Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ABUDHABI2240
2006-05-31 13:19:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION: ARABS AND U.S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

Tags:  OIIP KMDR AE KPAO TC 
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UNCLAS ABU DHABI 002240 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; INR/NESA;
INR/B; RRU-NEA
IIP/G/NEA-SA
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE; NSC
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
USCINCCENT FOR POLAD
LONDON FOR MCKUNE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR AE KPAO TC
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: ARABS AND U.S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 002240

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; INR/NESA;
INR/B; RRU-NEA
IIP/G/NEA-SA
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE; NSC
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
USCINCCENT FOR POLAD
LONDON FOR MCKUNE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR AE KPAO TC
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: ARABS AND U.S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY


1. SUMMARY: An Egyptian columnist in "Akhbar Al-Arab"
concludes that America's efforts to win the minds and hearts of
the Arabs has failed. A UAE female professor in "Al-Bayan"
wonders whether U.S. public diplomacy efforts will succeed in
light of the decades of hostile policies, misery and bad
treatment from America. End summary.


2. Under the headline "America has lost its war for the hearts
and minds!", an Egyptian columnist, Mahmoud Ahmed, wrote a 5/30
op-ed in Abu Dhabi-based pan-Arab daily "Akhbar Al-Arab"
(circulation 20,000):

"...Since the inception of the war on terror waged by the United
States... specialists in the U.S. administration have worked to
win the battle for hearts and minds... The U.S. administration
admitted the fact that it is losing this battle through Donald
Rumsfeld on Feb 17 when he said that the United States is losing
its war of propaganda against Al Qaeda and other enemies...
BBC's correspondent "Paul Wood" reported in his coverage on the
war in Iraq. He said that one day he was accompanying an
American convoy assigned to contact some Iraqi families in Mosul
in a mission to win their hearts after an incident where their
sons were arrested by the U.S. forces. These forces were to
visit the mothers and give their children footballs. One soldier
held a clear plastic sack of bright silver footballs. While the
children got excited, the mothers said they were against Saddam
and plead with the Americans soldiers to release her sons. After
the visit ended, the American soldiers left the house. Some
children started running after the soldiers' vehicle; one of them
threw stones at them. Some Iraqi Security officers came to help
and chased those children; the children who until a few seconds
ago had been waving and smiling now fled in terror. The BBC
correspondent concluded that such incidents are an indication of
how the mood can change in a second. Though this is only one
story, it shows how the Americans have lost the battle for hearts
and minds."


3. Under headline "Can public diplomacy rectify what U.S.
policy has ruined?", a UAE professor, Nisreen Murad, wrote 5/30
op-ed in Dubai-based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation
90,000):

"... American foreign policies are no less horrible towards Arab
countries than to Palestine, whether friendly or unfriendly. The
American armada besieged Iraq for more than 12 years. Sanctions
caused the deaths of more than one and a half million Iraqis,
mostly children, old people, women and the unborn. The policies
of the United States follow the same approach of blatantly
interfering in the affairs of Somalia, Syria, Libya, Yemen,
Algeria and other countries. Its efforts seem focused towards
containing the Arab world as if it were a vacuum that needs to be
inflated with cultural and materialistic things that do not
fulfill the need for independence and freedom. Currently, the
Bush administration is waging a public diplomacy propaganda
effort seeking to polish the face of U.S. foreign affairs. The
American administration, in this direction, released a small
booklet containing instructions to normal Americans guiding them
on how to act when they meet with Arabs. The booklet advises
Americans to smile a lot, listen, be positive and give advise, be
patient and cooperative. In closing, they should warmly say
goodbye hoping to see the Arab again. However against the misery
and bad treatment Arabs get from Americans at sea, land and
airports in addition to the many Arab lives taken away, can
public diplomacy do any good in the face of villainous U.S.
policies?"


SISON