ACTIVITY REPORT SUBMITTED BY THE POLITICAL, POL-MIL AND LABOR SECTIONS FOR THE PERIOD OF MARCH 12, 2004

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000994



SIPDIS





STATE FOR EUR/WE



E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/12/2014

TAGS: AMGT, IT

SUBJECT: ACTIVITY REPORT SUBMITTED BY THE POLITICAL,

POL-MIL AND LABOR SECTIONS FOR THE PERIOD OF MARCH 12, 2004



Classified By: ACTING POLITICAL COUNSELOR, JOHN BASS FOR REASONS 1.5 B

& D.



Political-Military



1. (C) Italy concurs in U.S./NATO goals and plans in

Afghanistan, and will pledge current funding levels in

Berlin. The GOI will lead a PRT, is leaning toward Herat as

the site, and is seriously considering leading a Forward

Support Base as well. (Rome 927, 960)



2. (SBU) Ambassador Burns discussed the Istanbul Summit, the

Greater Middle East (GME) Initiative, NATO prospects for Iraq

and Afghanistan and a successor mission to SFOR during a set

of excellent meetings Feb. 26-27 meetings with Italian

officials, journalists and academics in Rome. (Rome 0860)



3. (C) In a March 3 address to the North Atlantic Council,

FM Frattini presented Italian thinking on developing a

comprehensive political strategy to guide NATO's military

missions. He focused on improving security on NATO's

periphery, including the Med, Middle East, Afghanistan, and

Central Asia. Many of his points compliment our GME

Initiative and its corresponding security element, the

Istanbul Cooperation Initiative.



4. (C) We weighed in with Deputy Political Director

Bisogniero to urge--successfully--that Italy support a tough

resolution on Iran at this week's IAEA Board of Governors

(BOG) meeting. Although Italy came on board, it was not

helpful during negotiations on the text. It was in sync with

our approach to have the Board inform the UNSC that Libya had

in the past violated its nonproliferation commitments but was

now cooperating with the IAEA. (Rome 0895)



5. (C) Italy is working closely with Libya on a technical

request to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical

Weapons to approve the conversion of the Rabta facility to a

legitimate pharmaceutical production plant. (Rome 0777)



Internal



6. (SBU) The Ambassador continues efforts to get accurate

information about the U.S. naval presence in Sardinia into

all appropriate hands: a letter to Daisy President Rutelli,

and side-bars to meetings with Health Minister Sirchia and

Environment Minister Matteoli.



7. (C) The Government's internal review of cabinet

portfolios and policy priorities is over, but the truce will

be honored in the breach in the run-up to June elections to

the European Parliament. (Rome 791)



8. (C) At separate lunches with DS Secretary Fassino and DS

President D'Alema, the Ambassador pushed for support for

needed refurbishment and consolidation projects at La

Maddalena; explained the President's GME Initiative; and

sought insight into the upcoming elections. (Cable to follow)



9. (U) The Italian Chamber on March 10 joined the Senate in

approving funding for all of Italy's foreign military

missions, including Iraq. The center-left crumbled

embarrassingly. (Rome 969, 936)



10. (SBU) We reported that the amorphous nature of anarchist

activity in Italy has made the effort to combat it

particularly difficult; however, the GOI is organizing itself

to take on what it views as a growing threat. Anarchists

have an advantage in that they can easily melt back into

society after deploying their simple jerry-rigged explosive

devices. (Rome 0813)



External



11. (C) We reported that PM Blair during his March 4 lunch

with Berlusconi reassured him that the UK, France, and

Germany, had no plans to create a "directorate" for decision

making to the exclusion of other EU member states.

Nevertheless, our UK contacts told us that the "trilateral"

meetings would likely continue. (Rome 0887)



Law Enforcement/Counternarcotics



12. (SBU) Italian law enforcement officials are seeking

additional USG assistance in helping them prove that Ansar

al-Islam perpetrated the November 12 attack against

Carabinieri headquarters in Nasiriya. In coordination with

Legat and OCP, we outlined their request for Washington and

the CPA in Baghdad. (Rome 0854)





13. (U) Italy has nominated a candidate to the International

Narcotics Control Board and has requested our support. (Rome

0949)



14. (U) Italy's approach to the 47th session of the UN

Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna (March 15-22) will

track closely with ours. (Cable to follow)



Visits



15. (U) INR A/S Tom Fingar and INR Director for Europe Bo

Miller will be in Rome at the end of the month to attend a

conference on New Frontiers of Intelligence Analysis, in

which Gianni Letta is playing a lead role. We are arranging

a full schedule of meetings for both Tom and Bo around their

participation in the conference.



Outreach



16. (U) On March 15 we will introduce journalists from

Ideazione, a political journal linked to the center-right, to

Public Affairs and explore possibilities for an enhanced

relationship.



17. (U) On March 15 we will meet with On. Ferdinando

Adornato to learn more about his Liberal Foundation, which

has established a strong relationship with the American

Enterprise Institute.



Other



18. (U) The Ambassador will send a sympathy letter to the

Spanish Ambassador to Italy, condemning the March 11 Madrid

attacks.

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2004ROME00994 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL