US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT4654

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 004654 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR, I/GNEA, 
B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN 
USAID/ANE/MEA 
LONDON FOR POL 
PARIS FOR POL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KPAO, IZ, KMDR, KU 
SUBJECT: KUWAIT SPECIAL MEDIA REACTION - HARIRI 
ASSASSINATION INVESTIGATION 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. The Kuwaiti Arabic print media exhibited views from both 
sides of the spectrum concerning the International 
Independent Investigation Commission's report and what may 
subsequently result from its discussion in the United 
Nations Security Council.  Opinions on the subject varied 
from supporting the findings of the investigation and those 
involved in preparing it to calling the results of the 
report untrue and politicized. 
 
Selected Headlines 
------------------ 
 
2. Tuesday, October 25, 2005 
 
-- Al-Rai Al-Aam p. 33: "Blazy calls on Syria to cooperate 
  with Mehlis"; p. 35: "The gray report"; "Ended where he 
  began" 
-- Al-Watan p. 47: "December 15th is the last chance: Syria 
  has choice with little room for maneuvering" 
 
3. Wednesday, October 26, 2005 
 
-- Al-Qabas p. 29: "Al-Hariri is not an athlete" 
-- Al-Watan front page: "Bush: Diplomacy before the military 
option.  Security Council: cooperation or sanctions" 
-- Al-Seyassah front page: "Bush accuses Syrian officials of 
killing Al-Hariri.  Mehlis does not rule out questioning Al- 
Asad personally" 
-- Al-Rai Al-Aam p. 19: "Syria in the circle of danger. Will 
it make the painful decisions?" 
 
4. Friday, October 28, 2005 
 
-- Al-Watan p. 25: "Syrian protests do not stop 
international procedures" 
 
5. Saturday, October 29, 2005 
 
-- Al-Seyassah front page: "Mubarak to Al-Asad: No one 
trusts the Syrian regime" 
-- Al-Seyassah p. 32: "Mehlis and the search for the truth" 
-- Al-Qabas front page: "Larson: Al-Asad said to me that Al- 
Hariri is playing dirty roles against us and Ghazala 
represents me in Lebanon" 
-- Al-Rai Al-Aam p. 35: "The missing Syrian story, rather 
stories" 
 
6. Sunday, October 30, 2005 
 
-- Al-Qabas front page: "Al-Asad forms investigation 
committee to investigate those linked to Al-Hariri's 
assassination" 
-- Al-Watan p. 53: "The Syrian predicament between the Iraqi 
and Libyan models" 
-- Al-Seyassah front page: "Syrian deployment at the 
Lebanese border to support Palestinian factions" 
-- Al-Rai Al-Aam p. 20: "The Syrian Samurai. and the 
struggle of the security forces" 
 
Block Quotes 
------------ 
 
7. Tuesday, October 25, 2005 
 
-- Amna Al-Mosawi wrote for moderate Al-Rai Al-Aam under the 
title "The gray report": "After months of investigation, the 
Mehlis report finally looks like a deformed newborn coming 
out of the womb of politicization at one end and the lack of 
the needed professionalism at the other.  It fell right into 
the gray zone where it did not prove the guilt of any party, 
nor did it prove the innocence of any party. 
 
-- Dr. Jasim Al-Fuhaid also wrote for Al-Rai Al-Aam "Ended 
where he began"; "The conclusions to which the international 
committee investigating the assassination of the former 
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri arrived were no 
surprise. The German judge did not succeed in presenting a 
convincing report, one that is supported by strong evidence. 
The United States is not in a hurry to finalize the Syrian 
situation so it will let it cook on a slow fire or at least 
until it is able to free itself from the Iraq and 
Afghanistan quagmires." 
 
8. Wednesday, October 26, 2005 
 
-- Under the headline "Al-Hariri is not an athlete," Ali 
Ahmed Al-Baghli wrote for moderate Al-Qabas: "I invite all 
those for whom the Mehlis' report was not to their liking 
and claimed that it is politicized to read reports by any 
Arab intelligence gathering agency.  They will see the 
recurrence of phrases such as `came to my knowledge,' .or `a 
secret source told me.'  Mehlis' report did not have any 
 
SIPDIS 
such phrases.  It presented all the evidence and reasons for 
the accusation of the security apparatuses of Syria and 
Lebanon.  Al-Hariri was a politician, his assassination was 
political, and there is no reason why the report on his 
assassination should not be political." 
 
-- Shaaban Aboud wrote for moderate Al-Rai Al-Aam under the 
title "Syria in the circle of danger. Will it make the 
painful decisions?": "Eminent danger lays in Mehlis squarely 
placing responsibility for the assassination on Syria's and 
Lebanon's security apparatuses shoulders.  The question 
today is whether or not Syrian diplomats will be able to 
handle this dangerous detrimental twist.  Damascus is at a 
crossroads, it seems to be the final test. While we must 
remember that the report did provide for a diplomatic 
solution through stating that it was not final." 
 
9. Friday, October 28, 2005 
 
-- Abdul Mohsen Al-Hussainy wrote for Al-Watan under the 
title "Syrian protests do not stop international 
procedures": "Student and workers' unions in Syria organized 
protests before even the United Nations Security Council 
discussed the Mehlis report. Syrian officials, one of whom 
is the Minister of Information, spoke out with claims that 
the report is part of a Zionist imperialist conspiracy 
against Syria. Syria should have learned its lesson by 
observing what happened to Iraq and how Libya sensed how 
dangerous the situation was and gave up its weapons of mass 
destruction." 
 
10. Saturday, October 29, 2005 
 
-- Hamza Al-Shmaikhy wrote for the pro-government daily Al- 
Seyassah under the title "Mehlis and the search for the 
truth": "The report presented by the international judge 
Mehlis contains evidence and information that Arabs with 
influence in Lebanon are behind the assassination and not 
others as some people had wanted. The truth will come out no 
matter how long it takes and the blood of the victims will 
not be wasted so long as there are honest ones from out 
region and our world who demand the truth." 
 
-- Shaaban Aboud for moderate Al-Rai Al-Aam wrote under the 
title "The missing Syrian story, rather stories": "He who 
reads the Syrian position on the assassination of the 
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri and after examining 
what occurred in Iraq prior to the invasion may see that 
Damascus is right to claim that Washington is replaying the 
same scenario again and preparing to invade Syria. Syria has 
much work ahead of it as the belief of innocence, public 
demonstration, or the support of some is not enough." 
 
11. Sunday, October 30, 2005 
 
-- Dr. Abduallh Khalifa Al-Shaiji wrote for daily Al-Watan 
under the headline "The Syrian predicament between the Iraqi 
and Libyan models": "The decision to assassinate Al-Hariri 
could not have been taken without the consent of high 
ranking Syrian security officials. Syria is weak and 
surrounded quickly losing its strategic weight. This will be 
the reasons for having it follow the Libyan model but with a 
much shorter time frame, avoiding the Iraqi scenario because 
it is not viable for the US. It would widen the conflict 
zone to span from the Mediterranean to Afghanistan and from 
Turkey to the Gulf. Syria does not have many options at its 
disposal." 
 
-- Dr. Mufeed Al-Sawaf wrote for moderate Al-Rai Al-Aam 
under the headline "The Syrian Samurai.and the struggle of 
the security forces": "General Ghazi Kanaan died, killed 
himself, or was assassinated.  His adversaries described him 
as the brightest most powerful, most dangerous man in the 
Middle East.  He was responsible for stopping the Lebanese 
civil war and preventing the division of Lebanon as well as 
contributing to the establishment of executive, ministerial, 
and parliamentary institutions in Lebanon.  The results of 
the lying, cheating, and manipulative Mehlis investigation, 
with the leak of his analysis, completed the Hollywood-like 
scene at the United Nations." 
 
LEBARON