VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHWL #0155/01 0590137
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 280137Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2445
INFO RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 4315

C O N F I D E N T I A L WELLINGTON 000155 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/ANP 
OSD FOR LIZ PHU 
PACOM FOR ADMIRAL FALLON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2013 
TAGS: PREL MNUC NZ
SUBJECT: CDR CENTCOM VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND 
 
Classified By: Classified By: DCM Ambassador William P. McCormick; Reas 
on 1.4 (A and D) 
 
¶1. (C)  Summary:  General Abizaid's February 23-25 visit to 
New Zealand came one month after Admiral Fallon's visit amid 
high media interest in the bilateral relationship. The 
General met with Prime Minister Clark, Defense Minister Goff 
and Foreign Minister Winston Peters, as well as with Chief of 
Defense Force Bruce Ferguson and other Defense Force (NZDF) 
officials.  He also toured some of the local Wellington sites 
and was received by a traditional Maori welcome ceremony upon 
arrival.  There was a short photo opportunity with the Prime 
Minister prior to the meeting and a small media availability 
at the NZ Defense HQ.  The General met with the NZ military 
service chiefs, participated in a government roundtable and 
gave the CENTCOM "Long War" presentation to several hundred 
NZDF personnel.  Despite a minor flap over press arrangements 
before the visit, neither the PM nor other Kiwi officials 
tried to hijack the visit to claim all was well with the 
U.S.-NZ relationship.  The Embassy considers this a victory. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C)  General Abizaid's February 23-25 visit to New Zealand 
came on the heels of Admiral Fallon's visit last month.  But 
unlike ADM Fallon, who is the regional U.S. commander for New 
Zealand and has operational responsibilities here, GEN 
Abizaid's status as a guest in the PACOM AOR called for a 
much lower-key media stance.  CENTCOM's visit was hosted by 
outgoing Chief of Defense Force Bruce Ferguson, who is due to 
retire in April.  The General was introduced to and had 
meetings with the candidates vying for AM Ferguson's position 
-- Army Chief MAJGEN Jerry Mateparae, AF Chief AVM John 
Hamilton, Navy Chief RADM David Ledson, Joint Forces CDR 
MAJGEN Lou Gardiner and Vice CDF AVM David Bamfield. 
 
¶3.  (C) The meeting with Prime Minister Helen Clark went very 
well.  Several days before the visit, however, the PM's Press 
Secretary stated PM's desire to do a full-on press conference 
 
SIPDIS 
after the office call with TV cameras, radio, etc.  We pushed 
back with CENTCOM's request, noting that such high visibility 
would be inappropriate since the General was in NZ at the 
invitation of the NZDF and has no operational 
responsibilities in this region.  After a few high-level 
phone calls it was agreed that there would be a photo 
availability prior to the meeting and no press conference. 
We were leery because the PM has previously used 
opportunities such as this for domestic political purposes or 
to claim the U.S. and New Zealand have completely moved 
beyond the anti-nuclear legislation disagreement.  However, 
at the office call, the PM immediately ushered in the General 
into her office after the photo opportunity. The press did 
not wait in ambush after the meeting. (Comment: While 
negotiations over the media coverage got quite heated at 
times, this event shows that a firm stance by the Embassy 
will, in the end, be respected.  End comment) 
 
¶4.  (C) After a brief welcome, the meeting started with the 
General thanking the PM for NZ's contribution to Afghanistan 
(PRT and Special Forces) and Iraq (Combat Engineers).  He 
said the PRT in Bamyan is a good model to follow and the NZ 
troops were very effective in dealing with the locals.  He 
pointed out that the new PRTs being established by the 
Australians and the Dutch (under NATO) will be challenged by 
the Taliban to test their resolve.  The General also said the 
British troops soon deploying to Helmand Province would be 
challenged.  Their opposition will most likely be drug lords, 
however, not the Taliban.  Helmand Province is a prime poppy 
growing area and has, up to this point, remained relatively 
unchallenged by any authoritarian entity.  The PM thanked the 
General for his comments and said that because NZ troops are 
a multicultural and diverse group and have deployed to places 
like East Timor and Bosnia, locals tend to like NZ troops. 
The PM then asked about the how attacks have changed.  The 
General replied that in Afghanistan, the Taliban-Al Q'aida 
forces have shifted to a doctrine of IEDs, suicide bombers, 
and assassination of local government leaders because 
military-style attacks on U.S. military forces just don't 
work.  The General also told the PM that the enemy foot 
soldiers and suicide attackers are not Arab -- they are 
mostly Pakistanis (Pashtuns or Punjabis).  This differs from 
Iraq where significant portions are foreign Arabs.  The PM 
asked if there was evidence of Taliban-Al Q'aida forces 
working on nuclear or biological weapons and the General 
responded Coalition forces found evidence of attempts to 
weaponize anthrax in the enemy's possession.  That effort was 
stopped but it was important to keep the enemy on the run so 
they couldn't regroup and develop other sinister weapons or 
tactics.  He told the PM that we shouldn't underestimate the 
enemy's ability to survive and they may take harbor in 
uncontrolled areas of Somalia, Kenya and the Horn of Africa 
as well as Indonesia, Philippines and Southern Thailand.  He 
reiterated to the PM that Al Q'aida must not be allowed to 
become "mainstream" and used the analogy of Hitler in the 
1920s and 1930s.  The PM said NZ has been pleased to provide 
military support and that she expected continued deployments 
of the PRT past the Sept 2006 deployment end date.  That 
decision will be made soon by the government and she doesn't 
expect the U.S. government will be disappointed by the 
outcome. 
 
¶5. (C)  Defense Minister Phil Goff discussed many of the same 
issues with the General. Goff mentioned to the General (as he 
does with virtually all U.S. officials) that he had two 
nephews that were West Point graduates and felt a closeness 
to the U.S. Army.  Goff told the General that he could expect 
a positive outcome on redeploying the PRT past Sept 2006 and 
was reasonably assured the SAS (Special Forces) would deploy 
again after regeneration.  The 65 SAS troops returned to NZ 
in Nov 2005 and aren't expected to be able to redeploy in 
2006 due to training, attrition and other internal NZ Army 
issues.  The General told Goff that even though NATO is 
taking over deployments in parts of Afghanistan, the U.S. 
will continue to be the largest contributor to NATO forces. 
The General continued by saying that Pakistan will eventually 
be threatened by the Taliban so we need all the help 
available to stabilize the region.  The General told Goff 
that patrol assets from NZ (P-3s or Frigates) were always 
welcome and definitely helpful.  Goff responded by saying it 
was always a battle with the Finance Minister on deploying 
platform assets to that region but he would continue to press 
for this.  When Goff asked about Iran, the General replied 
that the current Iranian administration is a difficult one to 
deal with and that we shouldn't take the Iranian President's 
comments lightly.  As political pressure mounts on Iran, they 
will attempt distractions, but the more political pressure 
from more countries that is applied, the better the eventual 
outcome will be.  The General was asked about possible civil 
war in Iraq due to the recent mosque bombing.  The General 
said the leaders in Iraq are doing a great job trying to 
maintain the peace.  Even Al Sistani was promoting calm.  The 
General said there were many more people in Iraq who wanted 
peace and stability than want a civil war.  The general then 
answered questions about Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE and Hamas. 
Goff ended the meeting with the comment that NZ will watch 
the Israel-Palestine issue closely. 
 
¶6.  (C) General Abizaid then met with Foreign Minister 
Winston Peters.  Peters started the meeting by saying his 
recent comments on the U.S. lack of recognition of NZ 
contributions in the South Pacific were "misread."  Peters 
said that the South Pacific falls under the radar screen and 
recognition of NZ efforts were overshadowed by other world 
events.  The General responded by defining CENTCOM's area of 
responsibility, which does not include the Pacific, and 
thanked New Zealand for the SAS and PRT deployments.  Peters 
said the General's visit was significant in that it would let 
New Zealanders know how important their contributions are in 
Afghanistan.  Peters was told, as was Goff and the PM, that 
Afghanistan would take longer to fix than Iraq.  Iraq, 
although unstable, has an economy and infrastructure that 
would enable rapid recovery once the government takes hold. 
Afghanistan has too many uncontrolled areas and a dismal 
infrastructure and would take much longer.  The discussion 
ended with the General saying he hoped for international 
solidarity on dealing with wild-card Iran.  That would be the 
only way to lead Iran down the right path. 
 
¶7.  (C)  General Abizaid had a roundtable with various 
members from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs and Trade.  Questions ranged from the 
spreading of Al Q'aida, to the big picture for 
counter-terrorism, to United Nations and NGOs, in addition to 
the questions addressed to the PM, DM and FM.  The General 
told the group that we need to do better in tracking money 
flow, stopping Al Q'aida using U.S. internet servers for 
their use and curbing the ability of AQ to use Europe as a 
virtual safehaven for broad-based planning.  The general told 
the group that not all NGOs are good...some ne'er-do-well 
organizations are able to inject their nefarious agendas into 
uneducated areas causing more problems.  Pakistan is going 
through this, currently.  The General also pointed out that 
international cooperation was paramount in counter-terrorism, 
in areas such as document control (passports, visas, etc), 
border control, preventing failed states before they 
happened, providing leadership for getting the job done 
rather than relying on the U.S. military as a hammer, and 
providing support, physical or moral, to those countries 
doing the hard work. 
 
¶8.  (C) A short (15-minute) press availability with the 
General was made to a group of three NZ journalists, 
hand-picked by the Embassy Public Affairs Assistant.  The 
meeting went very well and the reports printed the next day 
in NZ media were straightforward and accurate. 
 
¶9.  (C) General Abizaid gave a 30-minute presentation to 
about 200 NZDF personnel, many of whom have served in 
Afghanistan or Iraq, and followed with a 30-minute Q and A 
period.  The presentation was very well received, judging by 
the ovation at its conclusion.  NZ civilians and press were 
not invited. 
 
¶10.  (C) There were three protestors at the airport (two of 
them Amcits) staging a small but loud (bullhorn) 
demonstration upon the CENTCOM aircraft's arrival.  Small 
demonstrations were also located at the Embassy (one-person) 
and at NZDF HQ (approx 10 persons).  All demonstrations were 
on the first day.  There were no others on day two or on the 
General's departure on day three. 
 
¶11. (C)  Comment: General Abizaid's visit came at a time when 
4-star visits to NZ have exceeded the average for the past 
few years.  In the last 30 days alone, NZ has received three 
4-star officers.  The General's visit comes at a good time, 
however, as New Zealand is debating the redeployment of SAS 
Special Forces and the PRT, both in Afghanistan.  The 
General, as well as Admiral Fallon last month, thanked New 
Zealand for their contributions in world events ) contrary 
to what FM Peters stated early last week that the U.S. 
doesn't recognize NZ contributions in the Pacific. 
Nevertheless, gaining support for NZ troops to continue 
deploying to Afghanistan was successful and as the PM and DM 
indicated, the deployments will continue.  Media exposure was 
not overdone and had the right tone and message.  Lastly, at 
the Ambassador's and CENTCOM's request, PM Clark did a great 
job of not politicizing the visit, nor using media circuses 
for domestic political purposes that undercut U.S. interests. 
McCormick