US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT4713

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 004713 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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 MEDIA REACTION: GUANTANAMO DETAINEES RELEASE 
 
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Summary 
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1. Kuwaiti Arabic language press celebrated the return of 
the five detained at the Guantanamo Bay facility.  They were 
glorified as returning heroes with their names, photos, and 
biographical information occupying considerable space on 
front pages of the five major dailies.  Only one writer took 
a critical position regarding their return, based on 
security concerns.  As the coverage continued, the 
newspapers took a sympathetic tone, publishing testimony of 
their relatives to the visible physical abuse they suffered 
while at Guantanamo Bay.  Photos of the aircraft that 
transported the detainees to Kuwait and the ambulances that 
transported them from the airport to the military hospital 
were also displayed.  End summary. 
 
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Selected Headlines 
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2. Friday, November 4, 2005 
 
-- Al-Rai Al-Aam front page "Kuwait receives the five 
detainees from America" 
 
-- Al-Qabas front page, continued on p. 3, with photos of 
the five "Kuwait receives five Guantanamo detainees" 
 
-- Al-Qabas p. 3 "Al-Oada: Al-Shimmary is a skeleton and Al- 
Ajmi is suffering a nervous breakdown" 
 
-- Al-Seyassah front page, continued on p. 28, "Kuwait 
received five of its Guantanamo detainees" 
 
3. Saturday, November 5, 2005 
 
-- Al-Watan front page "The detainees' families visited them 
twice, today is the third, and their release is unlikely" 
 
-- Al-Watan p. 3 including photos and biographical 
information "Security sources reaffirm: No release for the 
Guantanamo returnees" 
 
-- Al-Seyassah front page, continued on p. 32, "Guantanamo 
returnees in court in four days" 
 
-- Al-Rai Al-Aam front page, continued on p. 24, "Guantanamo 
returnees at the military hospital and releasing the 
remaining six is on the front burner" 
 
-- Al-Qabas front page, continued on p. 3, "Guantanamo 
returnees: the interrogation focused on their reasons for 
going to Afghanistan and their relationship with Al-Qaeda" 
 
-- Al-Anbaa front page "National Security interrogates 
Guantanamo returnees before transferring them to the Public 
Prosecutor" 
 
4. Monday, November 7, 2005 
 
-- Al-Qabas p. 3 "Health of Guantanamo returnees improves 
and they will leave hospital in two days" 
 
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Block Quotes 
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5. Saturday, November 5, 2005 
 
-- Dr. Ayed Al-Manaa wrote for the moderate daily Al-Watan 
under the title "Congratulations to the five and hopefully 
the rest will follow": "There is no doubt that the Kuwaiti 
government and more specifically the Foreign Ministry 
exerted a massive amount of effort to convince the American 
administration to release the Kuwaiti citizens detained at 
Guantanamo.  The Kuwaiti citizens that have been released 
lost years of their lives solely because of suspicions of 
terrorism without being charged with any crime.  This same 
 
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inhumane situation is still imposed on the remaining six as 
well as dozens of others captured during and after the 
American war against the Taliban regime. How could it that 
the political leadership of the leader of the free world and 
the foremost defender of human rights allows its employees 
to conduct themselves in a manner contrary to human rights 
and their dignity?" 
 
-- Under the title "Time bombs and a lost budget" Nabil Al- 
Fadl also wrote for moderate Al-Watan "Two emotions overcome 
us as we read about the arrival of the Kuwaiti detainees at 
Guantanamo, although it is wrong to call them Kuwaiti 
detainees as Kuwait did not send them to partake in the 
Taliban's dirty war.  The first emotion is that of 
uncontrollable joy as in the hearts of mothers and fathers 
receiving their sons after four years.  The second emotion, 
however, is the rational fear of their return.  They are 
time bombs that will someday detonate in our yards.  In the 
past, some have been charged on more than one occasion with 
terrorist charges.  I beg the pardon of their mothers and 
fathers but my love for this country and its security and 
stability is greater than theirs for their sons and greater 
than that for my own sons." 
 
6. Monday, November 7, 2005 
 
-- Dr. Ahmed Al-Rabie wrote "The Gulf Afghanis have arrived" 
for moderate Al-Qabas: "The arrival of the Gulf Afghans to 
their respective countries has begun.  They are mostly 
young, tired, and sick, some are guilty and some are 
innocent but that is not the issue worth discussing. The 
issue deserving of the investigators' time and efforts is 
that of who brainwashed these youths and snatched them from 
their mothers to caves in Tora Bora and onto Guantanamo Bay? 
What kind of hellish organization exists and functions in 
our mosques, schools, and summer camps?" 
 
-- Musaid Adel Al-Zfairy wrote for moderate Al-Watan under 
the title "Human rights, a big American illusion": "The five 
detainees arrived from Guantanamo Bay where they were held 
under the threat of force and cowboy laws.  We pose a 
question to the liberals and their like obsessed with 
American culture maybe they would be of help to us, if they 
believe in holding America accountable.  American with its 
swagger and arrogance increases its enemies and molds them 
into revenge projects and hostility programs against it and 
its citizenry.  What concerns us most are those Americanized 
amongst us. who no longer have any dignity or hold anything 
holy.  They are nothing more than mouthpieces repeating 
American slogans for human rights." 
 
-- Dr. Ayed Al-Manaa also wrote for moderate Al-Watan under 
the title "Give those released from Guantanamo a chance at 
life": "Although the five detainees released from Guantanamo 
Bay into Kuwaiti custody are happy with their current 
situation compared to the intolerable inhumane conditions 
they lived in for the last four years.  There is no reason 
why they should continue to be held by Kuwaiti authorities 
or tried, as they will not receive any new information that 
they did not previously know about them prior to their 
release." 
 
LEBARON