KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - AFTERMATH OF ZARQAWI'S DEMISE

UNCLAS KUWAIT 002302 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 KDEM PGOV IZ KU TERRORISM SUBJECT: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - AFTERMATH OF ZARQAWI'S DEMISE Block Quotes -------------- Thursday, June 15, 2006 -- Mohamed Bin Ibrahim Al-Shibany commented in the progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas under the title "Al-Zarqawi Film" (6/15): "If Hollywood's directors work for years to produce a film which costs ten of millions of dollars or possibly hundreds of million and the film receives Oscars, why is the Central Intelligence Agency unable to produce a film about September 11 to convince the world that Bin Laden did it? Or, it could produce many films for Al-Zarqawi, Bin Laden, Al-Zawahri, and others...? Do you not see our condition? Only God knows how long it may continue. Yes, America will produce many films in the near future, the greatest of which will be that of the assassination of bin Laden and Al-Zawahri.... Examine the statements made by American officials and the manner in which Al-Zarqawi was assassinated and the photos and films that appeared afterwards and you will realize that this film is good enough to be shown in American theaters; not here though, because these films are produced for the ignorant and the stupid." -- Hasan Ali Karam noted in the moderate Arabic daily Al-Watan under the title "Kuwaiti Extremists" (6/15): "It is no wonder that a handful of Kuwaiti Islamic fundamentalists are saddened by the killing of the Jordanian criminal Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi in Iraq.... The danger of this abnormal way of thinking is that it not only endangers those who think it, but it also reaches to the security, stability, and unity of society. The question is not how to protect society from the dangers of this way of thinking? The question is how do we return these young men to their senses and how do we correct the wrong satanic notions and ideas that they have?" -- In the moderate Arabic daily Al-Watan Kamal Ali Al-Kharas contended in under the title "Al-Zarqawi's Death, a Nation's Crisis" (6/15): "The death of Abu Musaab Al-Zarqawi revealed the depth of the crisis in which the Arab nations are in on the ideological, psychological, and moral levels which translate into a political crisis.... It is a psychological problem when certain people of [the Islamic] nation who are sick lead political movements and represent our nation in its parliaments. It is an ideological crisis where there are politicians in this nation who have such sick and shallow ideas. It is a moral crisis when politicians and parliamentarian adopt the ideas of murders and justify their actions. Lastly, it is a political crisis when those who know nothing about the art of politics oppose political efforts of the nation." ********************************************* * 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