KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - ZARQAWI'S DEATH AND THE LESSONS

UNCLAS KUWAIT 002238 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 KPAO PREL PTER PGOV KU TERRORISM SUBJECT: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - ZARQAWI'S DEATH AND THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM IT, AND HAMAS Block Quotes -------------- Monday, June 12, 2006 -- Lawyer Aziza Al-Mifrij remarked in the moderate Arabic-language daily Al-Watan under the title "Dot Net" (6/12): "The most wonderful news this week is the death of the terrorist Al-Zarqawi who terrorized families in Iraq and Jordan. He had no mercy for any age group or gender. For him, the most important thing was that they bleed. And here is god's justice catching up with him. No one coerced him to go to Iraq and murder god's creatures and consider such things to be Jihad. What would have been better for him was to study and remain in school to become an educated citizen to the benefit of his country." -- Academic and writer Dr. Jalal Mohamed Al-Raseid commented under in the moderate Arabic-language daily Al-Rai Al-Aam under the title "A Political and Intelligence Success" (6/12): "The huge political success that is embodied in the formation of an Iraqi national unity government after the rotten sectarian violence began to bear fruits inside Iraq and on the regional intelligence and political levels.... Neighboring countries, with few exceptions, did not like this democratic transition in Iraq because they fears the 'export of the democratic revolution.' These countries used the excuse of their differences with Iraq to fight it with...money. It seems that the shock received by the Jordanian government once Zarqawi's fire reached it caused it to reconsider its policy toward Iraq and make the wise decision of cooperating and providing the intelligence that was key to locating the Jordanian fugitive." -- Dr. Abdul Mohsen Yousef Jamal penned in the progressive Arabic-language daily Al-Qabas under the title "The Murderer Shall Be Murdered" (6/12): "Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi's death was the natural outcome to a person who immersed himself in Muslim blood and caused destruction around the Earth.... The demise of Zarqawi and those who were with him should be a lesson for others to avoid the innocent and not attack them. It should also be a call to all Iraqis to enter into the peaceful process of security in Iraq and the rule of law. This is the only way to have the occupying forces withdraw, if that is their real goal and not the murder of the innocent." -- Editor-in-Chief of the pro-government daily Al-Seyassah questioned on the front page under the title "HAMAS is a Terrorist Movement" (6/12): "How do the Palestinians hope to progress in life, have a sovereign state and live in peace with their neighbors when their HAMAS government condoles the death of Zarqawi and labels him a martyr and a loss to the nation? How can they dream of winning a spec of rights when HAMAS does not agree with international standards, is unqualified as a result of its ideology to co-exist with other Palestinian political factions such as Fatah? How can the Palestinians envision a national unity when HAMAS adheres to elimination ideologies?" ********************************************* * 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