Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BUENOSAIRES2389
2006-10-24 09:37:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Buenos Aires
Cable title:  

US PRESIDENT BUSH'S STATEMENTS ON IRAQ; GLOBAL WAR ON

Tags:  KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION 
pdf how-to read a cable
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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #2389/01 2970937
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 240937Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6284
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT
UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002389 

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: US PRESIDENT BUSH'S STATEMENTS ON IRAQ; GLOBAL WAR ON
TERRORISM; DR PARROT TO BUENOS AIRES; ECUADORIAN ELECTIONS;
10/20/06; BUENOS AIRES


UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002389

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: US PRESIDENT BUSH'S STATEMENTS ON IRAQ; GLOBAL WAR ON
TERRORISM; DR PARROT TO BUENOS AIRES; ECUADORIAN ELECTIONS;
10/20/06; BUENOS AIRES



1. SUMMARY STATEMENT

Key international stories today include US President George W.
Bush's statement about a possible parallel between the rise in
violence in Iraq and the 1968 Communist Tet offensive; an
Argentine-Bolivian gas deal worth 17 billion dollars; the role to be
played by the 'Coalition of the Willing' in the Global War on
Terror; and Dr. Wayne Parrot's press round table in Buenos Aires.
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an editorial highlighting the
polarization in the Ecuadorian runoff election.


2. OPINION PIECES

- "Violence in Iraq does not stop and harasses the White House"

Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for
daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes (10/20) "Only 19 days away from
elections, which could deprive US President Bush of his real power
until the end of his term in office, he acknowledged that prevailing
violence in Iraq has some similarities with the Vietnam war...

"He made this surprising statement at a crucial moment - more than
71 US soldiers died last month in Iraq - one of the highest numbers
this year. According to the US military command in Baghdad, the
strategy adopted to appease the Iraqi capital city has been
counterproductive, and Democrats are increasingly confident that
they will win elections...

"... Only two-and-a-half weeks away from elections..., the US
political and electoral dynamics seems to have reversed the
prevailing trend of the 2002 legislative elections and the 2004
presidential elections. Now, Democrats are the ones who have shifted
the blame on Republicans for a 'failure' in Iraq and accused Bush of
incompetence."

- "The Coalition of the Vulnerable"

Daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an op-ed story by Juan Gabriel
Tokatlian, professor of International Relations at Universidad San
Andres, who opines (10/20) "... The boom of fundamentalist
terrorism, Western powers' military deployment in the Middle East
and Central Asia, the persistence of long-lasting ethnical conflicts
and armed confrontations, the persistent degradation of civil wars

in Asia, Africa and Latin America, the global destabilizing
consequences of the US hegemony strategy, the regional and
international uncertainty vis-`-vis the irruption of emerging
powers, a fast-moving destruction of the environment everywhere, the
dangerous weakening of multilateralism and the explosive increase in
inequality make up a lethal combination that could increase the use
of force.

"... In brief, both the global and regional scenarios call for
urgent awareness and greater activism against war and violence.
Vis-`-vis the recurring call, from Iraq to Haiti, to make up a
'Coalition of the Willing' to fight terrorism and impose changes of
regimes, the time has come to make up a 'Coalition of the
Vulnerable' among all those who have been, are, and potentially will
be direct victims of abusive use of force, manipulation of
humanitarian international law and the cloudy practices of 'real
politik.'

"This means going beyond state diplomacy - many times, our
precarious States may not (and sometimes they do not want to)
criticize the logic of the powerful. This is why the time has come
to foster citizens' diplomacy.

"I understand that this diplomacy could be carried out by non
governmental, unarmed groups who can benignly take over a role that
traditionally belongs to the State and set out new alliances with
the international civil society."

- "'We expect a broader GMO range'"

Juan Martinez Dodda, columnist of "InfoCampo," an agricultural
supplement of business-financial, center-right "InfoBae," writes
(10/20) "Ten years after the first transgenic crops were sowed, US
academician and geneticist Wayne Parrot has come to Argentina.
During his visit, he lectured on the history and the new trends in
biotechnology, he presented compiled data from his ten years of work
at the Argentine Congress in order to 'clarity some concepts on
genetic modification.'

"Parrot predicted that in the upcoming years there will be a much
broader range of features in transgenic crops, which will add to new
developments in resilience to insects and herbicides."



3. EDITORIALS

- "Tough electoral confrontation in Ecuador"

Daily-of-record "La Nacion" editorializes (10/20) "Last Sunday's
first round of presidential elections in Ecuador attracted the
region's attention, not only due to the political division which is
typical of the country but also because of the diametrically-opposed
political proposals that will polarize runoff elections.

"Protected by Hugo Chavez, we have Rafael Correa, a noisy left-wing
nationalist. According to opinion surveys, he was going to win the
first round. His competitor is conservative billionaire Alvaro
Noboa...

"Obviously enough, the proposals from Noboa and Correa are radically
different. Noboa is virulently anti-Chavez. So much so that he has
promised that as soon as he wins elections he will cut ties with
Cuba and Venezuela. Being pro-market economy, Noboa will attempt to
capture domestic and foreign investment in order to create the best
possible business climate. For this purpose, he will try to reach an
FTA with the US, something Colombia and Peru have already done...

"His main opponent, Rafael Correa..., is against reaching an FTA
with the US, he has suggested not to honor the country's foreign
debt and to increase taxes and royalties on foreign corporations,
particularly oil corporations. He thinks that the FARC are not a
terrorist organization, he promised to close the Manta US Navy base
and suggested that he could un-dollarize the economy.

"Once again, in what appears as a chain of failures, the big
defeated of this first round in elections has been Venezuelan Hugo
Chavez. His interventionist policies and authoritarian proposals
seem to scare away voters. Just like in Peru and Mexico, this also
appears to have been the case in Ecuador.

"... Once again, the Ecuadorian political scenario suggests that
whoever takes office will have to lead a coalition government, in an
environment of probable instability and a country divided, with
confronted positions."

To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our
classified website at:
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires

MATERA