VZCZCXYZ0040
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1251/01 1561741
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 051741Z JUN 06 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4772
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001251 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, I/GWHA, WHA, WHA/PDA, WHA/BSC, 
WHA/EPSC 
CDR USSOCOM FOR J-2 IAD/LAMA 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO OPRC KMDR PREL MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR IN IRAQ HADITHA FTAA- 
MERCOSUR TERRORISM US ECONOMY ARGENTINA'S SUPPORT FOR 
VENEZUELA AT THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL 06/05/06 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Weekend stories cover the alleged murder of Iraqi 
civilians in Haditha by a group of US troops; the 
consequences of the war in Iraq; the US/Latin American 
relationship; FTAA/Mercosur ties; a group of Canadian 
residents that were arrested for planning to blow up 
targets in Ontario; the status of the US economy; and 
Argentina's support for Venezuela to become a member 
of the UN Security Council. 
 
Centrist "Perfil" newspaper reports on the Webchat 
with DUSTR Everett Eissenstat organized by the PAS 
Section at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES 
 
- "With Haditha, the ghost of Vietnam returns to the 
US" 
 
Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading 
"Clarin," comments (06/04) "As multiple denunciations 
appear on the killing of civilians in Haditha..., the 
images of another terrible massacre, that of My Lai in 
Vietnam, slowly and painfully return to the mind. And 
with them, the idea that history repeats itself 
appears - innocent blood, cruelty, concealment, 
impunity and eventually, lack of punishment for those 
held responsible... 
 
"It is not so clear yet what happened on November 19, 
2005 in Haditha, but everything indicates that it was 
a horrible massacre just like that of My Lai, although 
to a lesser extent. Witnesses of the incident said 
that after having fallen in an ambush, a group of US 
marines murdered 24 civilians." 
 
- "Haditha's massacre" 
 
Mario Diament, contributor to daily-of-record "La 
Nacion," writes (06/05) "... The circumstances that 
turn this episode into a paradigmatic case of a 
terribly wrong war are not merely the count of 
casualties but the chain of responsibilities. 
 
"Everything indicates that the military high command 
attempted to wipe the incident in Haditha under the 
ordinary listing of civil casualties in Iraq." 
 
- "Iraq: consequences of a war without damage control" 
 
Marcelo Cantelmi, international editor of leading 
"Clarin," writes (06/03) "... The White House is aware 
that its only alternative is a way out of Iraq by 
transferring the scary future of the country to an 
international organization. This has not happened yet 
in spite of the efforts made by US Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice, who has attempted to make an 
alliance with European countries, which today is 
crucial for Washington. 
 
"But if this attempt seems to have an unpredictable 
result, Washington has been trying to build some 
bridge to Iran, certain that the Persian theocracy 
currently has the greatest real influence on Iraq. 
Actually, war has done nothing but increase Tehran's 
political power in the region. It is under this light 
that one should analyze Rice's latest proposal that 
the USG should hold direct negotiations with the 
Iranian government. However, it is a 'lame' attempt 
because of the US impossibility to renounce its demand 
for Iraq to abandon its nuclear plan." 
 
- "Northern misconduct" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" carries an op-ed piece by 
contributor Norberto Firpo, who writes (06/03) 
"Woodrow Peribaez, one of US President Bush's 
advisors on Latin American affairs, takes four Prozac 
per day... 
 
"The reason is that the White House handles Latin 
American affairs with the expertise and subtlety of 
Steven Spielberg's dinosaurs  at a bazaar. 
 
"According to Peribaez, 'without having made a point 
 
 
of it, Bush has managed to make rebel politicians 
proliferate in our hemisphere's backyard to make 
public their anti-US feeling... Chattering Venezuelan 
Hugo Chavez has become an authoritative voice in the 
e 
region, and even Mexican Vicente Fox, formerly a 
friend, got angry because we have built a bordering 
wall, which is seen as a sign of discord.'" 
 
- "The US wants to include Mercosur in FTAA 
negotiations" 
 
Lucas Morando, columnist of centrist "Perfil" 
newspaper, writes (06/04) "Seven months after the Mar 
del Plata SOA, in which the FTAA project showed signs 
of weakness and entered an impasse, the USG insists 
now on resuming talks among the 34 countries of the 
hemisphere. 
 
"During a Webchat organized by the USG for the 
journalists of the region, USTR Everett Eissenstat was 
the last USG official in charge of conveying this 
message. Asked by 'Perfil' newspaper, he said the USG 
'looks forward to start discussing the road to the 
FTAA with every country of the region, including 
Argentina and Brazil.' 
 
"... In spite of this explicit willingness of the USG 
to put the FTAA on a safe track again, the four 
Mercosur countries and Venezuela, which refused to 
make progress on FTAA negotiations, still hold this 
position and are expecting the outcome of the Doha 
multilateral meeting. 
 
"According to an Argentine official source, if, in 
this context, countries do not show a flexible 
attitude regarding the reduction or removal of farm 
subsidies, the region will not make progress on FTAA 
discussions." 
 
- "No terrorist conspiracy" 
 
Gwynne Dyer, contributor to liberal, English-language 
"Buenos Aires Herald," writes (06/05) "They arrested 
seventeen alleged Islamist terrorists in and around 
Toronto on Saturday, most of them young and Canadian- 
born... 
 
"... Any terrorist attack on Canada is bound to be 
home-grown, because there is no shadowy but powerful 
network of international Islamist terrorists waging a 
war against the West. There are isolated small groups 
of extremists who blow things up once in a while, and 
there are Web sites and other media through which they 
can exchange ideas and techniques, but there is no 
headquarters, no chain of command, no organization 
that can be defeated, dismantled and destroyed." 
 
- "The US, focus of globalization" 
 
Centrist "Perfil" newspaper carries an opinion piece 
by Jorge Castro, political analyst, who writes (06/04) 
"The engine of the overall boom in the world economy 
is the US economic impetus. The US economy has grown 
at a vibrant pace of 5.3% in the first three months of 
the year, the highest point during the last two and a 
half years. 
 
"Most analysts predict that there will be a new 
correction of this percentage, which will bring the 
growth rate of the first quarter beyond 6% per year. 
The reason for this optimism is an unexpected 
reduction in the US trade deficit... plus a more 
significant reduction of its fiscal deficit... 
 
"The US economic cycle determines that of the world 
economy and the pace of its growth sets that of the 
entire world economy. Under these circumstances, 
globalization is still an essentially American 
phenomenon, which has opened to the emerging world 
(Asia-Pacific Ocean/China) during the last 15 years. 
 
"In brief, globalization is today a global phenomenon 
rooted in the US. This is precisely the view of the 
Chinese government. According to May 26 Beijing's 
Newspaper of the People's editorial (official 
 
 
newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party)... 'If one 
judges from the point of view of world macroeconomic 
balance, under globalization, the huge US trading 
deficit means that gigantic savings of the entire 
world are used by the US economy.' 
 
"... The paper underscores that 'the world is divided 
into two sectors - one, the US, with its gigantic 
trading deficit, and the other, the rest of the world, 
which contributes its savings to it.'" 
 
- "Argentina will support Venezuela at the UN" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" (06/05) reports 
"(Argentine) Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana confirmed 
that Argentina will support Venezuela's candidacy to 
become a member of the strategic UN Security Council. 
 
"... Argentina supported Hugo Chavez's aspirations in 
spite of US pressures for the region to choose 
Guatemala and, particularly, to prevent the Venezuelan 
president from becoming a member of the UN Security 
Council, which has to make crucial international 
policy decisions." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
GUTIERREZ