MEDIA REACTION: RICE VISIT TO NEA REGION/CHENEY'S

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000307 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: IIP KMDR TC SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: RICE VISIT TO NEA REGION/CHENEY'S HONORABLE MISSION COMMENTS ¶1. Summary: The editorial in "Al-Khaleej" speculates on why Rice bothers to come to the region when all she says is a "clone" of what the Israelis say. Another editorial in "Al-Khaleej" mocked Vice President Cheney's statement announcing that the United States will complete its mission in an honorable way. ¶2. Under the headline "What lies behind Rice's artificial smile...", Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000) editorialized on 2/21: "Why does Condoleezza Rice make the effort of coming to the region and move from place to place when all she does is clone what the Israelis say and market their wishes? It is as if she is just an echo machine for the Zionist entity to justify their terror and the extension of their occupation... Rice comes to prevent all resolutions except the recognition of Israel, the legitimization of their occupation and terror, ending Palestinian resistance and permitting the inter-Palestinian civil war; basically to give up Palestine to its occupiers. These are Rice's intentions and one should not be fooled by Rice's artificial smile for Arabs are experts in deciphering such a fake smile, especially Iraqis, Palestinians and Lebanese - the victims of the neoconservatives' circle of wars." ¶3. Under the headline "What honorable mission are you talking about!?", Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000) editorialized on 2/22: "Amid European decisions, like those coming from Tony Blair and Denmark, to start withdrawing their forces from Iraq, Dick Cheney comes out and announces the determination of his country to complete its mission in Iraq in an "honorable way". All international parties ridicule such a statement, given what has happened during the invasion of Iraq and how devastated things have become there because of the U.S. occupation. Cheney's statements won't do him any good, but will rather make others angry and skeptical. What honorable mission is he talking about? Is he talking about that mission that has tortured and ended the lives of thousands of innocent Iraqis while stealing resources from people who are dying from hunger? The war on Iraq started and has continued in a detestable way. How can it end in an honorable way? There is nothing now left for the U.S. administration to do but kill all Iraqis, divide Iraq into tiny entities and leave no corner in Iraq undestroyed. Really, the neo-conservatives have excelled among all in perfecting their double-standard language where meanings of genocide, torture, and destruction correspond to "honorable missions". Is this the America of freedom and democracy?!!" SISON MR 22 Feb 2007 UNCLASSIFIED