AUSTRIA ON THE NEW WAY FORWARD ON IRAQ

UNCLAS VIENNA 000111 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR EUR/AGS - SAINT-ANDRE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: MARR MOPS PGOV PREL IZ AU SUBJECT: AUSTRIA ON THE NEW WAY FORWARD ON IRAQ REF: STATE 3592 This message is Sensitive but Unclassified. Please handle accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) DCM and EconPolCouns discussed the President's Iraq policy address with Austrian MFA Middle East and Africa Director Ralph Scheide on January 16. The DCM stressed the importance of ensuring the independence, integrity and democratic development of Iraq. He said America would help Iraq oppose violent extremists, recognizing that a basic level of security is critical to political and economic progress. He noted that the Iraqi government had to take the lead in bringing the current situation to a successful conclusion. ¶2. (SBU) Scheide said no one in Austria or throughout the EU could be happy about the problems the coalition faced in Iraq. The successful reconstruction of Iraq was important, he said. Austria had provided political and economic support, along with security assistance in the form of police trainers at the Iraqi Police Academy in Jordan. He said all of us were united in the effort to make Iraq peaceful, stable and united. We all knew, he added, that there were no easy answers. Scheide noted that the U.S. strategy in Iraq depended on the willingness of Iraqis to do their part. He expressed the hope, tinged with some doubt, that this would be the case. ¶3. (SBU) Scheide said the Austrian press was reporting that one of the Iranians the U.S. arrested in Iraq the prior week was Mohammed Jafari Sahroudi. Sahroudi was the subject of an international arrest warrant for participating in the assassination of three Kurdish opposition leaders in Vienna in 1989. Scheide asked that we let him know if we had any confirmation of these reports. ¶4. (SBU) Scheide also asked whether there had been a toughening of the United States' stance toward Iran. DCM replied that the U.S. remained committed to a multilateral track to address Iran's nuclear program. Regarding Iranian interference in Iraq, however, the President had made very clear that we would continue to counter such efforts whenever we could. McCaw