MUMBAI BLITZ; GUANTANAMO 07/12/06;BUENOS AIRES

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001548 SIPDIS STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC, WHA/EPSC CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION SUBJECT: MUMBAI BLITZ; GUANTANAMO 07/12/06;BUENOS AIRES ¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT Today's leading international stories include the bomb blitz in Mumbai killing more than 160 in India's worst terrorist attack since 1993; and the USG's alleged announcement that the Geneva Convention will apply to the Guantanamo prison. ¶2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES - "Just alike" Marcelo Cantelmi, international editor of leading "Clarin," comments (07/129 "The Mumbay criminal assault is similar to the Atocha attack in Madrid in 2004. Both attacks were launched against trains or railway stations, synchronized, and in neither of the two cases did anyone immediately claim responsibility. If more similarities become apparent, they would not only point to a connection but to something more serious... "A more dangerous and spontaneous enemy has emerged with its own funds, timing and targeting the attacks based on common themes - the war in Iraq, harassment of the Palestinians, hatred of the 'crusades' and their allies.'" - "Al Qaeda's fingerprint" Left-of-center "Pagina 12" carries an opinion piece by Santiago O'Donnell, who writes (07/12) "... Today, it seems impossible not to associate the regional confrontation between India and Pakistan and the global conflict between the Islamic fundamentalism and the West and its allies. "Ties between Kashmir's separatist groups and Al Qaeda are not new... "... The US invasion of Afghanistan unleashed an exodus of Arab and Afghan warriors toward Kashmir... "It is clear that Al Qaeda would profit from a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. The terrorist network has proved it tends to promote and fuel regional conflicts in Indonesia, the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Philippines for its own benefit. There are no reasons to think that yesterday's attack is external to this logic." - "Now, Bush will reportedly acknowledge rights to terrorist prisoners" Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading "Clarin," writes (07/12) "In a 180-degree turn, the Bush administration announced yesterday that every terrorist prisoner, including those who have been detainees for four years in Guantanamo will be protected by the Geneva Convention and will have the guarantee of humane treatment set forth in it. "... So far, the Bush administration has argued that prisoners of the antiterrorist war were not such, but simply terrorists, and therefore, they had no right to protection through the Geneva Convention. "... The shift in policy is due to the US Supreme Court ruling that declared the extraordinary military courts established by the White House to deliberate detainees in Guantanamo illegal." - "Bush cedes to world pressure about Guantanamo prison" Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for daily-of-record "La Nacion," comments (07/12) "Four and a half years after the arrival of the first prisoners to the Guantanamo prison, the Geneva Convention will be enforced in the Caribbean military base where the US has arrested hundreds of Al Qaeda's alleged terrorists. "Yesterday, the White House confirmed the unexpected order, which will turn detainees arrested by US troops in any part of the world into 'war prisoners.' In the meantime, the Bush administration is seeking a way out through the US Congress." To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our classified website at: http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires GUTIERREZ