Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ABUDHABI3165
2006-08-05 10:50:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: CRISIS IN LEBANON

Tags:  OIIP KMDR TC 
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Diana T Fritz 08/26/2006 04:48:39 PM From DB/Inbox: Search Results

Cable 
Text: 
 
 
UNCLAS ABU DHABI 03165

SIPDIS
CXABU:
 ACTION: PAO
 INFO: AMB DCM ECON POL

DISSEMINATION: PAO
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: PAO:WROBERTSON
DRAFTED: PAO:SANDERSON
CLEARED: PAO:THAMDI

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OO RUEHC RUENAAA RUEKJCS RUEHZM RUEHLO RHRMDAB
RHWSMRC
DE RUEHAD #3165/01 2171050
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 051050Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6455
RUENAAA/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1082
RHRMDAB/COMUSNAVCENT
RHWSMRC/MCF01 SACCS USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 003165 

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
PITRANSGRESS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC
SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: CRISIS IN LEBANON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 003165

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
PITRANSGRESS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC
SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: CRISIS IN LEBANON


1. Summary: The bombing in Al Qaa dominated UAE media coverage.
Headlines emphasized the human cost and moral implications of the
tragedy, while several papers featured graphic multi-page photo
spreads of the aftermath of the attack. One editorial in "Akhbar
Al-Arab" applauded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's support for
the Lebanese, while two editorials in "Al-Bayan" continued to
question American and Israeli intentions in this conflict and accuse
both parties of moral turpitude. End Summary.


2. The front pages of both Arabic and English-language periodicals
focused on the most recent incident in Al Qaa. The headline of the
Arabic-language daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000) read "Day of
destruction and massacre: Al Qaa joins Qana and her sisters," while
the headline for the Arabic-language "Al-Bayan" (circulation 85,000)
read "The insanity of Israeli failure: roving massacres kill one
hundred Syrian and Lebanese civilians." The prominent
English-language "Gulf News" (circulation 95,000) had a headline
that read "Israel commits another terrorist massacre." Both
Arabic-language papers dedicated several interior pages to photos of
the aftermath of the Al Qaa attack, heavily featuring photos of
wounded survivors and fatalities.


3. Under the headline "Chavez is more Arab than the Arabs
themselves!", columnist Dr. Omar Abdel-Aziz wrote the following in
an 08/05 editorial in the Abu Dhabi-based Arabic-language daily
"Akhbar Al-Arab" (circulation 20,000):

"Venezuelan President Chavez has dared to do something that Arab
countries, who continue to maintain their diplomatic and commercial
relations with the Zionist entity, have not. Chavez has decided to
withdraw his country's Ambassador from Tel Aviv, in protest of the
criminal military operation that the Zionist entity is conducting on
behalf of American imperialism... It is truly saddening to watch
Arabs strive to satisfy the Yankees in Washington. It is moral and
ethical suicide... Bush's brutal right-wing administration would
have thought twice before supporting its stepdaughter Israel if it
had felt even the slightest Arab public reaction in the form of a
voluntary boycott of American goods... Chavez has acted on behalf of

the Arabs and the Lebanese people while we remain silent. Just how
many pretexts are now left?"


4. Under the headline "When killers fail to kill", columnist Mamdouh
Taha wrote the following in a 08/05 editorial in the Dubai-based
Arabic-language daily "Al-Bayan" (circulation 85,000):

"In contrast to dirty wars, clean wars involve only military targets
as laid out in international treaties and law. Dirty armies perform
criminal acts and abandon their honor and morals... Israel has not
learned from the stupidity of its military planners and from the
short-sighted policies of those in Washington that protect her...
Israel is once again waging a dirty war on the Palestinian and
Lebanese people. This war is more outrageous than the crimes of the
Nazis and the fascists... In this war, Israel has lost its honor and
gone morally bankrupt, and confirms its own tendencies towards
terrorism... Israel's stupidity and the short-sightedness of
American policy have helped turn this terrorist madness towards
unexpected results. Today, the resistance is celebrated, while the
aggressors are in disgrace."


5. Under the headline "Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon...the death
triangle", Kuwaiti columnist Dr. Abdulmalik Al-Tamimi wrote the
following in his weekly editorial on 08/05 in the Dubai-based
Arabic-language daily "Al-Bayan" (circulation 85,000):

"Palestine has been occupied and its people killed for sixty years
under Zionist occupation, with support from the United States and
the West in general. History demonstrates that those Palestinians
seeking a so-called peace with the enemy are actually running after
a mirage. Iraq, which was run by a dictatorship for three decades,
has had its military forces, national heritage and potential for the
future destroyed. The hands of Americans and others have played
with Iraq's unity and now there is a new kind of dictatorship there,
ruled by armed militias that focus more on power than
reconstruction, unity, stability and the return of the displaced.
Iraq continues to live in an undeclared civil war... Lebanon, which
went through several civil wars and external aggressions, had been
the face of freedom and democracy in the region in spite of its
diversity... [but] it was not left alone to grow. Instead its
internal wars were followed by external aggression, particularly the
most recent war by Israel which has decimated its infrastructure,
killed innocent people and destroyed the economy. What we are
seeing is an American-Israeli plot for what they call the new Middle
East. A new map is being drawn for the region, and the sectarian
division of several major countries is being prepared. The
American-Israeli plan is to have very small countries in the Middle
East, to destroy the fronts of resistance under of a war on
terrorism, to kill the Palestinian cause, to destroy the anti-Israel
and anti-American states, to impose complete obedience to the U.S.,
and ultimately to control the region's oil. After all this, Israel
will be the greatest power in the Middle East and will dominate its
land, sea and petroleum."

QUINN