KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - IRAN, AND IRAQI DEBTS

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000716 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 - IRAN, AND IRAQI DEBTS Block Quotes -------------- Tuesday, May 08, 2007 -- Liberal Mohammed Musaed Al-Saleh commented in progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas under the title "Bush, the Da'iah [a person who attempts to convert others to Islam]" (05/08): "Contrary to what some Salafists are saying about there having been a conspiracy contrived in the darkness of night to bring women into politics in order to corrupt them and the nation, women's suffrage was decided upon by the National Assembly in broad daylight. Both Salafist and Ikhwan members of parliament were present. America had no role in the affair." -- "Not Our War and It Shouldn't Be" was the title under which Saud Al-Asfour wrote in moderate Arabic daily Al-Qabas (05/08): "He who believes that the Bush administration will not have the courage to attack Iran while still stuck in Iraq should take a look the history of the United States. In the past, American policy depended heavily on external wars as a distraction when internal crises overwhelmed the American president or his party. A war with an external enemy is the best escape out of the internal crisis, whether political or economic." -- Under the title "On the Iraqi Debt Issue" liberal Nabil Al-Fadhil stated in conservative Arabic daily Al-Watan (05/08): "Kuwait is different from other Iraq-debtor countries because no other such nation has been invaded, occupied, looted, and destroyed by Iraqi hands.... Iraq's debt to Kuwait is 13 billion dollars plus interest. This is Kuwait's largest debt owed and it is a lot for the economy of a state its size. Therefore, neither morals nor economics make the write off of Iraqi debts an imperative." ********************************************* * 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