef Al-Issa 
commented (05/04):  "What lesson shall we learn from this painful 
incident...First, we have sleeping terrorist cells and Islamic 
Jihadist organizations that are working on getting the means to move 
them abroad...Why are the Jihadists in Kuwait keen to fight the 
Americans outside and not inside Kuwait?  It is obvious that 
Al-Qaeda refuses to take on the security establishment in Kuwait 
because, unlike the governments in the Arab region, the Kuwaiti 
government is sympathetic with extremism.  Second, the prison 
authorities in Guantanamo Bay are very aware that the detainees will 
resume jihadist activities as soon as they get the chance to do so. 
This is what happened, and it will absolutely delay the release of 
the other detainees in the American prison. We need more than a 
center of rehabilitation. We need a wide study about the reasons 
behind extremism of school students. We are in need also of knowing 
why hate has spread between Shiite and Sunni in the public 
schools." 
 
-- Additionally, in al-Watan, under the headline "Youth's life ... 
and the Mistaken Jihad," Abdul Rahman Al-Najjar opined (05/04):  "It 
[this problem] lies in the strict religious thinking and with the 
"clerks" of destruction who are no more able to differentiate 
between construction and destruction." 
 
-- In the newly established moderate Kuwaiti daily, Al-Jarida, 
columnist Mothaffar Abdullah commented (05/04): "...we should not 
blame only the Ministry of Interior for this matter because the 
Ministries of Information and Awqaf (Endowments) should also assume 
their responsibilities.  It is not only a question of security, the 
terrorism and its mobilization of youth should be handled also by 
the Ministries of Information and Awqaf because they are 
embarrassing Kuwait in front of the United Nations Security Council 
and they are affecting our relations with the United States.  The 
detainees should have undergone a program of social, psychological, 
and religious rehabilitation.  What happened to Abdullah Al-Ajmi and 
Nasser Al-Dousary causes us to ask the Moderation Committee, founded 
by the Ministry of Awquaf to spread moderate thought, why it has not 
thought of meeting with these ex-prisoners, especially as Abdullah 
Al-Ajmi kept on justifying his visits to Pakistan to learn the 
Shari'a Law?  It would have been better if the committee pointed out 
to him the religious institute in Qortoba [a district of Kuwait 
City], which is closer than Pakistan." 
 
-- In the newly established moderate Arabic daily, Al-Awan, Mohammad 
Hussein Al-Yousefi wondered (05/04): "It is not clear in our current 
situation concerning specifically Abdullah Al-Ajmi, the role of 
state security in controlling such persons.  How was he able to 
escape and end up in Mosul?  This person was an ex-Guantanamo 
detainee.  Whether we agree with the American administration about 
the legality of the prison, al-Ajmi went to Afghanistan while he was 
very young, and indeed, he was not there for tourism purposes!  We 
are just asking if is it possible that as soon as authorities 
pronounced his innocence in Kuwait, if state security stopped 
monitoring him." 
 
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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: 
 
KUWAIT 00000499  002 OF 002 
 
 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s 
 
Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ 
********************************************* * 
 
JONES