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