Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ABUDHABI1543
2007-09-16 05:47:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: PETRAEUS REPORT

Tags:  OIIP KMDR TC 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHAD #1543 2590547
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O 160547Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9706
RHMFIUU/SECNAV WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
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INFO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0377
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UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001543 

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
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC
SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: PETRAEUS REPORT


UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001543

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
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR TC
SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION: PETRAEUS REPORT



1. SUMMARY: The testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador
Crocker was widely followed and reported by local media, both print
and broadcast. On the opinion/editorial side, Al-Khaleej viewed the
General's report as an effort to avoid any decisions for the
remainder of the President's term, and implicitly criticized both
the U.S. and Arab states for allowing it to drag on. Al-Bayan
considered the report an indication that "nothing new" is to be
expected from Washington and concludes that the lesson of years of
occupation is that Washington cares only about its interests and a
broad national consensus of Iraqis on the future of their own
country is the only hope. An op-ed writer in Al-Bayan believes that
Washington has a choice: escape from Iraq through threats and war,
vice dialogue, or an exit strategy to leave Iraq by engaging in
dialogue with all factions in the region. End Summary.


2. Local media, print and broadcast, gave extensive coverage to the
testimony of General David Petraeus and Ambassador to Iraq Ryan
Crocker, and to President Bush's speech on Iraq. Much of the
coverage was taken directly from wires or assembled from wire
reports by staff journalists. It was, on the whole, factual and
objective reporting of the testimony, including various excerpts and
highlights.


3. Under the headline "Occupations and Symptoms of Addiction", the
editorial in Sharjah-based Arabic daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation
90,000) 09/12 wrote:

"What Petraeus and the U.S. Ambassador in Iraq have recently said is
a transparent attempt to circumvent any demand or any commitment to
a programmed exit from Iraq, from now until the end of Bush's
term."
"... Again we are afraid that the occupation of Iraq transforms
into a state of addiction; an American addiction to practice it and
an Arab addiction to be indifferent to what happens, much the way
they reacted to the Zionist occupation of Palestine six decades
ago..."


4. Under the headline "The Report to Make no Decisions", the
editorial in Dubai-based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan" (circulation
85,000) 09/12 wrote:

"The Petraeus report indicates that there will be nothing new in
Washington. Things will remain as they are in terms of dealing with
the facts and complexities of the situation in Iraq. Past
experience from years of occupation and daily Iraqi sufferings
confirm that a broad [Iraqi] national consensus is the only doorway
to salvation, since Washington cares only about its interests when
it makes decisions. Will Iraqis decide what serves their interests
best?"


5. Under the headline "American Crisis in Iraq and its Escape
Strategy", a political researcher and writer, Dr. Isam Salim
Al-Shenti, wrote 09/13 in "Al-Bayan":

"The Petraeus report inferred that the security situation in Iraq
will not be resolved without political and economic progress by the
Iraqi government, and an Iraqi reconciliation that does not exclude
any faction."

"The American administration, drowning in the new 'Vietnamese
quagmire' in Iraq, must change its policy in the region if it wants
to reach acceptable solutions inside and outside Iraq. What has
been happening in the region, specifically in Iraq, Palestine and
Lebanon in recent years, is in fact the product of the American
administration's aggressive policy in an area still searching for
security, stability and development."

"It is now in the American administration's hands. It can choose an
exit strategy...by engaging in a dialogue with all concerned
factions in the region; or an escape strategy using the language of
threats and war instead of dialogue".

QUINN