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UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001543 
 
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 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC
SUBJECT:  SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: PETRAEUS REPORT 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY:  The testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador 
Crocker was widely followed and reported by local media, both print 
and broadcast.  On the opinion/editorial side, Al-Khaleej viewed the 
General's report as an effort to avoid any decisions for the 
remainder of the President's term, and implicitly criticized both 
the U.S. and Arab states for allowing it to drag on. Al-Bayan 
considered the report an indication that "nothing new" is to be 
expected from Washington and concludes that the lesson of years of 
occupation is that Washington cares only about its interests and a 
broad national consensus of Iraqis on the future of their own 
country is the only hope.  An op-ed writer in Al-Bayan believes that 
Washington has a choice: escape from Iraq through threats and war, 
vice dialogue, or an exit strategy to leave Iraq by engaging in 
dialogue with all factions in the region.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. Local media, print and broadcast, gave extensive coverage to the 
testimony of General David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan 
Crocker, and to President Bush's speech on Iraq.  Much of the 
coverage was taken directly from wires or assembled from wire 
reports by staff journalists. It was, on the whole, factual and 
objective reporting of the testimony, including various excerpts and 
highlights. 
 
¶3. Under the headline "Occupations and Symptoms of Addiction", the 
editorial in Sharjah-based Arabic daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 
90,000) 09/12 wrote: 
 
"What Petraeus and the U.S. Ambassador in Iraq have recently said is 
a transparent attempt to circumvent any demand or any commitment to 
a programmed exit from Iraq, from now until the end of Bush's 
term." 
"...  Again we are afraid that the occupation of Iraq transforms 
into a state of addiction; an American addiction to practice it and 
an Arab addiction to be indifferent to what happens, much the way 
they reacted to the Zionist occupation of Palestine six decades 
ago..." 
 
¶4.  Under the headline "The Report to Make no Decisions", the 
editorial in Dubai-based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan" (circulation 
85,000) 09/12 wrote: 
 
"The Petraeus report indicates that there will be nothing new in 
Washington.  Things will remain as they are in terms of dealing with 
the facts and complexities of the situation in Iraq.  Past 
experience from years of occupation and daily Iraqi sufferings 
confirm that a broad [Iraqi] national consensus is the only doorway 
to salvation, since Washington cares only about its interests when 
it makes decisions.  Will Iraqis decide what serves their interests 
best?" 
 
¶5.  Under the headline "American Crisis in Iraq and its Escape 
Strategy", a political researcher and writer, Dr. Isam Salim 
Al-Shenti, wrote 09/13 in "Al-Bayan": 
 
"The Petraeus report inferred that the security situation in Iraq 
will not be resolved without political and economic progress by the 
Iraqi government, and an Iraqi reconciliation that does not exclude 
any faction." 
 
"The American administration, drowning in the new 'Vietnamese 
quagmire' in Iraq, must change its policy in the region if it wants 
to reach acceptable solutions inside and outside Iraq.  What has 
been happening in the region, specifically in Iraq, Palestine and 
Lebanon in recent years, is in fact the product of the American 
administration's aggressive policy in an area still searching for 
security, stability and development." 
 
"It is now in the American administration's hands.  It can choose an 
exit strategy...by engaging in a dialogue with all concerned 
factions in the region; or an escape strategy using the language of 
threats and war instead of dialogue". 
 
QUINN