UNGA 62: USUAL SUSPECTS CRITICAL OF U.S. IN THE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000861 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM UNGA SUBJECT: UNGA 62: USUAL SUSPECTS CRITICAL OF U.S. IN THE GENERAL DEBATE REF: (A) USUN 840 (B) USUN 820 USUN NEW Y 00000861 001.2 OF 002 Sensitive But Unclassified; Protect Accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. During the United Nations General Debate, several member states praised the United States on a variety of issues, including peacebuilding, reconstruction, debt relief, and democracy. Several heads of state were outspoken in their harsh criticism of the United States, primarily on Iraq and Iran policy. Countries that went out of their way to compliment U.S. policy included Afghanistan, Albania, Colombia, Liberia, Niger, Malawi, Mauritius, and Papau New Guinea. Critical countries were the usual suspects -- Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Iran, Syria, and Zimbabwe. The negative comments have had no traction except as fodder for USG responses to candidacies of these nations for various UN committees and other subgroups. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) This year's General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) took place over the period Seprtember 25 to October 3 and featured 191 presentations, 70 of them delivered by heads of state. Reftel summarizes significant comments on major themes. This message summarizes positve and negative comments on the U.S. Copies of all speeches can be viewed at un.org/webcast/ga/62/. Per ref A, USDEL was not present during the speeches by representatives of Burma, Venezuela, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Syria, Lebanon (President Lahoud), Iran, and Belarus, leaving only a notetaker at the desk. The notetaker also walked out during the Cuba and Zimbabwe interventions. Kudos to U.S. Policy and Initiatives -------------- ¶3. (U) Several leaders expressed appreciation for U.S. efforts to assist developing countries. President Karzai of Afghanistan thanked the United States and others for the support they have given to his country's reconstruction effort. Albania echoed President Bush's "message of hope ... to all the peoples of the world still living under tyrannical regimes" and thanked the U.S. for its valuable financial and technical assistance for disarmament. Colombia praised the "positive willingness" of the U.S. to facilitate dialogue between GOC and the FARC. ¶4. (U) Several African countries also praised the United States, with Niger stating that President Bush's initiative in the Middle East could constitute a "precious opportunity" and help Lebanon. (Note: this point was not delivered but was included in the official text of Niger's speech. End Note). Malawi's President spoke favorably of the U.S. several times, highlighting that President Bush's Malaria Initiative enables his country to distribute 23 million mosquito nets. Liberia thanked the U.S. and other partners for support toward national reconstruction programs and their active steps toward debt relief. Negative Interventions From the Usual Suspects -------------- - ¶5. (SBU) As in past years, a handful of countries used the General Debate forum to lambaste U.S. policy. Leaders using the harshest language against the U.S. came from Bolivia, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Syria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. Summaries of their interventions follow. -- Bolivia: President Evo Morales alluded to the "superpower" engaging in "military intervention (and) demonization." President Evo Morales commented that the U.S. "doesn't send in troops to liberate" peoples. -- Cuba: Foreign Minister Perez Roque spoke primarily on USUN NEW Y 00000861 002.2 OF 002 behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM),but ended his statement with a pointed attack against the U.S., referring to the President's earlier address as giving orders with a "bossiness never ever before seen" in the General Assembly. He called the U.S. "a strange warrior" that sent people to die thousands of miles away and was responsible for the deaths of 60,000 Iraqis. -- Iran: President Ahmadinejad alluded to "certain powers" that "set up secret prisons, abduct persons, have secret punishments without any regard to due process" and that "lie openly, level baseless charges against others, act contrary to legal norms ... (and) abandon morality." He said the "rights and the dignity of American people are being sacrificed for the selfish desires of those holding power." -- Nicaragua: In a rambling screed, President Ortega repeatedly criticized the evils of "global imperialist capitalism." He began by remembering what he called "the millions of victims ... of the policies of colonialism and neo-colonialism, ... the empire fighting against terrorism, ... the genocide perpetrated by global capitalism, ... (and the) discrimination and apartheid brought on by ... the developed countries." He criticized the "brutal and inhumane blockade" of Cuba by the U.S. and asked what right President Bush had to question North Korea on its nuclear capabilities or Iran on its peaceful nuclear energy when the U.S. is the only country to "launch atomic bombs on innocent people." -- Syria: Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem claimed that the U.S. fabricated news to justify Israel's recent "act of aggression" against Syria and said, "by distorting the facts (the U.S. has) become Israel's accomplice in this act." He questioned whether Israel or Americans still have the will to make peace when "actions and realities suggest otherwise" and said that "the occupying power spends hundreds of billions of dollars on military operations inside Iraq but fails to allocate any resources to assist Iraqis who have been forced out of Iraq as a result of occupation and its concomitant repercussions." -- Venezuela: Foreign Minister Moros delivered a highly critical rant against U.S. foreign policy and called for a multilateral system to replace "17 years of unipolar domination." While brimming with fiery rhetoric, Moros' remarks were less confrontational than those delivered by Hugo Chavez at last year's UNGA. Moros accused the U.S. of misleading the people of Iraq in order to justify the war, calling Iraq's occupation an example of the "war mongering madness" the U.S. seeks to impose upon the world. Moros also charged the U.S. with orchestrating an international media campaign to "demonize" the people of Iran. -- Zimbabwe: President Mugabe directed numerous inflammatory comments toward the U.S. during his 20-minute diatribe. He stated that the President "stands for this 'civilization', which occupied, which colonized, which incarcerated, which killed." He described the President's hands as, "drip(ping) with innocent blood of many nationalities" and asserted, "He still kills. He kills in Iraq. He kills in Afghanistan. And this is supposed to be our master on human rights?" ¶6. (SBU) Virtually none of our interlocutors has referred to any of these anti-U.S. comments since they were made. Post has filed away the references for possible use as the nations involved launch bids for membership in UN councils, commissions, and other subgroups. KHALILZAD