This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 001994 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; INR/NESA; 
INR/B; RRU-NEA 
IIP/G/NEA-SA 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE; NSC 
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA 
USCINCCENT FOR POLAD 
LONDON FOR MCKUNE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR AE KPAO TC
SUBJECT:  MEDIA REACTION: IRAN/PALESTINE/UAE FTA/REFORM IN THE 
MIDDLE EAST 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:   A columnist in "Al-Bayan" cautions the use of 
military force against Iran.  An editorial in "Al-Khaleej" says 
it is disgraceful for the U.S. to provide Israel with Weapons of 
Mass Destruction while preventing the Arabs from providing the 
Palestinians with basic support.  A UAE columnist in "Al-Khaleej" 
advises the Arab countries to be cautious about Iran's quest for 
nuclear power and not get deceived by Iran's promises.  Most 
Arabic and English newspaper carried a wire story on Sheikha 
Lubna's hope for a signed U.S. trade deal by the end of 2006. 
"Al-Bayan" carried an almost full-page exclusive interview with 
George Mitchell, former U.S. Senator on issues of Iran, Israel 
and Guantanamo.  A female columnist in "Akhbar Al-Arab" 
criticized American projects for reform in the Middle East.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.   Under the headline "Are direct negotiations a way out?", a 
columnist, Dr. Naseef Hatta, wrote in Dubai-based Arabic daily 
"Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000) 5/14: 
 
"The military solution should be ruled out because it cannot help 
change the Iranian standpoint.  The military solution could drive 
them towards the nuclear power option and exposes the region to 
the hazards of a comprehensive bombing campaign in the Middle 
East...  Iran's role in the region needs to be recognized by the 
U.S." 
 
¶3.   Under headline "Disgrace", Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily "Al- 
Khaleej" (circulation 85,000) wrote 5/14 unsigned editorial: 
 
"Arabs throughout the decades have always lost because they 
depended on America.   America, which cannot be on their side, 
not even 1%, in any issue that might annoy Israel since their 
strategies are set on siding with Israel against the Arabs, while 
spending billions of dollars, crossing seas and oceans and waging 
wars for Israel...  The U.S. provides the Zionist Entity with 
Weapons of Mass Destruction, weapons of terror and destruction 
while stopping Arabs from providing Palestinians with what 
supports them to live.  This is disgraceful." 
 
 
¶4.   Under headline "So that we do not get deceived", Dr. Mohamed 
Bin Huwaiden, a UAE columnist, wrote 5/14 op-ed in Sharjah-based 
pan-Arab daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 85,000): 
 
"Iran is trying hard during this period to stir up its diplomats 
targeting neighboring countries, especially in the Arab Gulf 
region, in an attempt to convince these countries that Tehran has 
no intention to develop military nuclear power...  Iran today is 
closer to the control and domination of the Gulf region through 
its military power, thereby, increasing the gap between itself 
and other countries especially Saudi Arabia and Iraq so as to 
ensure that there is no country in the region that can threaten 
Iran in the future...  As long as Iran is operating under such a 
regime... all probabilities show that despite Iran's continuous 
assertions, it will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.  This 
is obvious, especially because of Iran's perseverance in having 
the right to fertilize uranium on its land even in small 
quantities.  Therefore, so that we do not get deceived by Iran's 
promises, we need to seriously contemplate the future with an 
emotionless perspective or standpoint that is not based on 
speculations, so as to properly face such a future." 
 
¶5.   Most local Arabic and English newspapers carried a 5/15 wire 
story article on UAE Economic Minister Sheikha Lubna al-Qassimi 
stating that she hoped for a completed U.S. trade deal by the end 
of 2006.  She said that she expected the fifth round of talks to 
begin before the end of summer and a deal to be signed by the end 
of the year. She also declined to comment on media reports that 
said Washington was pressing the UAE to open up its heavily 
protected telecommunications sector before the 2015 deadline set 
by the World Trade Organization. 
 
¶6.   Under headline "Mitchell regards hitting Iran as unlikely 
and demands Israel to stop building settlements", Dubai-based 
Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000) carried an 
exclusive full-page interview with former U.S. Senator George 
Mitchell on 5/15: 
 
"Americans themselves will decide who to hold responsible for the 
thousands of mistakes committed in Iraq as previously stated by 
Secretary Condoleezza Rice...  And whether I agree or not with 
 
SIPDIS 
the latest policies practiced in Iraq, we need to deal with the 
reality that we are living in and have everybody focus on how to 
resolve these issues in Iraq." 
 
"I still believe that setting up an economic embargo, which was 
imposed on Saddam Hussein's regime and applied by the UN and the 
U.S., is the best and the most correct policy to practice. 
However this was implemented in a weak form by the U.S. 
administration." 
 
"Iran is not like Iraq, and the U.S. and European policies toward 
Iraq differ from those directed toward Iran.  Washington follows 
a diplomatic line in dealing with the Iranian portfolio as is 
done with the North Korean one." 
 
"I do not believe that the U.S. will take a military action 
against Iran, but the people in charge of the Iranian nuclear 
case should work harder to help the diplomatic efforts succeed. 
The U.S. also asserted that it would use all options including 
military action, but I believe that Washington will more likely 
choose the diplomatic option..." 
 
"It is expected that Iran, having a strong influence in Iraq, to 
react against the U.S. through Iraq if the U.S. ever strikes 
Iran..." 
 
¶7.  Dubai-based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000) 
also carried a short interview with the former U.S. Secretary of 
Defense William Cohen, 5/15: 
 
"The number of U.S. soldiers involved with human rights 
violations is very limited; we have condemned such acts... My 
friend Senator John Mekin is pressing on the Congress to 
establish laws prohibiting the use of torture as a way of 
extracting confessions." 
 
"The U.S. Congress should press the American government to 
provide prisoners with a living environment complying with 
international human rights and I believe that the Guantanamo 
detainees should be taken to court...  I think this will happen 
and these prisoners in Guantanamo will be put on trial through 
military courts." 
 
¶8.  Under headline "U.S. reform project in the Middle East", a 
female columnist, Marwa Krediya, wrote in a 5/15 op-ed in Abu 
Dhabi-based pan-Arab daily "Akhbar Al-Arab" (circulation 20,000): 
 
"Although the U.S. is spending enormous amounts of money to 
conduct social and economic studies in order to understand the 
community structure of the Middle Eastern societies, it still 
fails to understand the truth of such nations, especially when 
you hear the clear statements made by its leaders... 
Accordingly, I say this to those in charge of the Western 
cultural projects:  The intellectual proposals that are 
introduced to the nations, regardless of its contents, will not 
receive an effective acceptance and will not cause radical 
changes for two main reasons:  First, the absence of credibility 
from the side that is proposing such ideas...  Second, these 
proposals are not based on the symbolic elements of these 
nations.  The U.S. administration imposes the symbols of its own 
culture on societies wherever it finds symbols that it does not 
like.  For instance, how can I ask a tribal-based community to 
hold elections and have everybody participate, when such a 
community has its own unique structure which is resistant to 
outside intervention?" 
 
 
SISON