US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT3462

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 003462 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, S/CT 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, KU, BA, YM, QA, UE, OM 
SUBJECT: GCC DISCUSSES COMMON THREAT OF TERRORISM 
 
REF: A. 03 KUWAIT 0537 
     B. 03 KUWAIT 5805 
 
Classified By: DCM Matthew H. Tueller for reason 1.4 (b) 
 
1. (U) In preparation for an October 9-10 meeting of Gulf 
Cooperation Council (GCC) Interior Ministers in Kuwait, GCC 
Interior Ministry Undersecretaries met in Kuwait on October 2 
and 3 to discuss the common threat of terrorism and what 
steps the Council could take to further bolster their 
cooperation in the fight against extremism. 
 
2. (U) Local dailies reported October 3 that the 
Undersecretaries from the six nations had reached agreement 
on a number of unspecified recommendations which would be 
taken up by their Interior Ministers during the October 9 and 
10 meetings.  "The GCC states are exerting tremendous efforts 
to ward off threats against them," said GCC Assistant 
Secretary General for Political Affairs Abdulkareem Mohammad 
 
SIPDIS 
Al-Hamadi. Characterizing the rise of extremist acts of 
violence as an "escalating epidemic," Hamali said the GCC 
always looked to strengthen security cooperation. 
 
3. (U) English language daily Kuwait Times reported on 
October 3 that Kuwait's representative at the meetings, 
Lieutenant General Nasser Al-Othman said that developing a 
"coordinated effort to defeat (terrorism)" was the top 
priority for GCC member states. 
 
4. (U) In addition, GCC Defense Ministers met on October 4th 
to discuss increased defense cooperation, reportedly 
including its proposed joint command structure and shared 
communications networks. (Note: The GCC deployed a combined 
force, known as Peninsula Shield, to Kuwait during OIF (Ref. 
A).  End Note.) 
 
5. (C) Comment: The recent spate of terrorist attacks in 
Saudi Arabia and the recognition that this type of violence 
could easily spill across borders has no doubt spurred the 
GCC into refocusing its attention on security cooperation. 
The GCC last addressed these issues during its December 2003 
conference in Kuwait, when it agreed to enter into an 
anti-terror pact, but failed to specify a deadline (Ref. B). 
Given the GCC's track record of acting on its own proposals, 
it is unlikely that the planned meetings will result in any 
tangible security enhancements in the near future. 
LeBaron