KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - IRAQ, IRAN, AND RICE'S VISIT

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000089 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 - IRAQ, IRAN, AND RICE'S VISIT Block Quotes -------------- Tuesday, January 23, 2007 -- Columnist and university professor Dr. Jassem Al-Fuhaid commented on the recent GCC+2 meeting held in Kuwait that was attended by Secretary Rice in moderate Arabic daily Al-Rai under the title "The SIPDIS Eggs and Onions Strategy" (01/23): "The GCC+2 states did not heed the advice to not place all of one's eggs in a single basket. Instead, the moderate Arab States put all of their eggs in Bush's basket when they expressed unreserved support to his new strategy in Iraq despite the many members of U.S. Congress who oppose the strategy." -- Under the title "Quartet" Nabil Al-Fadhil remarked in conservative Arabic daily Al-Watan (01/23): "When one hears statements by the Iranian president, one is given the impression that the president has not seen with his own eyes the end of Mullah Omar in Afghanistan or that he has not heard of what became of Saddam Hussein and his Ba'th party in Iraq." -- Under the title "The Conspiracy for Israeli Hegemony Over the Region" Mustafa Al-Sarraf commented in progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas (01/23): "Today America is moving its armada to the Gulf region under the pretext of protecting the Gulf States. It is also promoting a strike against the Iranian nuclear reactor for the sole reason of keeping Israel the only state in the region possessing nuclear weapons. This so that it will remain as the dominant power over the Arab States who subjugate themselves to the friendly American administration." -- In conservative Arabic daily Al-Watan and under the title "History Repeats Itself" Abdulla Al-Hadlaq remarked (01/23): "No Negotiations, temptations, or sanctions will succeed in dissuading the 'Mullahs' regime in Tehran from proceeding with its expansionist schemes, colonialist ambitions, projecting its influence, and its quest for hegemony over the Arabian Gulf and Peninsula." -- Columnist Amna Al-Mosawi editorialized in moderate Arabic daily Al-Rai under the title "The Deadly Strategy" (01/23): "It is natural for the United States, its hawks, and its Secretary of State -- who received Kuwaiti women leaders who forgot that her hands are covered with the blood of Iraqi and Lebanese children -- to behave with arrogance towards what is happening in Iraq and even towards what is happening to American soldiers there." ********************************************* * 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