US embassy cable - 04SANAA498

UNCLAS SANAA 000498 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, PGOV, KISL, YM, DEMARCHE 
SUBJECT: ROYG CONDEMNS 3/2 ATTACKS IN BAGHDAD AND KERBALA 
 
REF: STATE 47118 
 
1. (C) DCM contacted Presidential translator/advisor Mohamed 
Sudam and conveyed reftel demarche evening of 3/3.  Sudam 
noted that the absence of FM Qirbi (in Cairo for AL 
Ministerial) likely accounted for lack of immediate comment 
from the MFA, adding that ROYG would indeed denounce "these 
terrible events."  Sudam telephoned DCM morning of 3/4 with 
word that official statements had been issued via the 
official Saba News Agency and published in the official 
al-Thawra daily. 
 
2. (U) Statement issued in English by the official Saba News 
Agency. 
 
Begin text: 
 
Sanaa, March 3 (Saba) - Yemen denounced the blasts took place 
on Tuesday in two Iraqi cities Karbla and Baghdad that caused 
the death of tens and lot of injuries.  An official source at 
foreign ministry told Saba that Yemeni government condemned 
the explosion acts that killed innocent people who were 
performing religious rituals.  The source asserted that such 
criminal acts not target the Iraqi people only, but also its 
stability, security and national unity to create horror among 
citizens.  (End text) 
 
3. (U) Front page editorial published in Arabic in the 
official daily, al-Thawra: 
 
Begin text (excerpts) of unofficial translation: 
 
Title: The Baghdad Massacres: Who Benefits? 
 
The Republic of Yemen and most countries of the world 
condemned the bloody bombings seen day before yesterday in 
the cities of Kerbala and Baghdad, considering that that 
repugnant act that took the life of dozens of Iraqis is 
included in the framework of the crimes repudiated in all 
heavenly revelations and humanitarian principles. 
 
In the face of the horror of that awful bloodbath, an 
insistent question arises in any mind: who benefits from 
carrying out that crime, and who possesses the capabilities 
and the means of planning that would enable him to carry out 
this sort of operation (lit: implementation), which required 
a high level of equipment and preparation. 
 
(passage on danger of internal strife) 
 
It would be a mistake for anyone to believe or imagine that 
internal strife, if it occurred, would have any outcome other 
than tragedy, for which all would pay the price. 
 
(passage on need to rebuild Iraqi institutions) 
 
What is required of the coalition forces is fulfillment of 
their commitment to hasten the process of enabling Iraqis to 
manage their own affairs in accordance with their free will, 
which will spare this people, and also the occupation forces, 
more losses, especially since continuation of the 
deterioration of security can only lead to subsequent 
disasters, the wounds and tragic scenes of which will linger 
in the minds of the young generations, and will be erased 
only by the return of stability, security and prosperity to 
this country which has suffered from wars such as no other 
country in the world. 
 
Nevertheless the question will remain, who is the beneficiary 
behind those outrages carried out in Kerbala and Baghdad? 
 
End text. 
HULL