Qaboos-thoughtful,Britisheducated,soft-spoken-focusedontheneedtotransfonnthemora]climate
as
toterrorism.Heurgedmeto"hint"
to
theEgyptiansthattheirleadingclericsshouldbemorevocalaboutIslamicprohibitionsagainstkillinginnocentpeople,becausethatcouldchangethewayyoungMoslemsthinkaboutthemorality
of
terroristacts.Notingthatterrorists'''live
in
shadowandplan
in
darkness,"heaskedhowwecan"preventthesepeoplefromhavingfacilitiesandfundstodotheirevilwork."Hesaidthe
US
effortagainstthemwilltaketime,but
if
it
is
sustained
-hestressedthekeyword-perhapswe'llseeagreatdecline
in
theseactivities.Thistragedy,Qaboosobserved,canbe
an
importantopportunity.PerhapsGodhasarrangedthat
it
happened,
in
thisway,atthistime,topreventevenworsethingsfromhappening
in
thefuture.Perhapsbecause
of
thistragicwarning,wewillhave
an
opportunitytopreventweapons
of
massdestructionfrombeingusedbyterrorists.HesaidthatIslamicterroristsaim
to
overthrowgovernmentssuch
as
histocreateanIslamicKbalifate-religiousrule
by
asingle"Deputy
of
Allah"overthewholeMoslemworld.Omanrejectsthis,hesaid,asacountryproud
of
itslongindependence.QaboostookpainstonotethatOmanwasneverpart
of
theOttomanEmpire.OmankeptitsindependenceforafewhundredyearsbylinkingitselftotheleadingWesternpower(Britainthen,theUSnow)toprotectitselfagainsttheSaudis,Persians,andotherstrongneighbors.Thelastpointwas,]think,hisimpliedmessagewhenhespoke
of
doingallhecantohelpthe
US
inthewaragainstterrorism.QaboosrepeatedlyreturnedtotheproblemscausedbyArabmediareports,
in
particularfromtheal-Jaziratelevisionstation,thatpromotetheterrorists'point
of
view.HeurgedtheUStohighlightthehumanitarianaidaspects
of
ourcampaignandtorefrainfromactionduringRamadan.Hesummarizedhisviewssuccinctly:
"We
trustyou.We'reallies.Ihavenothingelsetoadd."
DeclassifiedBy
Ch
RDD,ESD
WHS
lAW
EO12958asamendedSep18,2008
3
08-M-3284
