YEMENIS IMPRESSED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANAA 001060

SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2019
TAGS: PREL OPRC KPAO KISL YM
SUBJECT: YEMENIS IMPRESSED BY PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH,
SOMEWHAT SKEPTICAL OF SUBSTANCE

Classified By: CDA Angie Bryan for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

SUMMARY
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1. (U) Embassy interlocutors responded positively to
President Barack Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo. They were
pleased with the speech's respectful and balanced tone.
Interlocutors, however, were somewhat skeptical that the
change in tone would be matched by a change in policy, and
awaited clear signs that President Obama's words will be
translated into deeds. END SUMMARY.

OBAMA TURNS THE RHETORICAL PAGE
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2. (C) Embassy interlocutors noted a significant difference
between President Obama's speech and what they perceived as
the Bush administration's tone toward the Muslim world.
Deputy Finance Minister Jalal Yacoub told Econoff that
President Ali Abdullah Saleh's son, Ahmed Ali, described the
speech as "groundbreaking" and predicted that it would usher
in a new era of U.S.-Muslim relations. Sami Ghalib, Editor
in Chief of Al-Nidaa, said, "Since September 11, the United
States has regarded the Muslim world as a source of danger.
Obama delivered a different message ... He didn't use the
word terrorism, which shows sensitivity" to the
contentiousness of the US-led war against violent extremism.
Dr. Abdullah al-Faqih of Sanaa University's Political Science
Department praised President Obama's comments on Palestinian
aspirations for statehood and said the speech signaled a "new
liberalism" which will yield better results than the previous
administration's approach. AbdulAziz al-Hayajim, managing
editor of Al-Thawra.net, relayed the positive reaction of
religious scholars to President Obama's citations of the
Quran and said that some scholars had even expressed worries
that President Obama's widely admired speech would expose him
to the "evil eye." Jamal al-Awadhi, editor in chief of Yemen
Online, admired President Obama's courage and praised the
choice of Cairo University as the venue of the speech,
commenting that this choice showed that although "the United
States entered Iraq and Afghanistan by force with military
planes and tanks, now the United States is coming to the
Middle East advocating education and building bridges."
Prominent businessman Omar Omar, Vice Chairman of the
Universal Group, told Econoff that the speech was
"spectacular" in its ability to speak to a diverse and
hostile constellation of audiences, including Muslims
worldwide, Israelis, and the "American right wing."
Interlocutors were all amazed that President Obama was
reading from a teleprompter, noting that he appeared to have
been speaking extemporaneously.

WHERE'S THE BEEF?
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3. (C) Overall reaction to the speech was extremely
positive, and almost all interlocutors described it in
glowing terms. Coupled with their praise for the speech,
however, was an intent focus on the persistently difficult
realities in the Middle East, and a note of skepticism that
President Obama will be able to make substantive changes to
U.S. foreign policy. Skepticism centered on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the ability of the U.S. to
act as a fair broker. Ministry of Oil official Ibrahim
Abulohoum told Econoff that, although the speech lived up to
the promise of a "new beginning of U.S. relations with
Islam," President Obama is still under domestic political
pressure to maintain support for Israel. Faqih said that the
Obama administration is "95 percent the same" as the previous
administration, and most interlocutors concurred. Rajeh
Badi, Editor in Chief of Al-Sahwa, said that the "United
States has never exerted enough pressure on Arab regimes" to
democratize and noted that President Obama's trip brought him
to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, neither of which are democratic
countries. Abdulmajid al-Farhad of the Civic Democratic
Initiatives Foundation said that the speech was "too good to
be true" and said that the substance of the Obama
administration's policies are identical to the policies of
George W. Bush, "the Muslim world's worst enemy."

TURNING WORDS INTO DEEDS
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4. (U) "We hope the speech is not just a public relations
move," said Faqih. Interlocutors hedged their praise of the
speech by emphasizing that they await concrete steps from the
Obama administration, in particular exerting pressure on
Israel to end settlement activity. The Palestinian issue
resonates strongly in Yemen, and interlocutors were eager for

more information on the steps President Obama will pursue to
improve the conditions of the Palestinian people and to
extract concessions from Israel. At a June 6 meeting with
key interlocutors, the CDA emphasized that President Obama
can control the amount of pressure exerted on Israel, but not
Israel's reaction to that pressure. President Obama is
clearly a popular figure among the interlocutors, admired for
his charisma and "global" personal background, but they have
been burned before by what they see as broken promises of US
leadership on conflict resolution and democratic reform in
the region. As Faqih said, "The question we ask now is, what
will happen next?"

COMMENT
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5. (U) Our interlocutors' focus on the Palestinian issue
suggests that President Obama's credibility in Yemen will
depend largely on the administration's ability to move Israel
and Palestine toward implementation of the two-state
solution. END COMMENT.
BRYAN