Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09STOCKHOLM239
2009-04-14 12:21:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Stockholm
Cable title:
Media Reaction - Op-ed on the pirate standoff in Somalia
how-toVZCZCXYZ0003 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHSM #0239 1041221 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 141221Z APR 09 FM AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4288
UNCLAS STOCKHOLM 000239
SIPDIS
SECSTATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PPD, EUR/NB, EUR/PA, EUR/FO
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO PINS PHUM PREF EUN SW
SUBJECT: Media Reaction - Op-ed on the pirate standoff in Somalia
I. On April 14, the independent liberal Stockholm tabloid
"Expressen" published a signed op-ed by Mats Larsson, Foreign Editor
headlined 'Now the pirates have aggravated the wrong president':
"Barack Obama yesterday added one more goal for his foreign policy.
The United States will put a stop to piracy off the Somalian coast.
It was no coincidence that he made the statement yesterday. Only a
few hours earlier, the 53-year-old American Captain Richard
Phillips, had been liberated by American elite soldiers from a life
boat in the Indian Ocean....
"In the White House, Obama was continuously kept informed about the
situation in the Indian Ocean. Outwards it was said the President
played no decisive role, but in actual fact he was briefed at least
17 times since his return from his tour in Europe, Turkey and Iraq
last week. And it was eventually Obama himself who gave the order
to launch the rescue operation....
"On Saturday night reinforcements arrived. A group of American Navy
Seals parachuted over the ocean and were picked up by the USS
Bainbridge. The group included snipers....
"The French hostage crisis that partly ran parallel did not end as
happily as it was resolved on Friday....
"The question is what happens now after the French and American
raids. The risk is that the violence will escalate....
"It remains to be seen if Barack Obama is serious about his threats
against the pirates....
"It remains to be seen if Barack Obama dares [attack the bases].
The United States was seriously stung in the hornet's nest of
Somalia in 1993, when two American helicopters were shot down over
the capital Mogadishu and 18 soldiers killed. Since then the United
States has kept away."
SILVERMAN
SIPDIS
SECSTATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PPD, EUR/NB, EUR/PA, EUR/FO
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO PINS PHUM PREF EUN SW
SUBJECT: Media Reaction - Op-ed on the pirate standoff in Somalia
I. On April 14, the independent liberal Stockholm tabloid
"Expressen" published a signed op-ed by Mats Larsson, Foreign Editor
headlined 'Now the pirates have aggravated the wrong president':
"Barack Obama yesterday added one more goal for his foreign policy.
The United States will put a stop to piracy off the Somalian coast.
It was no coincidence that he made the statement yesterday. Only a
few hours earlier, the 53-year-old American Captain Richard
Phillips, had been liberated by American elite soldiers from a life
boat in the Indian Ocean....
"In the White House, Obama was continuously kept informed about the
situation in the Indian Ocean. Outwards it was said the President
played no decisive role, but in actual fact he was briefed at least
17 times since his return from his tour in Europe, Turkey and Iraq
last week. And it was eventually Obama himself who gave the order
to launch the rescue operation....
"On Saturday night reinforcements arrived. A group of American Navy
Seals parachuted over the ocean and were picked up by the USS
Bainbridge. The group included snipers....
"The French hostage crisis that partly ran parallel did not end as
happily as it was resolved on Friday....
"The question is what happens now after the French and American
raids. The risk is that the violence will escalate....
"It remains to be seen if Barack Obama is serious about his threats
against the pirates....
"It remains to be seen if Barack Obama dares [attack the bases].
The United States was seriously stung in the hornet's nest of
Somalia in 1993, when two American helicopters were shot down over
the capital Mogadishu and 18 soldiers killed. Since then the United
States has kept away."
SILVERMAN