UAE REACTION TO SADDAM VERDICT GENERALLY MUTED

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 004234 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM KCRM IZ AE SUBJECT: UAE REACTION TO SADDAM VERDICT GENERALLY MUTED Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Emiratis have been slow to comment on the November 5 announcement of Saddam's verdict and sentencing. One Dutch diplomat summed up his extensive efforts to glean UAE views on the verdict as "justice is justice," with few Emiratis offering explanatory comment. An Emirati academic told PolChief that people here had little reaction to the verdict itself, which was consistent with the actions of Saddam. However, he had heard many people talking about the potential political implications of the trial process and the coincidence of the verdict with U.S. elections (noting that all sides would/could use the verdict to their own political ends). At an evening gathering involving dozens of senior Emirati businessmen and UAE officials on November 7, Ambassador noted that no one brought up either Saddam or the verdict--a further indication of the importance of the issue in the UAE. ¶2. (SBU) The announcement of Saddam's sentencing produced little public reaction in either the Arabic or English press, and no reaction at all by the UAEG. On November 6, although all major dailies carried headlines of Saddam's sentence, only the Arabic-language dailies "Al-Khaleej" and "Al-Bayan" ran editorials on the announcement finding the sentence "not surprising" and "a remarkable station in the history of Iraq," respectively. The "Al-Khaleej" piece went on to note that the strife in Iraq today "is larger than Saddam's destiny," and called for re-unification and a commitment from all sides to place Iraq "on the right track." ¶3. (SBU) On November 7, most dailies reported news of Saddam's defense appeal on the front-page, but the articles were short (less than six inches),and often ran below the fold. Only the English-language "Gulf News" ran an additional Op-Ed piece on the verdict--a harsh criticism of suspected U.S. involvement in the outcome (written by a British journalist.) The UAEG's official Emirates News Agency (WAM) remained completely silent on the announcement with no mention of either Saddam or his trial anyplace on its website. SISON