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OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHMK #1040/01 1641223
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 131223Z JUN 06 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY MANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4949
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT  PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 001040 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER BA IZ REGION CTR
SUBJECT: BAHRAINIS REACT TO AL ZARQAWI'S DEATH 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
. 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (C) Privately, all Bahrainis we have been in touch with, 
whether Sunni or Shi'a, have expressed satisfaction with the 
death of Al Zarqawi.  Public reactions have broken down along 
mostly sectarian lines.  Shi'a Bahrainis, who represent some 
70 percent of the country's citizens, expressed their 
happiness by sending celebratory cell phone text messages to 
friends and distributing sweets to neighbors and colleagues. 
Although there was little said in Friday prayer sermons about 
Al Zarqawi, perhaps because of the proximity between the 
announcement of his death and the sermons, there were some 
messages from Shi'a clerics in mosques and ma'atams (Shi'a 
community centers) thanking God for ending his life. 
Newspaper columns were more mixed, with some critical 
articles from Sunni columnists who support the Iraqi 
insurgency.  End Summary. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Satisfaction the Terrorist is Gone 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) All Bahrainis we spoke with have reacted with varying 
degrees of satisfaction to the death of Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. 
 Shi'as have been jubilant and most Sunnis are pleased that a 
man widely viewed as a terrorist and criminal who hijacked 
their sect is gone.  There is a small fringe segment of the 
Sunni population sympathetic to Al Qaida, but they have been 
silent on Al Zarqawi's death thus far.  Government officials 
have privately expressed their appreciation for the U.S. 
strike on Al Zarqawi but the GOB has not commented officially 
on the matter. 
 
¶3.  (C) Public reaction to the news has largely broken down 
along sectarian lines.  Shi'as, who comprise some 70 percent 
of the country's citizens, have expressed their happiness. 
Some Sunni columnists who support the Iraqi insurgency have 
written articles critical of the U.S. attack on Al Zarqawi 
but refrain from praising him, focusing instead on their 
support for the insurgency.  Both the Arabic and English 
press carried factual news stories of the event and 
Iraqi/coalition press conferences. 
 
---------------- 
Shi'as Celebrate 
---------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) Several Embassy staff received congratulatory phone 
calls and text messages on June 8 as the news began to 
spread.  Poloff heard anecdotes of residents of Shi'a 
villages distributing sweets and congratulating one another 
that Al Zarqawi was dead.  There were also reports of retail 
store owners offering candy, tea and coffee to their 
customers, and colleagues in workplaces as diverse as 
national phone company Batelco and local public schools 
sharing sweets together. 
 
¶5.  (C) Central Municipal Council member Redha Humaidan 
(Shi'a) told Emboff, "Since Al Zarqawi was responsible for 
the killing of hundreds of Iraqi civilians and the 
destruction of mosques and community centers, his death will 
decrease the suffering of Iraqis.  We hope that stability in 
Iraq will enable Iraq's elected parliament to speed up 
political and economic progress.  We also hope that his death 
encourages other Iraqis supporting Al Zarqawi's ideology to 
stop conducting terrorist acts and to join the political 
process." 
 
¶6.  (C) Leading Shi'a opposition society Al Wifaq Shura 
(Consultative) council member Nizar Al Qari told Poloff that 
50-100 residents of Sitra, a Shi'a area, held a gathering in 
the street similar to a "zeffah," an event held for grooms 
prior to a wedding.  The residents gathered in a circle and 
chanted slogans praising Al Zarqawi's death.  Al Qari also 
said that several mosques distributed candy to worshippers. 
In one of the mosques, a secondary imam who speaks between 
prayer times said, "We thank God that the enemy of the 
"marjaie" (referring to Ayatollah Sistani) is now dead." 
 
----------------------------- 
Focus on Damage Done to Islam 
----------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) A Shi'a source close to the Embassy told of a June 8 
gathering at a ma'atam at which a cleric said that the 
violent death of Al Zarqawi illustrates what happens to those 
 
MANAMA 00001040  002 OF 002 
 
 
who advocate violence and terrorism.  Al Zarqawi gave a false 
and damaging view of Islam and Muslims.  The cleric 
reportedly said that even though Al Zarqawi was responsible 
for the deaths of a large number of Shi'a Iraqis, his words 
and actions should be even more insulting and offensive to 
Sunnis since he considered himself to be their representative. 
 
¶8.  (C) Another Shi'a contact told us, "Al Zarqawi was a 
criminal who misrepresented Islam.  We support the unity of 
Iraq and think Al Zarqawi's death will lead to greater unity. 
 We look forward to the destruction of all terrorists, not 
only in Iraq, but in the whole region.  I have spoken to many 
Sunni and Shi'a in Bahrain and all expressed their 
satisfaction over the death of Al Zarqawi."  He added that he 
saw and heard prominent Shi'a cleric Abdulla Al Ghuraifi 
congratulating people attending prayers June 8 before he 
spoke at the gathering. 
 
-------------------- 
Columnists Speak Out 
-------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) Comments from editorials varied in their reactions to 
Al Zarqawi's demise.  Ahmed Al Boosta in liberal Al Waqt and 
Qassem Hussain in the independent Al Wasat praised the 
killing of Al Zarqawi.  They criticized Ba'athists in Bahrain 
who live in a world of conspiracy theories who spread claim 
that Al Zarqawi never existed or that he was ony a creation 
of American propaganda. 
 
¶10.  PanArabist Akhbar Al Khaleej's columnists used the 
ubject of Al Zarqawi's death as a springboard to pomote 
their support for the Iraqi insurgency.  Abulla Al Ayoobi 
wrote that the U.S. can take credt for the killing of Al 
Zarqawi, but the real winer is the genuine Iraqi resistance, 
whose reputtion had been sullied by Al Zarqawi's 
indiscrimiate crimes against Iraqi civilians.  "Al Zarqawi's 
actions are clearly terrorism, having no other purpose than 
to shed blood."  Sayed Zahra argued that "it is not heroic to 
launch air strikes on a house.  The U.S. feels that the 
killing of Al Zarqawi will be the straw that will save it 
from drowning in the Iraqi quagmire.  His killing will lead 
to more air strikes and the killing of more innocent 
civilians." 
 
¶11.  (U) Hafedh Al Shaikh, also from Akhbar Al Khaleej, warns 
the U.S. and its "Shi'a allies in Iraq" not to celebrate too 
much because Al Zarqawi's death only marks the end of one 
chapter in the book on the Iraqi resistance.  He claims that 
Al Zarqawi's ideology is to blame for alienating the Shi'a 
and a large portion of the Sunnis in Iraq.  "Now the nail and 
hammer are in the hands of the Shi'a and the government to 
try to bridge the sectarian gap created by those who believe 
the takfeeri ideology.  But this won't happen unless the 
Shi'a abandon their loyalty and alliance with the Safawis 
(Iranians), who hold beliefs similar to the takfeeris and who 
dominate the Ministry of Interior and the death squads." 
 
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Comment 
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¶12.  (C) Our Bahraini contacts have expressed universal 
support for Al Zarqawi's demise.  While there is a fringe 
element among Bahrain's Sunni society that is sympathetic to 
Al Qaida, this group has been silent on Al Zarqawi's death. 
Even the most outspoken partisans of the Iraqi insurgency, 
the pan-Arabists and unreconstructed Ba'athists at Akhbar Al 
Khaleej, refrain from supporting Al Zarqawi, focusing instead 
on the insurgency.  More responsible members of Bahraini 
society are likely breathing a sigh of relief that Al Zarqawi 
has been removed from the scene.  His incitement of sectarian 
tensions in Iraq echoed within Bahraini society, albeit in a 
diminished way.  As Bahraini leaders try to deal with their 
own local issues with sectarian overtones - elections, 
employment, housing, education - they are no doubt hoping the 
spillover effect from Iraq becomes less intense. 
 
 
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MONROE