MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ; WESTERN HEMISPHERE: OAS MINISTERIAL

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000145

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD

DEPT PASS USTR

USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ; WESTERN HEMISPHERE: OAS MINISTERIAL
MEETING; SAO PAULO


1. "Endless Nightmare At Sight"

Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo
editorialized (3/19): "A few days before the fifth anniversary of
the invasion of Iraq, the second most clamorous allegation by the
Bush administration to justify the war against Saddam Hussein
collapsed.... A Washington-based institute working for the Pentagon
concluded that there is no indication of connections between the
Iraqi dictatorship and Al Qaeda.... It has become increasingly
evident that Washington's reasoning, first on the need to 'change
the regime' in Baghdad, and then on advances in building a new -
peaceful and democratic - Iraq, is a continuous fraud. The truth is
that one of the longest armed conflicts in American history, which
was born from an arrogant, risky and misinformed decision made in
opposition to international law, has produced an amazing
humanitarian catastrophe that affects above all the values on which
the US is based.... The US financial crisis is directly related to
Iraq.... There is no light at the end of the tunnel.... Military
analysts believe that the US has not yet reached half of the way [to
the end of the war].... American voters will decide in November if
this is an Iraqi problem or if the US must remain in Iraq; no one
knows for how long and at the cost of who knows how many lives."


2. "OAS Performing Its Role"

The lead editorial in center-right national circulation daily O
Estado de S. Paulo maintained (3/19): "All South American nations,
except Brazil, have problems involving border dispute with their
neighbors.... Therefore, it is understandable that, more than in any
other region of the world, the inviolability of borders on this
continent is an untouchable precept.... The OAS resolution on the
crisis between Ecuador and Colombia was guided in accordance with
such a concern.... As [Brazilian] Foreign Minister Celso Amorim
noted, the principle of a legitimate defense principle could not be
invoked in this case because Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had
already apologized to Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa - and no
one apologizes for having acted in legitimate self-defense. But
everyone also knew that Ecuador's territory has been used as
sanctuary by the FARC. Considering these facts, diplomacy has
performed its role. The OAS 'repudiated' - but 'did not condemn' -
the invasion by Colombian military of Ecuador's borders, and thereby
preserved the principle of inviolability of borders.... As a result,
the bilateral diplomatic crisis that Colonel Hugo Chvez's undue
interference almost transformed into an armed conflict was disarmed.
But the causes of the dispute remain untouched. As long as the FARC
continue to use at ease border areas in Ecuador and Venezuela as
sanctuary and supplying bases, there will always be a possibility of
conflict between these nations. At no moment during her visit to
Brazil last week Secstate Condoleezza Rice proposed that the concept
of borders should be 'flexible,' as some observers interpreted her
statements. What she clearly said was that the nations of the
region, especially those affected by the FARC's actions, should
examine the possibility of creating a system of cooperation to
prevent border areas from being used by delinquent groups.... This
type of cooperation does not violate international laws. On the
contrary.... The FARC have already had opportunities to integrate
into Colombia's normal political life, but they preferred to go on
killing, kidnapping and trafficking. They are a terrorist gang and
should be treated as such."
White