SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: DANISH CARTOONS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000439 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR, I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN USAID/ANE/MEA LONDON FOR TSOU PARIS FOR ZEYA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KPAO PREL KDEM KMDR KU SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: DANISH CARTOONS Selected Headlines -------------- ¶1. Sunday, 5 February 2006 -- Al-Qabas page 11 "Regional offices of cooperative organizations boycott Danish products" -- Al-Rai Al-Aam p. 5 "Saleh Jowhar: America and Europe should discipline their Danish children before they are disciplined by children of Mohammed"; "Islamic Heritage Revival Society's Women's Committee sponsors this evening a seminar in support of Prophet Mohammed" -- Al-Rai Al-Aam p. 11 "Egyptian Consul: Some Khaitan preachers have fueled the feelings of worshippers" -- Al-Rai Al-Aam p. 14 "Afghan Ambassador defends the position of his country's leader" -- Al-Watan front page "Pastor Gharib: Offense rebuffed and Denmark should apologize" -- Al-Watan p. 8 "Official apology by Danish Government essential"; "Talaq Al-Haim: Suspension of dealing with Danish products" -- Al-Watan p. 17 "Farwaniya security placed on alert" -- Al-Seyassah p. 8 "Popular rally in front of the Danish Embassy, with the participation of Americans"; "We will not accept anything short of expulsion of Danish Ambassador" -- Al-Seyassah p. 9 "Hamed Al-Ali: Slaying of the Danish cartoonist is permissible but our weakness as Muslims makes it incumbent on us to wait. Jihad was not enacted to kill people" -- Al-Anba p. 3 "Dr. Al-Falah: What happened widens the gap between the West and Muslims" ¶3. Monday, 6 February 2006 -- Al-Rai Al-Aam front page and Al-Anba p. 13 "Mohammed Al- Tabtabaei: Denmark lost 40 million Euros in days. Denmark is a terrorist country" -- Al-Seyassah p. 6 "Dr. Ismail Al-Shatti: Queen of Denmark is required to apologize personally" Block Quotes -------------- ¶4. Sunday, 5 February 2006 -- Sami Abdul Latif Al-Nesf wrote in the moderate daily Al-Anbaa under the title "The Danish crisis and the Arab Ambassador": "I think that the boycott, resentment, and denunciation should continue until a rational and realistic solution is reached, then things can return to normal. An apology is not enough.... The Danish newspaper should not only apologize, but also should translate its apology 
into action, such as supporting Islamic centers or even establishing new ones. The newspaper is mostly to blame, while some of the blame should go to our extremists and fundamentalists, who slaughtered, killed, terrorized, and destroyed giving others an opportunity to say that our religion is one of terror. Also, some of the blame belongs to the extremists who curse other religions and beliefs in public and in private, giving others a justification for cursing our religion. The truth is that we must, for this offence or others, calmly and rationally decide on how to proceed and what our goals are, while working with great wisdom to not feed the adversaries of our religion by not giving them material to be used against us." ¶5. Monday, 6 February 2006 -- Mohamed Mojabal Al-Mutairy wrote in the moderate daily Al-Rai Al-Aam under the title "What's next Muslims?": "Where were the Muslims when this great catastrophe occurred? Does any Muslim accept to have the prophet offended on the pages of the infidels and stand with his hands tied behind his back unable to do anything? By God, if the ruler of an Islamic country was offended there would have been great consequences until a formal apology was given. We did not receive an apology because they think it is freedom of expression. Had they written about Jews, they would have been made to apologize or to stop printing altogether. You would have found the government KUWAIT 00000439 002 OF 002 quickly apologizing because Jews have international weight. That is what we seek from all Muslim countries, to stand together as one in order to win back the dignity of their religion. We, as Muslims, have an important role in pressuring our governments through writing or through demonstrating or by boycotting the products of that country." -- Othman Al-Mufaraj also wrote for the moderate daily Al-Rai Al-Aam under the title "Mad Danish Cow Disease": "I do not know what kind of madness or stupidity has infected a group of Danes to offend and mock our Prophet Mohamed...in one of their newspapers. Their drawings only point to the hostility towards Islam and Muslims. What makes it worse is a Danish official's statement that did not calm our souls or provide us with any type of comfort, rather it increased our anger. The official said that what happened was an exercise of the freedom of the press. We fully realize that the West does not care for our rights and ignores our pride and dignity as Muslims. If we have a terrorist amongst us, then not all Muslims are terrorists as not all Europeans are racists and murderers.... If the Danish official had a more in-depth look at what happened he would have found it to be an offense against all freedoms of press and expression and the furthest it could have been from honest criticism with good intentions. Let us boycott them and fight them with all the power we have in order to regain our dignity. Let us do something at a time when we have become infinitely weak." -- Dr. Ayed Al-Manaa wrote for the moderate daily Al-Watan under the title "Destruction is not demonstration": "What happened to the embassies and consulate of Denmark and Norway and some churches in Damascus and Beirut? Was this the result of mob mentality taking over the demonstrations? If it was limited to marches, calls, signs, and screams for an apology, then it would have been a civilized popular demonstration, one not marred by violence. What took place in Damascus on Saturday and Beirut on Sunday was not a demonstration. Even if it began as one, it quickly turned into complete chaos and destruction of property.... These acts are unacceptable by any rational Islamist or nationalist in our world." ********************************************* Visit Embassy Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website ********************************************* LEBARON