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 002423 
 
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: ZARQAWI'S DEATH 
 
 
¶1.  Summary: An unsigned editorial in Abu Dhabi-based Arabic 
daily "Al-Ittihad" strongly criticizes Arab Muslims for not 
condemning the Muslim Brotherhood for presenting their 
condolences on Zarqawi's death.  A columnist in "Al-Bayan" 
wonders how the official reaction to Zarqawi's death is happiness 
and relief and lays the blame for violence in Iraq on Bush's 
policies.  "Al-Bayan" was skeptical of President Bush's talks on 
democracy while keeping silent on the massacres caused by Israeli 
forces.  An unsigned editorial in English daily "Gulf News" 
renews the call to close Guantanamo with the death of three 
prisoners.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  A front-page unsigned 6/11 editorial in Abu Dhabi-based semi- 
official Arabic daily "Al-Ittihad" (circulation 65,000) 
headlines: "Brotherhood of Opportunists" and opines: 
 
"As soon as the world got rid of the terrorist slaughter al 
Zarqawi, after he got from God what he deserved by facing a just 
end (an end to anyone who fights God and his messenger and seeks 
to corrupt the world), representatives from the Muslim 
Brotherhood in Jordan, gave more evidence that their group's 
suspicious relation with Al Zarqawi and other terrorists and 
criminals is a parent-child relationship.  Those brothers went to 
present their condolences to the killer, as if the thousand 
widows, orphans and innocent souls... whose lives were taken away 
by Zarqawi, do not mean anything...  This is not surprising. 
What is surprising, is the Arab Islamic silence against this 
brotherhood that proved that they were partners in causing the 
bloodbath in Iraq...  When will killers be called killers and 
terrorists as terrorists so as to deal with them on this basis?" 
 
¶3.   Under headline "Resistance and occupation", a columnist, 
Ahmed Omarabi, wrote in a 6/12 op-ed in Dubai-based Arabic daily 
"Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000): 
 
"... Amid the hysterical happiness spreading throughout 
Washington, Tel Aviv and other Western countries on the news of 
Al Zarqawi's assassination, an American citizen was shocked... 
Michael Burg had a son whose head was chopped off by Al Zarqawi's 
group.  Nevertheless, the father was able to overcome his self 
sorrow by saying that he did not feel relieved on Zarqawi's death 
and laid the fault of his son's death on George Bush...  In 
short, the United States and Israel can continue to assassinate 
symbols of national resistance in Iraq and Palestine, but the 
resistance will never stop as long as these people are under 
occupation...  The "Mae Lai" massacre and the likes of it in 
Vietnam did not diminish the resistance of the Vietnamese people 
which ultimately led to the defeat of the United States forces in 
the mid-seventies of the last century." 
 
¶4.   Under headline "Bush, democracy and the Israeli massacres", 
Dubai-based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000) wrote 
in a 6/12 editorial: 
 
"In his weekly talk, President Bush lauded the achievement of his 
forces in Iraq, emphasizing their success in settling Abu Musab 
Al Zarqawi and said that democracy has made great victory in the 
heart of the Middle East.  His democratic indication coincided 
with the massacre caused by the Israeli forces taking away the 
souls of more than ten Palestinian civilians, including a baby... 
How can Bush expect even a minimal positive reaction to his 
democracy and determination to help spread it in the region while 
not releasing a single word of condemnation, even an empty one, 
against Israel?  ...Instead of rewarding the Palestinians for 
practicing democracy... the Americans rushed to place them under 
siege through unfair sanctions...  This happened at a time when 
Bush was using every occasion to focus on the policies of his 
administration and its obligation to spread democracy!" 
 
¶5.  A UAE columnist, Abdulla Rasheed, wrote in a 6/12 op-ed in 
Abu Dhabi-based semi-official Arabic daily "Al-Ittihad" 
(circulation 65,000) which opined: 
 
"We wish those who call themselves the "Muslim Brotherhood" and 
the Jordanian "Labor Islamic Group", who presented their 
condolences to Al Zarqawi, would visit Iraq and present their 
condolences to the hundreds of innocent children, women, youth 
and elderly people who were killed over the years in Iraq by the 
corrupter Al Zarqawi." 
 
¶6. An unsigned editorial in Dubai based English daily "Gulf News" 
on 6/12 under the headline "A stain America must remove" 
(circulation 95,000): 
 
"We do not know how three inmates of Guantanamo were able to 
prepare the bed sheets and commit suicide without drawing the 
attention of guards.  But we do know that more than four years 
after the American detention camp at Guantanamo Bay opened, the 
calls for it to close will grow louder and rightly so.  The 
International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN Secretary 
General and former US President Jimmy Carter have already called 
for the detention facility to be shut down.  Guantanamo does 
nothing but harm America's international image and saps its moral 
authority.  The Statue of Liberty stands as a beacon to the 
world, Guantanamo acts as an insult to all that is best in 
America; constitutional rule, its innate sense of human rights, 
the dignity of man.  It stands as a glaring contradiction to 
values that are cherished by Americans.  By its own calculations 
the Pentagon believes about 10 per cent of the inmates are 
hardened terrorists and about 50 per cent did not commit any 
hostile act against the US or its allies.   The majority of 
detainees were not captured by US forces but by Afghan or 
Pakistani groups when America was offering bounties of $5,000 for 
any prisoner accused of terrorism.  The so-called war on terror 
will never be won by employing Guantanamo methods.  The American 
legal system is strong enough to defeat terror, to suggest 
otherwise is a slight to those bereaved by Timothy McVeigh's 
Oklahoma bomb.  The damage done to America's image by events at 
Guantanamo has simply not been worth the international 
opprobrium.  In a conflict against terrorism where goodwill is 
vital, Guantanamo is a self-inflicted festering wound that does 
nothing but give comfort to America's enemies.  It must be shut 
down and shut down now." 
 
 
 
 
SISON