MEDIA REACTION: NUCLEAR POLLUTION IN THE GULF, IRAQ

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 000991

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TAGS: OIIP KPAO KMDR MU
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: NUCLEAR POLLUTION IN THE GULF, IRAQ
SECURITY INITIATIVE, GAZA BEACH SHELLING, AND MARINE SONG


1. SUMMARY: Government-owned daily "Oman" worries about nuclear
pollution in the Gulf and supports Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki's
reconciliation initiative. "Al-Watan" is skeptical about
prospects for an international investigation into the alleged
Israeli shelling of a Gaza beach. Online discussion expresses
outrage at the posting of a Marine's song. END SUMMARY.

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COVERAGE
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1. Continuing Iran coverage this week largely faded from the
front pages, but did feature Saudi support for Tehran's "right"
to use nuclear energy along with news of the most recent
incentives offered to Iran to end its uranium enrichment. On
June 14, front pages in Arabic papers, and of the English-
language "Oman Tribune," carried graphic images of a dead
Palestinian boy with a massive head wound, incurred by alleged
Israeli shelling in Gaza that was termed a "massacre."

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BLOCK QUOTES: CONCERNS ABOUT NUCLEAR POLLUTION
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2. On June 13, an editorial in government-owned daily "Oman"
(circ. 38,000) called possible nuclear pollution in the Gulf "An
Extremely Important Matter":

"The possibility of nuclear pollution in the Gulf is an extremely
important issue. There are foreign forces in the Gulf that do
not care about it - including one that used depleted uranium in
the region. Will countries need to spend 15 years trying to get
rid of the effects of nuclear pollution?"

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GUARDED RESPONSE TO MALIKI'S RECONCILIATION INITIATIVE
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3. On June 16, "Oman" carried an editorial under the headline
"Iraq and the Missing Peace":

"The American president has indicated in recent press statements
that ending violence in Iraq is impossible... The situation in
Iraq is worsening and getting more complicated every day,
irrespective of whether coalition forces, American or British,
stay or leave. These days, conflicts between sects and daily
killings are what define the political system and dictate
political settlements. A national reconciliation might be an
exit from the Iraq quagmire, if all Iraqi armed groups respond to
Al Maliki's calls for dialogue about the future of Iraq and other
Arab countries."

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ALLEGED ISRAELI SHELLING OF GAZA BEACH
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4. The privately owned Arabic daily "al-Watan" (circ. 42,000),
reacted to Kofi Annan's call for an international investigation
into the alleged Israeli shelling of civilians at a beach in Gaza
in a June 19 editorial, "Shirking Responsibility is an Israeli
Habit":

"How many investigation committees were formed to look into
Israeli massacres against innocent Palestinians like Kafr Qasim,
Der Yassin, Sabra and Shatila, Qana, and the 2002 Jenin massacre?
U.S. pressure manages to impede such investigations. The
Israelis have always refused international investigations,
suggesting that internal Israeli investigations suffice and that
their army is not guilty of such crimes."

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ONLINE: ANGER AT MARINE SONG
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5. "Al-Sablah," Oman's most popular Internet discussion forum,
featured outraged response to the appearance on a U.S. site of a
homemade video showing a Marine singing callously about the
treatment of Iraqi civilians. Of 800 site visitors who read an
initial posting on the subject, nine responded, all blaming the
U.S. military and American citizens "for their historical hatred
of Muslims and Arabs." Despite a subsequent posting that carried
the Pentagon's denunciation of the Marine's actions, Al-Sablah
users described the video as symptomatic of "a genocide meant to
kill Iraqis...the song shows their clear, evil intent."

GRAPPO