VZCZCXRO1718
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHMS #0916/01 2720642
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 290642Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY MUSCAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8805
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0508
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0401
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000916 
 
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: TIP INTERVIEW, HUMAN RIGHTS AS "AMERICAN 
BLACKMAIL" 
 
REF: MUSCAT 894 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  "Times of Oman" and "Al-Shabiba" highlight G/TIP 
Ambassador Mark Lagon's interview on trafficking; "Al-Watan" 
criticizes Ambassador Grappo's defense of the Trafficking in Persons 
report and calls the report part of "American Blackmail."  Other 
"Al-Watan" editorials criticize human rights in U.S. foreign policy 
and the "hollow democracy" that the U.S. is calling for in Iraq and 
Afghanistan.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------- 
COVERAGE 
-------- 
 
¶2.   On Monday, September 24, Arabic-language, privately owned daily 
"Al-Shabiba" (circulation 20,000) and its sister English-language 
paper "Times of Oman" (circulation 25,000) carried an interview with 
Ambassador Mark Lagon, Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat 
Trafficking in Persons (TIP).  The "Times" ran the interview on page 
four under the headline, "Sultanate Committed to Ensuring Dignity of 
Workers: U.S. Official" and "Al-Shabiba" front-paged an 
introduction, with a continuation on page three that featured a 
large photo of Ambassador Lagon and the headline "Omani-American 
Agreement to Strengthen Anti-Trafficking in Persons Laws."  The 
interviewer, Mohammed al Balushi, was a 2006 Edward R. Murrow 
Fellow. 
 
¶3.  The Arabic-language article ran as an interview, while the 
English text was a shorter summary interspersed with quotes from 
Ambassador Lagon.  Both highlighted Ambassador Lagon's consultations 
with Omani officials about TIP and presented the issue as a shared 
concern of both governments that they are working together to 
address. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
BLOCK QUOTES: HUMAN RIGHTS IS "AMERICAN BLACKMAIL" 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
¶4.  On Friday, September 21, Arabic daily "Al-Watan" (circulation 
42,000) published editorials about U.S. foreign policy and human 
rights on a page topped with "Human Rights: American Blackmail." 
The lead editorial criticized the Trafficking in Persons report and 
Ambassador Grappo's defense of it (REFTEL).  Excerpts of this and 
the other "Al-Watan" editorials follow: 
"The U.S. Department of State persists in issuing annual human 
rights reports that cover all aspects of the issue (whether 
economic, social, cultural, religious, racial, or political) and 
that monitor nations' respect for human rights.  This U.S. effort 
could have gained the world's admiration if Washington had detached 
it from its own political goals and intentions and those of its 
allies, such as Israel, whose interests take precedence to the 
interests of America itself. Although there are some countries and 
governments that have friendly relations with the U.S.A, and America 
has key interests in these countries, we find that Washington 
sacrifices these relations on many occasions for the sake of 
political blackmail. It uses human rights to pressure friendly 
governments in order to obtain from them political stances in its 
favor or in the favor of its ally, i.e. Israel. No country in the 
world has managed to escape this U.S. political blackmailing, 
including our country, for which all the world stood as witness for 
its respect to human rights. The last picture of this blackmailing 
is the Trafficking in Persons report, which was defended by the U.S. 
Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman, despite the fact that this 
report was founded on very weak bases, if we ever supposed that it 
has any bases at all." 
------------------------------------------ 
U.S. "IGNORES CRIMES" IN IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN 
------------------------------------------ 
¶5.  An Iraqi lawyer resident in Oman added a commentary entitled 
"The Legal Response to American Blackmailing about Trafficking in 
Persons": 
"Omani Labor Law occupies a very prominent position among the other 
laws. This is due to its compliance with the international labor 
laws.  No doubt, this law is considered as one of the most 
high-ranking laws among its peers, as it always endeavors to meet 
the interests of both the employer and employee.  This could be 
evidenced in articles 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 18 and 20 of this law. So, 
has the U.S. Department of State ever viewed these articles? And has 
it seen the terms and conditions guaranteed by Oman's Labor Law and 
other Omani laws to prevent any trading in persons or any other such 
crimes? Don't all these laws prove that the Sultanate of Oman has 
done its utmost to fight such violations and protect against them as 
well as against any other crimes? The articles that we have 
 
MUSCAT 00000916  002 OF 002 
 
 
mentioned from Oman's Labor law are just a few examples; there are 
many others that serve the same purpose.  If this paper wants us to 
write about them, we can supply it with many other examples, but we 
have tried to give just a summary of them. In fact, the practical 
realities that we see in the courts of justice are other proofs that 
support our opinion and the opinion of "Al-Watan" newspaper to 
counter the U.S. Department of State's report, which ignores the 
crimes that are committed in Iraq and Afghanistan under the pretext 
of the hollow democracy that Americans are calling for.  The State 
Department's allegations could be summed up by the Arabic verse that 
says: Your tongue should never reveal the deficiencies of other 
people, since you are full of deficiencies and the people have 
tongues." 
-------------------------------- 
AMERICA'S "BASELESS ALLEGATIONS" 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  Muhammad al Khalig, an Egyptian expatriate on the staff of 
"Al-Watan" wrote about "Washington and the Humanitarian Game": 
 
"The American 'friend' has started to charge its Gulf friends of 
'trafficking in persons' although the history of this area is rich 
in examples of defending humanitarian causes.  No one objects to the 
wish of any expatriate in this area to earn a livelihood so long as 
he respects the culture, beliefs, and traditions of the peaceful 
Gulf people, among whom are the Omani people. Each road or street in 
Oman and each establishment in this country expresses its respect to 
the whole humanity and gives the chance to every resident to take 
his or her chance to find a good means of living and exercise his or 
her beliefs freely. Despite all these clear facts, we are surprised 
to hear about a report issued by the U.S. Department of State that 
included the Sultanate with other countries that allegedly traffick 
in persons.  Although whatever is issued by the U.S. Department of 
State or the U.S. Administration is not generally obligatory to any 
other country, the Gulf citizen has the right to be surprised for 
this American venture of baseless accusations... No one in the Gulf 
region needs to prove this report's discrepancies. It is quite 
sufficient for the report writers to have a tour of the streets of 
Muscat or any other Gulf capital to see by their own eyes the spirit 
of tolerance and forbearance that dominates this area and the 
respect that all residents get in these countries. Let them also 
have a look at the rules that regulate the employment of the 
expatriate laborers to discover the effort of the public 
institutions in applying the international standards, not the 
imbalanced American standards, which are connected to pressures that 
we have no time to mention here." 
-------------------------------------------- 
EXCESSES IN OMAN ARE INDIVIDUAL "EXCEPTIONS" 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. The head of public relations for the "Omantel" company wrote 
about "Human Rights in the Sultanate of Oman:" 
"We should not view ourselves as citizens of the 'Virtuous City' of 
Plato. Excesses might occur here and there sometimes, on individual 
bases, and this may happen in all communities without exception, due 
to coexistence between different people. However we can not say that 
such practices are organized by any official party or institution. 
It is merely an exceptional behavior and should not be generalized, 
or fastened on countries that are doing their best and for a long 
time to protect the rights of others, just as they are protecting 
the right of their citizens. These countries are facilitating the 
way to justice to prevail against any excesses regardless of the 
person who commits them... Any bad practice is also rejected by our 
sublime religion and our norms and traditions... The Sultanate of 
Oman's policy in regards to respecting human rights has become a 
pioneer in recognizing the humanity of every person and respecting 
his or her rights and dignity.  What needs to be documented with 
great pride and pleasure is that the gains of this blessed 
renaissance are not restricted to the material development and 
progress only, but to the high value given to the people and their 
human rights and dignity." 
 FONTENEAU