KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION: GUANTANAMO DETAINEES RELEASE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 004713

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR, I/GNEA,
B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN
USAID/ANE/MEA
LONDON FOR POL
PARIS FOR POL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KPAO IZ KMDR KU

SUBJECT: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION: GUANTANAMO DETAINEES RELEASE

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Summary
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1. Kuwaiti Arabic language press celebrated the return of
the five detained at the Guantanamo Bay facility. They were
glorified as returning heroes with their names, photos, and
biographical information occupying considerable space on
front pages of the five major dailies. Only one writer took
a critical position regarding their return, based on
security concerns. As the coverage continued, the
newspapers took a sympathetic tone, publishing testimony of
their relatives to the visible physical abuse they suffered
while at Guantanamo Bay. Photos of the aircraft that
transported the detainees to Kuwait and the ambulances that
transported them from the airport to the military hospital
were also displayed. End summary.

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Selected Headlines
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2. Friday, November 4, 2005

-- Al-Rai Al-Aam front page "Kuwait receives the five
detainees from America"

-- Al-Qabas front page, continued on p. 3, with photos of
the five "Kuwait receives five Guantanamo detainees"

-- Al-Qabas p. 3 "Al-Oada: Al-Shimmary is a skeleton and Al-
Ajmi is suffering a nervous breakdown"

-- Al-Seyassah front page, continued on p. 28, "Kuwait
received five of its Guantanamo detainees"


3. Saturday, November 5, 2005

-- Al-Watan front page "The detainees' families visited them
twice, today is the third, and their release is unlikely"

-- Al-Watan p. 3 including photos and biographical
information "Security sources reaffirm: No release for the
Guantanamo returnees"

-- Al-Seyassah front page, continued on p. 32, "Guantanamo
returnees in court in four days"

-- Al-Rai Al-Aam front page, continued on p. 24, "Guantanamo
returnees at the military hospital and releasing the
remaining six is on the front burner"

-- Al-Qabas front page, continued on p. 3, "Guantanamo
returnees: the interrogation focused on their reasons for
going to Afghanistan and their relationship with Al-Qaeda"

-- Al-Anbaa front page "National Security interrogates
Guantanamo returnees before transferring them to the Public
Prosecutor"


4. Monday, November 7, 2005

-- Al-Qabas p. 3 "Health of Guantanamo returnees improves
and they will leave hospital in two days"

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Block Quotes
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5. Saturday, November 5, 2005

-- Dr. Ayed Al-Manaa wrote for the moderate daily Al-Watan
under the title "Congratulations to the five and hopefully
the rest will follow": "There is no doubt that the Kuwaiti
government and more specifically the Foreign Ministry
exerted a massive amount of effort to convince the American
administration to release the Kuwaiti citizens detained at
Guantanamo. The Kuwaiti citizens that have been released
lost years of their lives solely because of suspicions of
terrorism without being charged with any crime. This same

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inhumane situation is still imposed on the remaining six as
well as dozens of others captured during and after the
American war against the Taliban regime. How could it that
the political leadership of the leader of the free world and
the foremost defender of human rights allows its employees
to conduct themselves in a manner contrary to human rights
and their dignity?"

-- Under the title "Time bombs and a lost budget" Nabil Al-
Fadl also wrote for moderate Al-Watan "Two emotions overcome
us as we read about the arrival of the Kuwaiti detainees at
Guantanamo, although it is wrong to call them Kuwaiti
detainees as Kuwait did not send them to partake in the
Taliban's dirty war. The first emotion is that of
uncontrollable joy as in the hearts of mothers and fathers
receiving their sons after four years. The second emotion,
however, is the rational fear of their return. They are
time bombs that will someday detonate in our yards. In the
past, some have been charged on more than one occasion with
terrorist charges. I beg the pardon of their mothers and
fathers but my love for this country and its security and
stability is greater than theirs for their sons and greater
than that for my own sons."


6. Monday, November 7, 2005

-- Dr. Ahmed Al-Rabie wrote "The Gulf Afghanis have arrived"
for moderate Al-Qabas: "The arrival of the Gulf Afghans to
their respective countries has begun. They are mostly
young, tired, and sick, some are guilty and some are
innocent but that is not the issue worth discussing. The
issue deserving of the investigators' time and efforts is
that of who brainwashed these youths and snatched them from
their mothers to caves in Tora Bora and onto Guantanamo Bay?
What kind of hellish organization exists and functions in
our mosques, schools, and summer camps?"

-- Musaid Adel Al-Zfairy wrote for moderate Al-Watan under
the title "Human rights, a big American illusion": "The five
detainees arrived from Guantanamo Bay where they were held
under the threat of force and cowboy laws. We pose a
question to the liberals and their like obsessed with
American culture maybe they would be of help to us, if they
believe in holding America accountable. American with its
swagger and arrogance increases its enemies and molds them
into revenge projects and hostility programs against it and
its citizenry. What concerns us most are those Americanized
amongst us. who no longer have any dignity or hold anything
holy. They are nothing more than mouthpieces repeating
American slogans for human rights."

-- Dr. Ayed Al-Manaa also wrote for moderate Al-Watan under
the title "Give those released from Guantanamo a chance at
life": "Although the five detainees released from Guantanamo
Bay into Kuwaiti custody are happy with their current
situation compared to the intolerable inhumane conditions
they lived in for the last four years. There is no reason
why they should continue to be held by Kuwaiti authorities
or tried, as they will not receive any new information that
they did not previously know about them prior to their
release."

LEBARON