VZCZCXRO0474
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHMS #0894/01 2611245
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 181245Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY MUSCAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8774
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0506
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0399
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000894 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPD, NEA/PI, AND INR/R/MR 
STATE PASS USTR FOR N. MOORJANI, J. BUNTIN 
LONDON FOR TSOU 
PARIS FOR ZEYA 
USCENTCOM FOR PLUSH 
FOREIGN PRESS CENTER FOR SILAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KPAO KMDR MU
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: 9/11 COVERAGE, AMBASSADOR TIP INTERVIEW, 
IRAQI RECONCILIATION, FALL PEACE CONFERENCE, ARAB INFIGHTING, U.S. 
TROOPS IN IRAQ 
 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  All dailies carry Ambassador's 9/11 message; 
privately-owned "Al-Watan" and "Oman Tribune" interview Ambassador 
about Trafficking in Persons; in an editorial about 9/11, "Al-Watan" 
condemns the "beastly acts" of the American army that was unable to 
protect Americans despite consuming their tax dollars; "Al-Watan" 
says that true reconciliation in Iraq must happen internally; 
"Al-Watan" states that Arabs "learned their lesson" from Oslo and 
that maintaining a united Arab position on the Peace Process is more 
important than attending the fall peace conference; government-owned 
"Oman" calls for Arabs to take responsibility for their infighting 
and stop blaming others; "Al-Shabiba" says security in Iraq will not 
begin until foreign troops withdraw.  END SUMMARY 
 
-------- 
COVERAGE 
-------- 
 
¶2.  Coverage of September 11 was muted in the local press, but all 
English and Arabic dailies carried the full text of Ambassador 
Grappo's message "September 11, Six Years On" (available on Embassy 
Muscat's homepage at 
oman.usembassy.gov/september_11_six_years_on. html). 
 
¶3.  Arabic-language "Al-Watan" (privately owned, circulation 42,000) 
and its English-language sister publication "Oman Tribune" 
(circulation 8,000) featured an interview with Ambassador Grappo 
about Oman's Tier 3 ranking in the annual Trafficking in Persons 
(TIP) report.  Both "Al-Watan" and "Oman Tribune" front paged the 
interview above the fold and ran the full text on interior pages 
with large color photographs of the Ambassador.  "Oman Tribune's" 
headline read, "Oman-U.S. Ties Remain Unaffected by Rights Report." 
Al-Watan reported the same headline, with an additional quote from 
the Ambassador, "We Have Some Infractions." 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
BLOCK QUOTES: POST 9/11 "NOTHING BUT LOSSES" 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶4.  On September 11, "Al-Watan" published an editorial entitled, 
"History is the Best Judge:" 
"It is not difficult to see that a people can possess the most 
powerful army in the modern world, one that uses up hundreds of 
billions of dollars of the people's taxes, yet that army can fail to 
protect them from something like the September 11 attack... This is 
indeed what happened to the United States on that bloody day, and 
naturally its leadership looked for an enemy to fight and gain 
victory over, in order to treat the psychological shock to the 
deepest part of its society... Now, six years after the beastly acts 
that the American army committed against innocent civilians, it is 
worth it for those who follow these events to review the scenario 
that led to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and the 
preparation to invade Iran, and also to consider the stab of the 
Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, on the pretext 
that they are part of the 'terrorist resistance'... Since that day, 
the fact is that those who thought they were the most powerful were 
not, and armies who thought they could wage lethal attacks that 
would not harm civilians proved that this was an illusion.  The 
politicians thought that force would accomplish their goals, and the 
narrow interests of insiders... They were wrong in what they 
attempted, which yielded nothing but clear losses... History is the 
best judge." 
--------------------------------------------- 
IRAQI RECONCILIATION TRUE SOURCE OF STABILITY 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶5. On Monday, September 10,"Al-Watan" ran an editorial titled, 
"Reconciliation Is the Source of Iraqi Stability:" 
"At the security conference that was held in Baghdad yesterday the 
call prevailed for Iraq's neighbors to make more efforts to stop the 
bloodbath in Iraqi towns and cities.  The conference also involved a 
repetition of previous warnings that internal Iraqi violence could 
spread to its neighbors if they do not intervene...but the reality 
is that the solution to Iraq must begin inside Iraq itself... The 
unlawful marriage between politics and the occupation in Iraq must 
end so that all of Iraq's groups and sects can take great steps to 
achieve quiet and stability." 
--------------------------------------------- - 
ARAB SOLIDARITY MORE IMPORTANT THAN FALL TALKS 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶6. On Friday, September 14, "Al-Watan" editorialized that "Arab 
Coordination Is More Important than the Fall Conference:" 
"Little by little the characteristics of the conference about peace 
 
MUSCAT 00000894  002 OF 002 
 
 
in the Middle East that is set to be held in November are becoming 
clear.  American President George W. Bush called for it... It gives 
the Arabs the impression that their cooperation in solving the 
American problem with Iraq and Iran will benefit them when it comes 
to the matter of Middle East peace.  But Israel's agenda is 
completely different from Washington's.  Israel has its own private 
agenda concerning Iraq and Iran, and Israel's agenda does not 
involve bearing the military, political, or economic losses that the 
Americans have suffered.  The only important thing to the Israelis 
is implementing their own ambitions in the area...but the Arabs 
learned their lesson from Oslo, which was born under similar 
circumstances.  And it did nothing to achieve the aspirations of the 
Arabs or the Palestinians, as we see and hear about with the 
unceasing aggression against the Arab peoples and Arab lands in 
Palestine, in Lebanon, and in Syria... Arab solidarity on its 
position holds out hope for the future peace of the Middle East, if 
the Arabs hold to the roots of the issue and never relinquish any 
established rights." 
--------------------------------------------- 
ARAB INFIGHTING OBLITERATES ALL OPPORTUNITIES 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶7.  On Sunday, September 16, government-owned "Oman" (circulation 
38,000) ran an editorial entitled, "Arab Infighting Obliterates All 
Opportunities:" 
"The Arab world is experiencing some of its worst and most dangerous 
problems up to this point.  The cause of this goes back to those 
people among the countries and peoples of this region who want to 
push it into strife between brothers...which leads to a weakening of 
Arabs' power and their capabilities, and confines them to a small 
arena of struggle and killing between brotherly sides, which opens 
the field to numerous difficulties and differences that surely do 
not benefit any Arab side... It is illogical to place the blame for 
all of this on the shoulders of others, especially for what we are 
doing with our hands." 
---------------------------- 
NO SECURITY UNTIL WITHDRAWAL 
---------------------------- 
¶8.   On September 16, privately owned Arabic-language "Al-Shabiba" 
(circulation 20,000) and its sister English-language daily "Times of 
Oman" (circulation 25,000) ran a front-page article by 
editor-in-chief Essa bin Mohammed al Zedjali, in reaction to the 
testimony of Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus: 
"The whole world demands that foreign troops pull out from Iraq, 
leaving the responsibility of governance to the sons of Iraqi soil. 
The reason: they have not achieved the goals for which they came to 
Iraq.  Killings have become an everyday affair in Iraq.  The term 
'security' signifies no meaning for the Iraqi citizens...[foreign 
troops] entered Iraq with promises of a prosperous and secure life 
but unfortunately they have not been translated into reality...Four 
years have passed since the entry of foreign troops in Iraq, but 
failure is writ large on their faces...opinion polls in most 
countries that have troops in Iraq have showed that their citizens 
are in favor of early withdrawal...the international 
community...looks forward to a total withdrawal of troops, paving 
the way for the Iraqis to fill the vacuum and govern their country 
with complete freedom." 
GRAPPO