SUPPORT FOR IRAQI RESISTANCE; PRAISE FOR IRANIAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 005009

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KPAO EG
SUBJECT: SUPPORT FOR IRAQI RESISTANCE; PRAISE FOR IRANIAN
ELECTIONS; UNUSUAL SELF-CRITICISM: EGYPTIAN MEDIA THEMES,
JUNE 27 TO JULY 3



1. Summary: Reacting to the President's speech at Fort
Bragg, Egyptian newspapers criticized U.S. policy in Iraq
and accused the U.S. of falsely portraying the situation
there. One editorial said resistance was the only reaction
to the U.S. imperialist march. The Iranian elections
provided much fodder for analysis and comparison. Most
columnists agreed that Ahmadinejad's win in Iran was a
result of his popular appeal among the poor of Iran, while
others compared Iranian elections to the upcoming Egyptian
elections. Coverage of domestic demonstrations increased
over the week, including almost daily announcements of
dates, times, and locations of upcoming demonstrations.
Coverage of the Ayman Nour trial was moderate. And in an
unusual occurrence, a columnist in the pro-government Al
Ahram criticized illegal imprisonment and torture in Egypt.
End summary.


2. Resistance to the U.S. in Iraq a must?: On the popular
Channel 2 program (06/29),Al Beit Beitik, Independent
media mogul Emad Adeeb described the U.S. policy of
encouraging democratic reform in the Middle East as
"constructive chaos." A June 27 editorial in opposition Al
Wafd (circulation: 90,000) by Bahaa El Dine Abu Shouka
accused the U.S. of selling an illusion of democracy in
Iraq, but that the reality was far more volatile. In the
same issue, Hamdi El Shamy, called the U.S. strategy in
Iraq "brutal" and said resistance is the only means to stop
this "imperialist" march.


3. Praise for Iranian elections: The Iranian elections
provided much fodder for analysis and comparison. Most
columnists agreed that Ahmadinejad's win in Iran was a
result of his popular appeal among the poor of Iran. Al
Ahram Board Chairman Ibrahim Nafei(June 27) and Islamist
Fahmy Howeidy (June 30) both wrote in Al Ahram that the
U.S. attitude toward Iran and "aggressive" U.S. attempts to
plant democratic regimes in the region influenced the
voting of Iranians. Several papers also criticized U.S.
statements that the Iran elections were not democratic.


4. On July 1, Mohamed Mohammadein wrote in Al Akhbar that
the U.S. claims that the Iranian elections were
undemocratic was unfair and argued that the U.S. concept of
democracy and freedom is limited to what the U.S. deems
appropriate for its interests, including electing pro-
American leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan. The June 30
edition of Al Wafd carried a cartoon portraying Uncle Sam
commenting on the Iranian election: "This is a
dictatorship. We're supposed to be the ones who do the
selecting!"


5. Several commentators compared the Iranian elections to
the upcoming Egyptian elections. In the June 30 edition of
Al Ahram, Independent Salama Ahmad Salama criticized the
new Egyptian political rights laws, comparing the
participation and freedom in Lebanese and Iranian elections
to Egypt, hoping that the latter could experience the same
openness. In independent Al Masry Al Youm (circulation:
20,000) on June 27, columnist Magdy Mehanna wrote that the
victory of Ahmadinejad is a "political tsunami," and asked
if a similar tsunami could happen in Egypt. He concluded
this was probably not possible, particularly since NDP was
taking steps to prevent it, such as influencing words of
clerics. Several unsigned editorials believed the regime
change in Iran would favorably affect that country's
relations with the Arab world. However, on July 2, the
Channel One television program "Wara El Ahdath" suggested
Iranian reformers consider the election results a
"disaster."


6. Demonstration alerts and increased coverage: Almost
every day throughout the week, Egyptian dailies and pan-
Arab papers reported on the dates, times, and locations of
upcoming political demonstrations, of which there were more
than half a dozen. Coverage of these demonstrations was
prominent in many Egyptian dailies, including an
unprecedented Egyptian TV piece on a peaceful demonstration
on June 26 in front of the State Security building that
called for an end to torture of political prisoners and the
release of Muslim Brotherhood detainees, as well as the
resignation of the Interior Minister. The lack of police
presence during an earlier Kefaya demonstration in the
Shubra neighborhood of Cairo was noted in several
newspapers, including the pan-Arab Al Sharq Al Awsat.
However, Farida Al Naqqash noted in the June 29 opposition
Al Ahaly that while the Shubra demonstration went
unharrassed, a second demonstration in the Lazoughly
neighborhood on the same day faced a heavy police cordon.


7. Ayman Nour trial: All Egyptian dailies reported on the
June 28 and June 30 court appearances of Al Ghad party
chairman Ayman Nour and his co-defendants, though the
amount of coverage varied depending on the paper's
political affiliation. On June 29, independent Ahmed Ragad
wrote in pro-government Al Akhbar that he believes the
Egyptian government has made a hero of Ayman Nour by
putting him on trial. He recommended that the government
drop the charges and cut Nour back down to size.


8. Criticism of Torture: In an unusual bit of criticism in
a pro-government newspaper, liberal columnist Salama Ahmed
Salama wrote in Al Ahram on July 3 that Egypt should have
"an honest and frank discussion of the issue of detention
and torture" of Egyptians imprisoned without a trial. He
admitted that he felt hypocritical criticizing abuses at
Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, but remaining silent on the
circumstances in Egyptian prisons. Salama noted that in
the U.S. suspects are arrested and held for questioning,
but are released if no charges are filed. This is not the
case in Egypt, he said. He also noted that many Americans
have called for closing Guantanamo as it has blemished the
American image abroad, but that there are no such calls
from Egyptians to close detention centers in Egypt where
thousands are held without court hearings.

CORBIN