MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ'S SECTARIAN VIOLENCE

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 002874 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 TC SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ'S SECTARIAN VIOLENCE ¶1. Summary: An Emirati columnist in "Al-Ittihad" stressed the importance of having the Arab League involved in efforts to resolve the sectarian violence in Iraq. Another editorial in "Al-Khaleej" warned against the division of Iraq in light of the current sectarian and ethnic violence. End Summary. ¶2. Emirati columnist Mohammed Al Hammadi wrote the following in an 07/12 editorial in the Abu Dhabi-based Arabic daily "Al-Ittihad" (circulation 65,000): "The current situation in Iraq demands swift action, as what is happening now is distinctly headed towards a sectarian civil war. Even if this war is still in its early stages, it has the potential to impact even the Gulf countries. We are not concerned about the occupation, because all great nations will eventually expel and defeat their occupiers. Instead, we are afraid of what will happen when the various factions in Iraq stop being able to live together... Today we still see the Arab League watching silently as Iraqis kill each other... Everyone is killing everyone, without mercy. The League must act now before it is too late... It is not in the interest of surrounding countries to have the situation in Iraq escalate, especially now that it is clear that a sectarian fire is burning and being fueled by international forces... We can feel the strife in Iraq hitting us even here in the Gulf, though we may not realize it. Through it we can realize just how terrible whatever might follow Iraq's destruction will be. Why then continue to play the silent spectator? Once Shi'a and Sunni stood united, now they are sundered. Their hatred is growing, and could reach dangerous levels in both camps. This development highlights problems in Iraq, but also points towards dangerous shifts in the broader relationship between Shi'a and Sunni. This change is definitely negative, and demands a response from the Arab League before the whole region goes up in flames." ¶3. Under the headline "The shortest path to division," the Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000) published the following in an 07/12 unsigned editorial: "Iraq's violence, whether sectarian or ethnic, is the fastest imaginable route towards a divided Iraq, the best outcome possible for the occupation forces, despite the bloodshed and chaos it entails... The occupation forces are the only ones who benefit from this strife, and they manipulate both local and imported insurgents as tools towards their own ends. These Iraqis have been saved from oppression only to fall victim to their rescuers' own self-interested plans, costing an independent Iraq greatly even if they had hoped to profit at their country's expense only temporarily." SISON