US embassy cable - 05CAIRO5009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CAIRO 005009 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KPAO, EG, Media Themes 
SUBJECT:  SUPPORT FOR IRAQI RESISTANCE; PRAISE FOR IRANIAN 
ELECTIONS; UNUSUAL SELF-CRITICISM:  EGYPTIAN MEDIA THEMES, 
JUNE 27 TO JULY 3 
 
 
1.  Summary: Reacting to the President's speech at Fort 
Bragg, Egyptian newspapers criticized U.S. policy in Iraq 
and accused the U.S. of falsely portraying the situation 
there.  One editorial said resistance was the only reaction 
to the U.S. imperialist march.  The Iranian elections 
provided much fodder for analysis and comparison.  Most 
columnists agreed that Ahmadinejad's win in Iran was a 
result of his popular appeal among the poor of Iran, while 
others compared Iranian elections to the upcoming Egyptian 
elections.  Coverage of domestic demonstrations increased 
over the week, including almost daily announcements of 
dates, times, and locations of upcoming demonstrations. 
Coverage of the Ayman Nour trial was moderate.  And in an 
unusual occurrence, a columnist in the pro-government Al 
Ahram criticized illegal imprisonment and torture in Egypt. 
End summary. 
 
2.  Resistance to the U.S. in Iraq a must?:  On the popular 
Channel 2 program (06/29), Al Beit Beitik, Independent 
media mogul Emad Adeeb described the U.S. policy of 
encouraging democratic reform in the Middle East as 
"constructive chaos."  A June 27 editorial in opposition Al 
Wafd (circulation: 90,000) by Bahaa El Dine Abu Shouka 
accused the U.S. of selling an illusion of democracy in 
Iraq, but that the reality was far more volatile.  In the 
same issue, Hamdi El Shamy, called the U.S. strategy in 
Iraq "brutal" and said resistance is the only means to stop 
this "imperialist" march. 
 
3. Praise for Iranian elections:  The Iranian elections 
provided much fodder for analysis and comparison.  Most 
columnists agreed that Ahmadinejad's win in Iran was a 
result of his popular appeal among the poor of Iran.  Al 
Ahram Board Chairman Ibrahim Nafei(June 27) and Islamist 
Fahmy Howeidy (June 30) both wrote in Al Ahram that the 
U.S. attitude toward Iran and "aggressive" U.S. attempts to 
plant democratic regimes in the region influenced the 
voting of Iranians.  Several papers also criticized U.S. 
statements that the Iran elections were not democratic. 
 
4.  On July 1, Mohamed Mohammadein wrote in Al Akhbar that 
the U.S. claims that the Iranian elections were 
undemocratic was unfair and argued that the U.S. concept of 
democracy and freedom is limited to what the U.S. deems 
appropriate for its interests, including electing pro- 
American leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The June 30 
edition of Al Wafd carried a cartoon portraying Uncle Sam 
commenting on the Iranian election: "This is a 
dictatorship.  We're supposed to be the ones who do the 
selecting!" 
 
5.  Several commentators compared the Iranian elections to 
the upcoming Egyptian elections.  In the June 30 edition of 
Al Ahram, Independent Salama Ahmad Salama criticized the 
new Egyptian political rights laws, comparing the 
participation and freedom in Lebanese and Iranian elections 
to Egypt, hoping that the latter could experience the same 
openness.  In independent Al Masry Al Youm (circulation: 
20,000) on June 27, columnist Magdy Mehanna wrote that the 
victory of Ahmadinejad is a "political tsunami," and asked 
if a similar tsunami could happen in Egypt.  He concluded 
this was probably not possible, particularly since NDP was 
taking steps to prevent it, such as influencing words of 
clerics.  Several unsigned editorials believed the regime 
change in Iran would favorably affect that country's 
relations with the Arab world.  However, on July 2, the 
Channel One television program "Wara El Ahdath" suggested 
Iranian reformers consider the election results a 
"disaster." 
 
6. Demonstration alerts and increased coverage:  Almost 
every day throughout the week, Egyptian dailies and pan- 
Arab papers reported on the dates, times, and locations of 
upcoming political demonstrations, of which there were more 
than half a dozen.  Coverage of these demonstrations was 
prominent in many Egyptian dailies, including an 
unprecedented Egyptian TV piece on a peaceful demonstration 
on June 26 in front of the State Security building that 
called for an end to torture of political prisoners and the 
release of Muslim Brotherhood detainees, as well as the 
resignation of the Interior Minister.  The lack of police 
presence during an earlier Kefaya demonstration in the 
Shubra neighborhood of Cairo was noted in several 
newspapers, including the pan-Arab Al Sharq Al Awsat. 
However, Farida Al Naqqash noted in the June 29 opposition 
Al Ahaly that while the Shubra demonstration went 
unharrassed, a second demonstration in the Lazoughly 
neighborhood on the same day faced a heavy police cordon. 
 
7. Ayman Nour trial:  All Egyptian dailies reported on the 
June 28 and June 30 court appearances of Al Ghad party 
chairman Ayman Nour and his co-defendants, though the 
amount of coverage varied depending on the paper's 
political affiliation.  On June 29, independent Ahmed Ragad 
wrote in pro-government Al Akhbar that he believes the 
Egyptian government has made a hero of Ayman Nour by 
putting him on trial.  He recommended that the government 
drop the charges and cut Nour back down to size. 
 
8. Criticism of Torture: In an unusual bit of criticism in 
a pro-government newspaper, liberal columnist Salama Ahmed 
Salama wrote in Al Ahram on July 3 that Egypt should have 
"an honest and frank discussion of the issue of detention 
and torture" of Egyptians imprisoned without a trial.  He 
admitted that he felt hypocritical criticizing abuses at 
Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, but remaining silent on the 
circumstances in Egyptian prisons.  Salama noted that in 
the U.S. suspects are arrested and held for questioning, 
but are released if no charges are filed.  This is not the 
case in Egypt, he said.  He also noted that many Americans 
have called for closing Guantanamo as it has blemished the 
American image abroad, but that there are no such calls 
from Egyptians to close detention centers in Egypt where 
thousands are held without court hearings. 
 
CORBIN