VZCZCXRO0388
RR RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHRB #0585/01 1901425
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091425Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY RABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0383
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 3205
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 000585 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR NEA/PPD, NEA/MAG, AND NEA/PI 
LONDON, PARIS AND DUBAI FOR MEDIA HUBS 
 
E.0.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM KDEM KPAO EAID KMPI MO
SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S 
LETTER TO KING MOHAMED VI 
 
------------------- 
Summary and Comment 
------------------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) President Obama's July 1 letter to 
Moroccan King Mohamed VI, which focused on Middle 
East peace and Western Sahara, generated massive 
press coverage following release in its entirety by 
the Government of Morocco (GOM).  The government and 
pro-palace press has been effusive in its praise of 
the letter.  Much of the independent press has been 
critical, perceiving the letter as demonstrating 
that the Obama administration has walked back from 
the previous administration's overt support for 
Morocco's autonomy proposal, and believing that the 
letter draws a linkage between Moroccan 
normalization with Israel, and U.S. support on 
Western Sahara.  For its part, the Government of 
Morocco (GOM) has studiously avoided making any 
public comments about the letter.  But the fact that 
the Palace chose to have the letter published, 
coupled with the extremely favorable coverage the 
letter received in the official and pro-palace 
press, suggests official satisfaction with the 
letter.  End Summary and Comment. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) At direction of the highest levels of the 
GOM, President Obama's letter was immediately 
translated into French and published in its entirety 
on the website of the government news agency, the 
Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP), and in pro-palace daily 
"Le Matin."  Its key points have been widely quoted 
in the Moroccan press.  2M television conducted an 
interview with CDA Jackson on the main points of the 
letter, portions of which were aired twice (during 
the French- and Arabic-language news) on July 6. 
 
¶3.  (U) MAP has produced several articles praising 
the letter, featuring interviews with prominent 
Moroccan intellectuals stating that it reconfirmed 
Morocco's central role in promoting Middle East 
peace.  These were reprinted in "Le Matin" and its 
Arabic-language sister, "Assahara."  "Le Matin," 
whose editorial page is usually assumed to reflect 
the views of the Palace, also carried an editorial 
on July 6 entitled "Obama and Mohammed VI: The 
Convergence," which stated that the letter 
underscored the closeness of the American and 
Moroccan visions for Middle East peace and Western 
Sahara (see block quotes below). 
 
¶4.  (U) Several independent and Islamist newspapers, 
including "Al-Massae," the largest circulation daily 
in Morocco, have been promoting a very different, 
far more critical narrative.  They have opined that 
the letter demonstrates a linkage between what the 
USG would like Morocco to do for Middle East peace, 
and U.S. policy on Western Sahara.  The commentaries 
maintain that:  a) the USG is offering very little 
by way of support for Morocco on Western Sahara, and 
indeed the "new" USG policy represents a step 
backwards from the Bush administration's support for 
the Moroccan autonomy plan; and b) Morocco has 
already done enough for its bilateral relationship 
with the U.S. and for Middle East peace to warrant 
U.S. support. 
 
¶5.  (U) Block Quotes: 
 
"Obama and Mohammed VI: The Convergence," editorial 
in "Le Matin:" 
 
"U.S. President Barack Obama has just sent a message 
to King Mohammed VI that was written with a rare 
scope.  On the political, spiritual, and human 
levels ... this message, by the richness of its 
content and its human dimension and the president's 
will, emphasizes the intellectual convergence 
between President Obama and King Mohammed VI.  ... 
two components, among others, were essential ... the 
situation in the Middle East, including the city of 
Al Quds (Jerusalem), and the evolution of the Sahara 
issue.  ...  The letter from Barack Obama is a 
profession of faith, nourished by a conviction: 
shared values of justice, peace and tolerance.  It 
is also a sign that America will be working at the 
 
RABAT 00000585  002 OF 002 
 
 
side of the Kingdom of Morocco." 
 
 
"All that Israel wants," by commentary director 
Rashid Niny in independent daily "Al Massae" on July 
7: 
 
"The letter by Hussein Obama in response to a 
previous letter by King Mohammed VI, in which he 
raised the Judaization of Jerusalem, contains many 
coded words that require interpretation.  ... 
Morocco has committed itself to America at the level 
of the FTA (Free Trade Agreement), despite the fact 
that the agreement favors America alone.  Morocco 
has committed itself to the project of inter-faith 
dialogue, and during the time of General Laanigri, 
committed itself to the fight against terrorism, to 
the point of turning Morocco into the biggest 
factory of terrorists.  Morocco has accepted reform 
of the religious realm, to the extent that the 
Minister of Endowment and Islamic Affairs hired an 
American to bring order to Dar Al Hadith Al 
Hassaniya [the main religious school], and has 
dispatched murshidat [female preachers] to America 
for training, and severed relationships with both 
Iran and Venezuela, and has accepted the involvement 
of USAID in funding an awareness program about 
offering quotas to women in elections.  After all 
this, Obama comes to tell us that the utmost thing 
he could do on the Sahara issue is to wish good luck 
to his envoy, sorry, the U.N. envoy, Christopher 
Ross, in strengthening dialogue between the parties 
...  The letter is thus clear, and there is no need 
to ask Obama for more explanation.  There are some 
people who want the Sahara issue to remain 
permanently pending, to use it as a scarecrow to 
provoke Morocco and get all that Israel wants from 
this exhausted Arab world." 
 
 
"Fourth Estate," commentary in independent daily 
"Akhbar Al Youm" on July 8: 
 
"The Moroccan Foreign Ministry has not responded to 
U.S. President Barak Obama's letter to King Mohammed 
VI, in which he has offered Morocco the initiative 
to lead a new campaign of normalization with Israel, 
to contribute to bringing the Jewish state out of 
its isolation, [but] for what?  For a promise by 
Obama that his administration 'would make efforts 
with other parties in the region to reach a solution 
that responds to the needs of populations concerning 
transparent governance and confidence in a country 
of rule of the law and a fair and organized 
administration.'  Obama thus has announced a change 
in the position that was taken by the former Bush 
administration, which was to support the autonomy 
project as framework for negotiations and find a 
solution to the conflict in the Sahara.  Obama's 
letter did refer to that project, for which Morocco 
has made major concessions  ...  Why hasn't Foreign 
Minister Taeib Fassi Fihri responded to that letter? 
The question remains pending, unanswered." 
 
 
"Cheap Bargain," editorial in Islamist daily 
"Attajdid" on July 6: 
 
"It is not too difficult to smell the bargain 
between normalization with the Zionist Entity and 
the Moroccan Sahara issue, especially given that 
U.S. President Barack Obama's long-awaited letter 
did not deal directly with the Moroccan proposal of 
broad autonomy for the Southern Sahraoui provinces. 
...  What is new in this letter is its frank intent 
to place Morocco in a specific position within the 
U.S. agenda in the region following the Cairo 
speech, and this through calling on Morocco to 'be a 
leader in reconciliation between Arabs and Israel 
...?  The content of Obama's letter has left us with 
only one option, which is to announce our rejection 
of the letter's proposal and stand against it." 
 
JACKSON