MEDIA REACTION: ANNIVERSARY OF SEPT 11

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 003620 SIPDIS 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: ANNIVERSARY OF SEPT 11 ¶1. Summary: A UAE female columnist in "Al-Ittihad" highlights that America, instead of eradicating the reasons for hate and terror, have created new reasons for hate, anger and terror in the region. A UAE columnist in "Al-Ittihad" commented on the moment of silence which Bush and the world took this year for 9/11 victims saying that the world has been silent for five years, not talking about the acts of George Bush and his administration which insists on changing and punishing the world. End Summary. ¶2. Under the headline "September events.. A moment of silence or five years of silence?", a UAE columnist, Mohammed Al-Hammadi, wrote in his weekly column in the Abu Dhabi-based semi-official Arabic-language daily "Al-Ittihad" on 09/11 (circulation 65,000): "People in world capitals observed a moment of silence to mark the painful memories of the 9/11 attacks on the WTC in NY. This was evident, but the truth is that it was not just a moment of silence. The world has been silent for five years. The world is not talking about the acts of George Bush and his administration which insisted on changing the world and punishing it -- not just the Muslim world, but the whole world. Five years after that crime, it is clear that terror does not threaten the U.S. only. A few days ago, Jordan arrested an armed man who killed and injured a number of tourists. In Denmark, a terrorist plot was thwarted. Plots to bomb airplanes in the U.K. were thwarted. Germany is investigating a plot to bomb trains. Large groups of terrorists were arrested in Morocco... The U.S. is not the only victim of terror. The last five years have confirmed this and that all states are targets of terror... The responsibility to confront it is not on the U.S. only, but on the whole world, even though the U.S. is the main reason to for terrorists... Five years later, President Bush is finally convinced that the world is not safer after his war on terror and the occupation of Iraq. The Americans and their allies have failed to destroy Al-Qaeda and arrest Bin Laden. Thus, Bin Laden's organization has become stronger because it survived the past five years... What would happen if the U.S. had a more just position on Palestine? What if it accepted the Arabs as partners in securing peace, not as threats? What if it considered Gulf oil as something they could get without creating instabilities, waging wars, and instigating terrorists? ...So many things could have changed in favor of the U.S., the Arabs, Muslims, and the whole world, and not in the interest of terrorists." ¶3. Under the headline "11 September.. A Moment of Silence", a UAE female columnist, Aisha Al-Merri, wrote in her weekly column in the Abu Dhabi-based semi-official Arabic-language daily "Al-Ittihad" on 09/11 (circulation 65,000): "Yes the world did pause for a moment, but not only to mourn for the U.S. victims, but to also mourn the humanitarian principles which were violated and are still being violated in the name of combating terror. Many democracies legitimized violating human rights... Terrorism has succeeded in changing the features of Western countries, and introduced vocabularies that were not known by people before like Islamophobia. Every Arab Muslim in the Middle East is automatically convicted if he lacks an alibi. The question that needs to be answered: "Is the world a safer place than it was on 9/11 in 2001? After five years, we can only say that Washington has failed militarily, intellectually and security-wise, because the U.S. administration is still chasing terror's ghost in vain... Iraq embodies the greatest U.S. losses, despite the fact that Saddam was captured, because of the sectarian bloodshed... Let's have a moment of silence to mourn a historical moment which changed the world, but did not change the infrastructure on which the U.S. administration built its policies in the region, because instead of eradicating the reasons of hate and terror, the U.S. policies worked towards generating new reasons for hate, anger and terror in the region that could lead to another 9/11." SISON