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