MEDIA REACTION: EXECUTION OF SADDAM

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000006 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: MEDIA REACTION: EXECUTION OF SADDAM ¶1. Summary: Numerous UAE columnists and op-ed writers voiced their anger over the timing of Saddam's execution and accused the U.S. of igniting the fire of sectarianism between Sunnis and Shiites. End Summary. ¶2. under the headline "Iraq First", Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000) editorialized on 1/3: "If Saddam was executed as a result of a popular revolution or an internal coup, its impact on the Iraqis, Arabs, Muslims and the entire world would have been easier than under an occupation administration that controls everything... The tragedy and the humiliation took place on the day of sacrifice, which was not an Iraqi choice. The execution was meant to take place in 2006 to cover for American defeats in Iraqi in 2006. We do not defend Saddam and his crimes against his own people and neighbors. Those crimes were not secret to the Washington that blessed them or at least remained silent towards them. Was not Saddam its major ally in the past? Nonetheless, all Iraqis are required to forget their differences and rebuild Iraq. Iraq was before Saddam and will remain after him and the only way for Iraq to restore its health is through tolerance, and the condemnation of sectarianism that has only flourished under the American occupation." ¶4. Under the headline "Saddam Execution, a feast of revenge in Baghdad" Muhammad Al-Hammadi wrote in Abu Dhabi-based Arabic semi-official daily "Al-Ittihad" (circulation 65,000): "Many Iraqis Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Christians and others denounced the timing of the execution... Like most neutral Arabs, we have never been with Saddam and will never be with him. However, if we consider Saddam's execution the beginning of new Iraq, this is undoubtedly a retaliatory beginning which is not too far from Saddam's beginning thirty years ago. We cannot say that the execution which was approved by the Shiite authority was free from ideological calculations and personal revenge. The new leaders of Iraq and the Maleki administration will realize that they committed an endless mistakes starting with their arrival on American tanks and ending with the timing of the execution. There is no doubt that the rulers of Iraq do not want to hear opinions that contradict with theirs. Anyone who opposes them is either a sectarian Sunni, an Arab nationalist, or a Muslim terrorist. The suspicious timing urged moderate Arabs to criticize the Iraqi government, and with a dumb decision they turned Saddam from an absolute evil into a martyr and an absolute national hero. Instead of closing Saddam's file, the file will remain open for ever." ¶5. Muhammad Al-Sawafi wrote in Abu Dhabi-based Arabic semi-official daily "Al-Ittihad" (circulation 65,000): "What happened on the early hours of the Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) will help to create a new generation in the region that sympathize with the former Iraqi regime. The way the execution took place and its timing and the attendance which was limited only to Shiites and some of the phrases heard during the execution urges all Sunnis to sympathize with Saddam and not those who came to implement justice, whether the American or the Shiites. No one can defend the American policy and say that it does not ignite the fire of sectarianism in Iraq." SISON MR 04 Oct 2006 (3) (2) UNCLASSIFIED