VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRH #0067/01 0111604
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 111604Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2293
INFO RUEHZM/GCC COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS RIYADH 000067 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/PPD-MRATNEY, EPELTON 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP- JHARRIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO OEXC SCUL SA
SUBJECT: Saudi Public Reaction to New TSA Initiatives 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Saudi public and media reaction to the new TSA 
requirements has been overwhelmingly negative, with the tenor of 
commentary ranging from rhetorical assertions that the Kingdom is 
being punished for its "position against Israel" to practical 
concerns by workaday Saudis of the health effects of imaging 
technology, and whether Muslim women will be viewed naked by foreign 
technicians.  Senior editors have also told PAS officers that the 
issue is being successfully exploited by conservative religious 
elements as an indication of U.S. perfidy vis-a-vis Saudi Arabia and 
Muslims. 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY CONT: While we see evidence of the SAG pushing back 
through the Saudi media to minimize or contain the damage accruing 
to the new policy, our contacts suggest that local public opinion 
favors the conservative interpretation.  We also note that the lack 
of detail in our press guidance-including our inability to publicly 
confirm whether Saudi Arabia is on the new TSA list and very basic 
information on the new explosive delivery system that has 
necessitated enhanced screening measures-hamstrings our media 
outreach and makes the embassy the source of last resort for 
information on the new policy.  END SUMMARY. 
¶3. The international media reports that passengers from Saudi 
Arabia, Pakistan and other "countries of interest" traveling to the 
U.S. on commercial air carriers elicited an avalanche of 
overwhelmingly negative reportage and commentary in Saudi Arabia, 
not least because the SAG was clearly caught flat-footed on the new 
policy.  All local papers on January 7 quoted the Saudi Foreign 
Ministry spokesman as saying that the SAG is "seeking further 
explanation from Washington" on the new policy, thereby engendering 
(unpublished) commentary that the vaunted cooperation between 
Washington and Riyadh on counter-terrorism measures was only 
rhetorical in nature, and that Saudi Arabia, at the end of the day, 
remained an object of profound suspicion in the eyes of the U.S. 
//Rhetorical Outrage// 
 
¶4. A sampling of some of the initial responses to wire service 
reports included that of an academic researcher who was quoted in 
liberal daily "Al Watan" (01/05) as saying that the inclusion of 
Saudi Arabia was "political blackmail resulting from the Kingdom's 
position against Israel... there is nothing new since the 9/11 
attacks. Personal inspections, difficulties in obtaining visas, even 
after interviews that have included the elderly and disabled in 
wheelchairs--the list goes on."  The same day the liberal Saudi 
website Al-Tomaar--often the counterpoint to conservative Islamist 
thinking on the internet--asserted that the SAG should impose 
reciprocal requirements on U.S. citizens coming into Saudi Arabia, 
while international Saudi-owned Arabic daily "Al-Hayat" January 6 
that chairman of the Saudi Export Development Center Abdulrahman 
Al-Zamil as saying that any obstacles placed on Saudi passengers 
would affect the growing tourism and trade business between the two 
countries, and predicting that Saudi companies will not send their 
representatives to the USA "easily, which will result in the country 
obtaining products from other countries: an assertion widely 
repeated in other local media. "Arab News" editorialized on January 
5 that "Muslims are once again being stigmatized and penalized 
because they are being associated with terror and terrorism. If the 
Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmuttab was a blue-eyed renegade belonging 
to a fringe Bible-belt sect, western reaction would have been 
different." 
 
//Looking on the Bright Side of a Slap// 
 
¶5. (SBU)  There have been a couple of somewhat positive reports in 
Al Watan and the Saudi Gazette, which PAS media contacts have said 
reflect the SAG's effort to minimize the public outrage and the 
pervasive sense among Saudis that the USG has shown scant respect to 
King Abdullah on this issue.  Leading, pro-reform "Al Watan" on 
January 9 reported on its front-page that Saudi passengers landing 
the day before in Dallas experienced no unusual security checks or 
delays.  The Saudi Gazette on January 5 carried an opinion piece by 
prominent female Saudi writer Sabria Jawhar (whose veiled visage 
regularly appears alongside her commentary in the paper) in which 
she asserts that the new requirements, while onerous and 
discriminatory in nature, do have the benefit of protecting the 
lives of people on board commercial aircraft.  Jawhar goes on to 
blame the "idiots" of al-Qaeda as the cause of these and other 
affronts to Muslims worldwide.   We expect more such pieces that 
seek to contextualize the new USG policy in the coming days, as the 
government and its allies try to counter negative portrayals of the 
U.S.-Saudi relationship by conservative religious groups in Saudi 
Arabia. 
// Sinking In// 
 
¶6. While the rhetorical outrage in response to the new TSA rules 
will continue, local concerns are beginning to focus on the 
practical implications of "enhanced screening."  Public health 
concerns over the radiation emitted by body scan technology has 
appeared in "Al Watan", "Al Iktisaadia" and " Al Hayat," while 
religious injunctions against viewing of the naked human form have 
also been a feature of much public angst.  On this latter point, 
conservative "Al Medina" commented on January 9 that "the U.S. 
administration is still trying, after the events of September 11, to 
launch immoral technology scanners that can reveal a very accurate 
scan of the human body. Passengers are automatically searched for 
the detection of explosives carried on the body or in the folds of 
their clothing. This is despite all reservations, ethical and health 
concerns, humiliation and shame." 
//What We're Hearing// 
 
¶7. Our contacts continue to reinforce the perspectives put forward 
by their media.  At a retreat held outside Riyadh on January 8, 
female contacts of various ages and backgrounds told PD officers 
January 8 of their resentment of being "lumped together" with Yemen, 
Sudan, Pakistan and other states on the TSA list with whom they feel 
little affinity.  A senior Saudi editor told PAO today that he was 
cancelling a scheduled trip to the U.S. in March, and was 
considering cancelling a speaking engagement at USC in April. 
Another told us that conservative elements in the country were 
seizing on the issue in an effort to build resentment against the 
U.S.  Our local staff reports that their conversations with ordinary 
Saudis reveal genuine resentment over the new policy, and that 
heated local media commentary is affecting public attitudes over the 
new policy.  All contacts report that the USG can expect "payback" 
from official Saudi quarters show the SAG's pique at the 
presentation and perceived lack of consultation on this policy. 
 
¶8. Comment:  International media reports, and not the USG, are 
driving the public discussion of the new TSA policy.  We urgently 
need to be let off the leash and present a detailed case to the 
Saudi public that goes beyond the Washington guidance we currently 
have.  Elements should include some characterization of the 
explosive device used on the Christmas Day airline attack (the 
nature of which has been widely reported in local and international 
media) and a public recognition that Saudi Arabia is indeed on the 
list.  The opaque and hesitant nature of the current guidance makes 
the U.S. look unforthcoming, and is having a significant negative 
impact on our interests here.  End Summary. 
 
SMITH