KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - PALESTINE, IRAN, AND IRAQ

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000356 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, NEA/PI, INR/NESA, R/MR, I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA LONDON FOR TSOU PARIS FOR ZEYA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO XF KU MEDIA REACTION SUBJECT: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - PALESTINE, IRAN, AND IRAQ Block Quotes -------------- Sunday, March 11, 2007 -- Under the title "Al-Aqsa Mosque" liberal Dr. Yacoub Ahmed Al-Sharrah editorialized in moderate Arabic daily Al-Rai (03/11): "The simplest of tools that could effectively stop Zionist practices are not employed because of our own weakness. We cannot agree on a single course of action to fend off the enemies' assaults on our rights. This pathetic phenomenon is doubtless the result of the rampant weakness of Arab governments and our own disagreements that only serve Israeli interests." -- Under the title "The Axis of Evil and Role Reversal" Mahmoud Abdeen inquired in moderate Arabic daily Al-Anbaa (03/11): "A Western official warned Iran against provoking the United States, which he went on to describe as a 'wounded lion' after America's war on terrorism and its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a great amount of truth to this description. Otherwise why would America not do anything about Iran for this long?" -- Under the title "Arab Security" liberal Mohammed Musaed Al-Saleh penned in progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas (03/11): "The Baghdad Security Conference will not succeed if it is confined to discussing Iraq's problem and excludes other issues in the Middle East. Violence in Iraq is directly tied to American policy. What is needed is pressure on Israel to resolve the problems of the occupation of Palestine and Syria." -- Conservative Islamist Faisal Al-Zamil contended in moderate Arabic daily Al-Anbaa under the title "Iraq" (03/11): "We in Kuwait and other Gulf Countries cannot ignore what is going on in Iraq. This is not only because of its ramifications there. The civil war has already started in Iraq. It has not affected the peoples of the Gulf because they know that what is happening in Iraq is an external struggle using Iraqi blood." ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * LEBARON