VZCZCXYZ0004
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0762 3041543
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 301543Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5509
INFO RUCNNAF/NORTH AF NEA AND SOUTH ASIAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000762 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/PPD, NEA/ELA, INR/NESA, IIP, PA, ECA; BEIRUT FOR 
SISSON, GRANT, LENZEN 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPAO SY
SUBJECT: DAMASCUS MEDIA REACTION, OCTOBER 30, 2008 
 
------------ 
News Summary 
------------ 
 
¶1.  The media storm surrounding the October 26 attack in Abu Kamal 
and subsequent Syrian accusations against the United States and 
Syrian actions against U.S. Embassy operations in Damascus continued 
unabated. Print media were dominated by reports of a large protest 
march in the town of Abu Kamal on October 29.  A large (estimated 
10-15,000 persons) October 30 demonstration in downtown Damascus 
received a blitz of images and interviews on Syrian TV and all local 
and regional media outlets.  One television talk show featured the 
Venezuelan Ambassador to Syria, who condemned the attack and the 
United States and expressed his solidarity with Syria. 
 
¶2.  Government paper Al-Thawrah dedicated a full page to 
condemnations of the Abu Kamal attack and of the United States. 
Authors included governments, individuals, and organizations, 
including Iran, a Belgian politician, the Conference of Arab 
Renaissance, a Czech political party, the Greek Communist Party, the 
Syrian Community Petersburg, the PLO, Lebanese Civil Society, the 
Arab Lawyers Union, the Arab Doctors Union, the Arab Democratic 
Union, the Ba'ath Party in Yemen, and American Congressman Dennis 
Kucinich. 
 
¶3.  All papers on October 30 featured banner headlines on the Syrian 
government's demand for the U.S. Embassy to close both the American 
Cultural Center and the Damascus Community School (known locally as 
the American School). 
 
¶4.  Key Headlines 
 
-- "Huge Protest March in Abu Kamal ... Condemnation of the 
Aggression Continues ... Characterized as 'Uncivilized' and 'State 
Terrorism'" (Al-Thawra, SARG-owned daily) 
 
-- "American Congressman Kucinich: 'Not Acceptable and Not 
Reasonable'" (Al-Thawra) 
 
-- "Tehran: 'American Aggression is a New Gamble to Rattle World 
Peace'" (Al-Ba'ath, SARG-owned daily) 
 
-- "Yemeni Politician (Barkani) to Al-Ba'ath: 'The Arabs are Being 
Targeted and Everyone is Betting on Syria'" (Al-Ba'ath) 
 
-- "Foreign Ministry Informs the American Charge d'Affaires of the 
Cabinet's Decision to Close the Cultural Center and the American 
School" (Tishreen, SARG-owned daily) 
 
-------------- 
Key Editorials 
-------------- 
¶5.  "When the American Administration Directs Terrorism" (Tishreen) 
"The excessive joy which appeared on Presidential candidate John 
McCain's [face] following the aggression his administration launched 
shows that it was planned and studied and that the decision was 
taken at the highest levels...This means that Bush...wanted to 
distract attention from some of the internal crises of his 
Republican Party and demonstrate that his administration is still 
capable of taking decisions that concern the war on Iraq and 
therefore to lie again to the Americans and tell them that he has 
achieved a military victory...We have to point out that the 
inhabitants of the farm and the workers in the building that was 
targeted, eight of whom were martyred, were all unarmed, and the 
American soldiers who carried out the aggression knew that... What 
is more dangerous than (Bush's lies) is that Bush and his team have 
become an administration of terrorist operations and war 
crimes...." 
 
¶6.  "American Policy - From Stupidity to Madness" (Al-Ba'ath) 
 
"The project of hegemony which the current American Administration 
has adopted expresses the philosophy of the controlling classes, and 
it now reflects a way of compensating for the economic weakness 
through which American is passing... In a new adventure, Washington 
carried out a new aggression by striking a civilian place in Syria, 
in which there were children, women, elderly men, and workers, with 
the excuse that it was a center of terrorism. The hypocrisy of this 
administration is not surprising... because it destroyed an entire 
country, destroyed its civilization, and killed its children under 
the pretext of the existence of weapons of mass destruction." 
 
 
 
CONNELLY