VZCZCXRO1746
OO RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHAD #0022/01 0081047
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 081047Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7999
RUENAAA/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1137
RHRMDAB/COMUSNAVCENT
RHWSMRC/MCF01 SACCS USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000022 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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 ERELI 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC
SUBJECT:  MEDIA REACTION: EXECUTION OF SADDAM/NEW STRATEGIES IN 
IRAQ/POLITICAL IMPOTENCE OF GULF SYSTEM 
 
¶1.  Summary:  "Al-Khaleej" warns that Bush's new strategy for Iraq 
will likely only make the situation worse.  A female UAE columnist 
in "Al-Bayan" discussed the reasons of Saddam's execution ignited 
fires of sectarianism between Sunnis and Shiites and laid the 
responsibility on the current Iraqi government.  "Al-Khaleej" voiced 
its concern over the impotence of the regional Gulf system at a time 
when the situation is critical and full of clashes and blind 
vendettas.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  Under the headline "A victory that led to defeat", Sharjah-based 
pan-Arab daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000) editorialized on 
1/8: 
 
"It is obvious that President Bush will, during the announcement of 
his new strategy on Iraq, ignore the content of the Baker-Hamilton 
Report and the steps required to extricate the United States from 
the Iraqi quagmire.  He will also ignore the calls and cries of the 
Democrats for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq and 
against sending more troops...  President Bush will not accept 
defeat.  He is determined to win, believing that his new military 
and political team will turn things upside down and bring what other 
military leaders, ambassadors and intelligence officers were not 
able to achieve.  However, the result will be far worse than even 
now and he may be the second American president to bring defeat to 
his country, after the defeat of Vietnam...  This is what many 
politicians and intellectuals in the United States warn of." 
¶3.  A female UAE national, Muna Al-Bahar, wrote a 01/08 op-ed in 
Dubai-based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation 85,000): 
 
"...Saddam Hussein is a criminal who killed thousands of innocent 
Iraqis from all sects creating opposition groups from Shiites and 
Sunnis alike.  The current government seems to be doing the same 
thing through its administration of political and social issues. 
The sectarian massacres we hear of everyday or the details of 
Saddam's trial shows that this government is racist and sectarian. 
It also proves the impotence of its leadership of Iraq and its 
inability to bring Iraq to a better situation, address the 
devastating era of Saddam and destroy the brutal occupation...  The 
trial proved one point: it was a process of revenge rather than 
justice.  Instead of his trial and execution leading to 
reconciliation and national harmony, this act of revenge gave Saddam 
the chance to become a hero of the Sunni Arab resistance.  It became 
yet another source of frenzied sectarian violence, not only in Iraq, 
but wherever there are both Sunnis and Shiites living together." 
 
 
¶4.  Under the headline "Gulf of wars", Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily 
"Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000) editorialized on 1/7: 
 
"Is the Arab Gulf doomed to a life of war decade after decade and to 
live in permanent fear, in response to the whims of regional and 
international empires...?  Hasn't the Arab regional system in the 
Gulf, whether as countries or peoples, learned any lessons from the 
Iran-Iraq war, the occupation of Kuwait and the war of liberation, 
the siege of Iraq and the war of its occupation?  Haven't we learned 
from what is happening in Iraq and from our previous comments saying 
that invading Iraq would be catastrophic at all levels?  However, 
instead of the occupation forces realizing this fact, they return to 
square one by increasing the volume of their military forces in Iraq 
and push their fleets and missiles to the waters of the Gulf.  This 
happens while Israeli influence begins directing the administration 
towards confrontation and infiltration in the Gulf to turn the 
situation into a destructive and explosive one.  Of course all this 
happens while the Iranian speech becomes more conceited and 
continues to be unreasonable and inflammatory...  What is happening 
today is a repetition of what has happened yesterday and does not 
provide any solutions...  It is regrettable and worrying too is that 
in times of concern and where the situation is critical and full of 
clashes and blind vendettas the regional Gulf system remains a 
dormant position.  What is happening now in the Gulf basin is, in 
short, the production of violent clashes, mined with arrogance and 
sectarian blindness, and dipped in oil and dreams of empire.  The 
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), stands in front of the most 
difficult tests.  The question is:  Will it move collectively, in an 
active way, in order to save the region from a new catastrophe?" 
 
 
 
ABU DHABI 00000022  002 OF 002 
 
 
SISON 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MR 08 Jan 2007           UNCLASSIFIED