TFLE01: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - LEBANON AND THE MIDDLE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 003171 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 LONDON FOR TSOU PARIS FOR ZEYA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO XF KU MEDIA REACTION SUBJECT: TFLE01: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - LEBANON AND THE MIDDLE EAST Block Quotes -------------- Monday, August 7, 2006 -- In "Message to President Bush" Mishary Nashy Al-Adwany penned in moderate Arabic daily Al-Anbaa (8/7): "Israeli massacres being carried out throughout southern Lebanon -- the latest of which was Qana for the second time -- will become a disgrace upon Israel and all those who support it politically as well as with funds and weapons. Mr. President, the decision today is yours as you are the only on in the world who can make a cease-fire with a phone call to Olmert who your strongest ally in Beirut, Saad Al-Hariri, called a 'war criminal.'" -- "Mr. President, It Is the East" was the title of Ahmed Al-Baghdadi's article in pro-government daily Al-Seyassah in which he stated (8/7): "This desert will make you bite your nails with regret over the money and American lives you plundered while sitting in your rocking chair on your farm in Texas surrounded by your family. You will say 'I wish it had not been,' but thank you any how for trying." -- In "The New Lebanon" Emad Al-Saif commented in progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas (8/7): "After a comprehensive international settlement with Israel, the most important thing for Lebanon is a return to the negotiating table and a settling of issues, the top of which is the disarmament of Hezbollah. Hezbollah must be dealt with as a political partner. There must also be a consensus among all political powers on a national plan for Lebanon's future." -- Khalifa Al-Kharafi editorialized in "What If the Two Hostages Were Killed?" published in progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas (8/7): "It is our obligation to support Hezbollah in it strive for freedom and its resistance to the destructive Israeli machine. If the United States of America has strategic interests with Israel, then we hope these interests will not outweigh its call for humane principles, which are false calls. . . It baffles me to see American thinkers, writers, and the educated fool themselves by calling Israeli actions self-defense." -- In "Chavez's Arabization and the Arabs' Americanization" Dr. Abdul Mohsen Yousef Jamal penned in progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas (8/7): "Lebanese resistance caused America to lose control and it put Lebanon entirely in the hands of a new generation of Arabs and Muslims. The goal of this new generation is to bolster freedom and independence along all borders of the nation. This cannot be done without the weakening of the Zionist entity on which the American administration relies to scare Arabs and Muslims." -- Lawyer and columnist Shaykha Fawzia Salim Al-Sabah stated in moderate Arabic daily Al-Rai Al-Aam under the title "Message to the Master of Resistance" (8/7): "Master of Resistance [Hassan Nasrallah], you have reached the nation's [the Arab Nation] conscience and given it a new soul, one that refuses surrender and submission to servitude. You have destroyed the fake sectarian barriers and spread the feeling of guilt in us and in our nation for surrendering to powerlessness. You have entered the conscience of every human and championed every religion; did I not tell you that you have won?" -- Under the title "If There Is a Problem in the World, Look for Jews" Wadha Ahmed Al-Mudif argued in moderate Arabic daily Al-Watan (8/7): "The main danger of this war's outcome is an increase in resistance and extremism. This will cause organizations and parties to retaliate by all means available against the state terrorism being committed by Israel under American blessings." -- Kuwait University Political Science Professor, Dr. Shamlan Yousef Al-Issa penned in pro-government Arabic daily Al-Seyassah under the title "Moving the Static Situation" (8/7): "This war has put motion into the static situation of the region. KUWAIT 00003171 002 OF 002 It is no secret that Arab regimes are spineless, weak and powerless against the Zionist enemy. The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that for the first time Israel is fighting with Arab and Islamic support.... Arab weakness is not foreign to us, but what is strange is the green light given in a direct manner to continue this campaign." ********************************************* * 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