SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: STATE OF THE UNION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000102 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; INR/NESA; INR/B; RRU-NEA IIP/G/NEA-SA WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE; NSC SECDEF FOR OASD/PA USCINCCENT FOR POLAD LONDON FOR ERELI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: STATE OF THE UNION ¶1. Summary: The editorial in "Al-Khaleej" describes President Bush's State of the Union speech as a depiction of the quagmire United States is currently experiencing. It assertsd that the policy of the neoconservatives needs to change from unilateralism to multilateralism when dealing with international issues. The editorial in "Al-Bayan" concludes that the President did not introduce anything new as he insists on resolving issues by force, and wonders whether this will stop the bloodshed in Iraq. The editorial in Gulf News accuses Bush of desperately attempting to regain some of his authority that had leaked away in recent months. End summary ¶2. Under headline "Bush's last chance", "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000),Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily, 1/25 editorial: "The speech by President George W. Bush expressed the real strife the United States is experiencing, and not the American President alone. The neoconservatives' policy has led the United States into a quagmire; the pro forma adjustments will not help. What is needed is a profound change from unilateralism to multilateralism when dealing with the world's problems, and from imposing their will on peoples of the world to respecting peoples' will, and from overlooking international laws to respecting them. This is a real move whose cost will be born by the elites, but would at then end bring about great benefits to the people." ¶3. "Al-Bayan" (circulation 85,000),Dubai-based Arabic daily, 1/25 editorial: "The best way to describe Bush's State of the Union speech is weak and defensive. The situation in Iraq is very bad; confusion is overwhelming. President Bush has reached an unprecedented decline in his popularity with only 28%. He now becomes a lame duck, which is why he found no choice except to hope that the Americans, the Congress and the public opinion might grant him the opportunity, time and patience to work on a new Iraqi policy, and implement it. His annual report was typically a list of achievements of last year and a list of aspirations to be completed in the current year...If President Bush resolved to rely on force, or rather continue to rely on force, he then would put the Iraqis and their leaders in front of 
a fait accompli to decide what Iraq they want to have. Certainly, the continuation of the current situation will not lead to the desired Iraq. So are Iraqis moving towards a change and thus rescue their future, or will they remain doomed to the same old strategy presented in Bush's recent speech?" ¶4. Under headline "State of Bush not State of the Union", Gulf News, (circulation 95,000),Dubai-based English daily, 1/25 editorial: "It was a subdued State of the Union address. The problem for President George W. Bush is that the Union is not subdued. The Democrats now control Congress and are itching to make a change. Bush went through the motions, touched on the issues - Iraq, Iran and energy, all actually inter-related - but he was not persuasive. In a speech that was less than an hour long, the sixth of his presidency, Bush was desperately attempting to regain some of his authority that has leaked away in recent months. He failed. This is an unpopular president whose reputation for ignoring sound advice was strengthened by his decision to send more troops to Iraq. Not surprisingly then that silence or at least an absence of fervent applause met his remarks on Iraq. Half his speech dealt with domestic issues and his proposal to tackle America's love affair with oil by setting an ambitious target to reduce petrol consumption within 10 years by 20 per cent. He set out a plan to achieve this through increased use of ethanol and other bio-fuel alternatives and through car manufacturers making their products more fuel-efficient. Nobody believes that this president has turned green or that climate change is a White House priority, but the political agenda has changed so much in Washington that a stranded president had no alternative except to pay lip service to environmental issues. He sounded an ominous note when he stated that the US would not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons. This was greeted by widespread applause. But generally his speech was listened to more out of politeness than support. He is now well and truly in lame duck territory. Congress is hostile, suspicious and impatient. The Bush presidency will not end until 2009 but it has a hollow sound to it now." ¶5. TV Coverage: UAE Television channels including Dubai Television, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah carried lengthy excerpts of the speech during their newscasts and news summaries. The reports showed the President ABU DHABI 00000102 002 OF 002 chose to tackle less confrontational issues such as alternative energy and to place issues such as Iraq and the war on terrorism on a lower scale on his priorities to avoid clashes with the Democrats. Coverage emphasized the mounting opposition by the Democrat-dominated House and the Senate to the President's strategy in Iraq and the low popularity of the president. Sison SMR 25 Jan 2007 bush state union UNCLASSIFIED