KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - ZARQAWI, MAN OR MYTH?

UNCLAS KUWAIT 002220 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, NEA/PI, INR/NESA, R/MR, I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN LONDON FOR TSOU PARIS FOR ZEYA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR PTER PREL IZ KU TERRORISM SUBJECT: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - ZARQAWI, MAN OR MYTH? Block Quotes -------------- Sunday, June 11, 2006 -- Hasan Al-Issa editorialized in the progressive Arabic daily under the title "Dry Their Ideological Wells" (6/10): "Zarqawi is dead and may his soul go to hell, but what of the thousands of Zarqawis in our Arab-Islamic world walking our streets, holding official positions, and issuing Fatwas about everything even the fundamentals of rule and the characteristics of the ruler? What of those ideological fleas who have hijacked the state and society through their unwritten alliance between them and Arab regimes in the past? What do we do with them? Is an American bomb weighing 250 kilograms dropped on their heads enough?.... There is no other way to combat Zarqawism than to dry up their terrorist wells. The education curriculum should be the starting point. Next, we should pursue the books sold and distributed for free throughout our Gulf entities under thousands of slogans." -- Mohamed Yousef Al-Mulaifi stated in the pro-government Arabic daily under the title "In the Lion's Death a Scandal for the American Rabbits" (6/11): "Despite our agreement or disagreement with the Jihadist orientation taken by Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi in occupied Iraq, his killing revealed to the world how cowardly and scared Americans are in Iraq. Their spokesman went on television screens before the world and reported how they killed Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi and how they lack courage. After they were sure that the field commander Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi was sitting with a group of his fiends that can be counted on one hand, the Americans did not surround the place. They did not storm the location. They did not even fire missiles from the ground at the location. They were so scared that they sent two aircraft to bomb the house. What a wonder! Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi's power and the fear he struck in American hearts was so great that they could not face him with all of their land forces, which they mistakenly call the 'Marines.' Because they realized that they are up against one man who is worth 2,000 of them, they only could resort to aircraft to get at this lion's body." -- On the same page of pro-government Arabic daily Al-Seyassah Mahmoud Karam commented under the title "The Sad Zarqawis" (6/11): "I don't know how our Arab brothers saddened by Zarqawi's death will act. Some strong believers in conspiracy theories believe that he was only an American myth that did not really exist. Now, they are in a real bind as they search for explanations to present to their audiences who also love conspiracy theories. Other Arab brothers who long for the failure of democracy in Iraq and wait for their sick prophecies to be fulfilled when Zarqawi and other terrorists achieve their failed dream now suffer severe psychological problems. Terrorism in Iraq is now being fought with American and Iraqi determination.... None who mourn Zarqawi's death want to understand that just as the justice of history eliminated Saddam, it came through again to eliminate Zarqawi." ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * TUELLER