UNGA: AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD VOICES CONCERN TO PGA

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000842

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV AORC UNGA
SUBJECT: UNGA: AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD VOICES CONCERN TO PGA
ABOUT HIS OPENING SESSION REMARKS

REF: USUN NEW YORK 831

Classified By: Ambassador Alex Wolff for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Ambassador Khalilzad met September 18 with UN General
Assembly President (PGA) Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann to express
concern with the PGA's opening session speech that included
direct and mildly-veiled jabs at the United States (reftel).
Ambassador Khalilzad said the PGA's speech looked backwards
rather than forwards, contrary to the PGA's earlier
commitments, and criticized the U.S. several times.
Ambassador Khalilzad stressed that the PGA represents all
Member States, including the United States, and that his job
was to bring the membership together, not divide it.
Ambassador Khalilzad referred to his previous challenging
assignments to countries with many tribes and noted that the
PGA had a difficult job here as well, representing 192
different tribes. He said that he hoped he could count on
the PGA to approach his new responsibilities in this spirit.


2. (C) The PGA responded that he understood that his remarks
had been perceived as "slanted." He said he would take
Ambassador Khalilzad's comments as coming from a friend and
would make sure that in the future no one misconstrues what
he says. He said he looked forward to working with the
Ambassador and stressed, "You and I do not aspire to a
different thing." In a pull-aside at the end, d'Escoto
assured Khalilzad that he was not going to give the same
speech at the opening of the General Debate on September 23
but something shorter. He also said he would show due
respect to President Bush.


3. (SBU) Also present in the meeting were Chief of Staff
Norman Miranda and Senior Advisors Magda Enriquez and Paul
Oquist, all from the PGA's office.


4. (C) Bio note: At the start of the meeting, the PGA
directed Ambassador Khalilzad's attention to a set of three
icons he had hung behind his desk. He described the three
individuals as his primary influences. The icons were of
Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dorothy Day of New York.
Hanging on the opposite wall was a picture of Tolstoy whom
he said he quotes in every speech, including the opening
session speech where he referenced Tolstoy's "mad
selfishness." The PGA appeared healthy but wears two hearing
aids. He did say that he suffers from sudden bouts of
vertigo and hoped they would not come at important moments of
his presidency. End bio note.
Khalilzad