US embassy cable - 04MANAMA622

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000622 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, NEA/PPD MACINNES AND PAGNEW, NEA/ARP 
CKANESHIRO 
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA 
USCINCCENT FOR PAO AND POLAD 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH AND HAMBLEY; PARIS FOR O'FRIEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO OIIP BA 
SUBJECT:  BAHRAINI MEDIA REACTION ON IRAQI POW TREATMENT 
 
 
1.  Summary:  For the past three days, all five Bahraini 
daily newspapers have run front-page stories with banner 
headlines, photos of Iraqi POWs being mistreated, and 
columns about the mistreatment of Iraqi POWs.  Writers and 
opinion leaders have questioned U.S. values of democracy and 
human rights.  Bahrainis are also comparing Arab satellite 
coverage of the issue with coverage on CNN and BBC World. 
One managing editor told the PAO that Arabs no longer trust 
CNN or BBC to report accurately on what is happening in the 
region - they only trust the Arab satellite channels.  Many 
Bahrainis believe that the mistreatment of Iraqi POWs is 
much more widespread than what has been reported in the U.S. 
media.  They believe that prisoners in Guantanamo and 
Afghanistan have also been subjected to torture.  End 
summary. 
 
2.  EDITORIAL COMMENT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
SEMI-INDEPENDENT ARABIC DAILY "AKHBAR AL-KHALIJ," 5/3, 
COLUMNIST ABDULLA AL-AYOOBI (Bahraini columnist who is a 
moderate advocate of reforms, even from the U.S.): 
 
"I believed only one thing that Bush said when he commented 
on the pictures of tortured Iraqis.  I believed him when he 
said that these actions did not represent the American 
people.  Apart from that comment, everything else he said 
about the photos was a lie.  We know that the American 
people would never accept such practices.  That is why the 
American people were against the war in Vietnam and are now 
against the war in Iraq." 
 
INDEPENDENT ARABIC DAILY "AL WASAT," 5/3, COLUMNIST WALEED 
NOUEIHED (Managing editor of Al Wasat, a moderate 
intellectual, used to work for Al Hayat in London.): 
 
"The pictures of tortured and degraded Iraqi prisoners 
should not be surprising or shocking because this war 
started with a lie.  Why wouldn't Americans lie about the 
values of their soldiers?  The disgusting pictures are a 
direct message to Arabs who have been fascinated with the 
Western model and the American way of life.  All American 
values are fake.  If these mercenaries, who came all the way 
from the U.S. just to fulfill their racism against Muslims 
and Arabs, do this at Abu Ghraib prison, why would they not 
commit similar crimes against mosques and holy shrines and 
then accuse Islamist groups for carrying out these 
activities?" 
 
INDEPENDENT ARABIC DAILY "AL WASAT," 5/3, JOURNALIST TAMAM 
ABU SAFI (A moderate, twenty-something journalist, usually 
pro-Western.): 
 
"I was not as disgusted by the photographs of Iraqi POWs as 
much as I was disgusted by the reaction of President Bush on 
this issue.  Didn't he expect these actions from soldiers 
who joined the army because they failed in their studies.? 
The question is what will pro-American Iraqis say about the 
U.S. occupation in Iraq now?  Will they still say that U.S. 
actions are the democratic tools for a free Iraq?" 
 
SEMI-INDEPENDENT ARABIC DAILY "AKHBAR AL-KHALIJ" 5/3, 
BY COLUMNIST SAMEERA RAJAB (anti-American Bahraini 
columnist): 
 
"Torturing Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison is a war 
crime and sets a very dangerous precedent.  These pictures 
in the media -- and many more posted on the internet, 
including Iraqi women prisoners being raped by British and 
American soldiers -- confirm the atrocities that happen 
everyday, not only in Iraq but also in Guantanamo.  The 
American scandals and crimes have begun to be revealed . the 
legend of American democracy and human rights are mere 
illusions." 
 
SEMI-INDEPENDENT ARABIC DAILY "AKHBAR AL-KHALIJ" 5/4, 
COLUMNIST SAYED ZAHRA (anti-American Egyptian columnist): 
 
"Everybody in the world, including American and British 
leaders, expressed their shock about the photographs of 
torture, as if they did not know of the atrocious crimes 
their soldiers have been committing in Iraq.  If the world 
wants to know who the real criminals are, they will find 
them in the White House and at 10 Downing Street.  They are 
not the seven or eight soldiers who tortured the prisoners. 
They are the leaders of America and Britain.  If the 
international community has a conscience and keenness to 
protect human rights, all crimes against Iraqis must be 
independently investigated." 
 
3. Minimize considered. 
FORD