MEDIA REACTION: NONPROLIFERATION/DEMOCRACY IN THE

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 004239 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; INR/NESA; INR/B; IIP/G/NEA-SA WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE; NSC SECDEF FOR OASD/PA USCINCCENT FOR POLAD LONDON FOR GOLDRICH; PARIS FOR ZEYA LONDON PASS TO MOC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: NONPROLIFERATION/DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST ¶1. SUMMARY: A UAE COLUMNIST WONDERS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF ARABS SUCCEED IN ACQUIRING NUCLEAR WEAPONS. HE NOTES THAT ARAB CAPITALS WOULD HAVE BEEN DESTROYED BY OTHER ARABS IF THEY HAD POSSESSED NUCLEAR WEAPONS. HE CONCLUDES THAT IT IS THE WISDOM OF GOD THAT PLACED NUCLEAR WEAPONS OUT OF THE REACH OF ARABS' HANDS. END SUMMARY. ¶2. Abdullah Rasheed wrote in, Abu Dhabi-Based Arabic Daily "Al Ittihad," 10/3 (circulation 65,000): "The most important question raised regarding the nuclear aspirations of certain countries, namely Iran and North Korea, is not who does not have the right to possess nuclear weapons, but who has the right to possess nuclear weapons? Answering this question would lead us to a number of side questions such as, are there sane nations and insane ones? And what would happen if such a weapon became available to the hands of insane people? Because we, Arabs, are possessed with the conspiracy theory, and we always consider ourselves victims of imperialist, Zionist and Western conspiring, I will focus on the possibility of us, Arabs, acquiring such a dangerous weapon." ¶3. ". The question that I want to ask is, what would happen if an Arab nation, God forbid, possesses a nuclear weapon? I believe the answer is clear. If a Lebanese faction had a nuclear power, that nation would have been wiped from the map forever. And if a Yemeni group possessed a nuclear weapon, Sanna or Aden would have become like Hiroshima or Nagasaki on the 16th of August 1945." ¶4. "HOWEVER, IF SADDAM AND KHOMEINI OR ONE OF THEM HAD NUCLEAR POWER, TWO THIRDS OF IRAQI AND IRANIAN CITIES WOULD HAVE BEEN DESTROYED, AND IF SADDAM SUCCEEDED IN ACQUIRING NUCLEAR POWER FOLLOWING THE DESTRUCTION OF HIS NUCLEAR REACTOR IN THE MID 1980S, ALL GCC CAPITALS WOULD HAVE BEEN BURNED AND DESTROYED..IT IS THE WISDOM OF GOD THAT PLACED NUCLEAR WEAPONS OUT OF REACH OF OUR HANDS." ¶5. Under the headline " What is Rice cooking up?", English daily "Gulf News", 10/3 (circulation 95,000): "Listening to an American secretary of state talk about democracy in the Middle East, considering Washington's record in overthrowing democratically elected regimes, is a touch nauseating, especially when set against a background of thinly- veiled hints of action against Iran and Syria that come almost daily from some American official. Washington in 2003 was not looking for a reason to go to war, it was looking for an excuse. What is Rice looking for now? More military action in the region, coupling democracy with an air strike on some Iraqi town or Gaza?" QUINN QUINN