VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #2423/01 3000908
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 270908Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6322
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 002423 
 
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: AMIA BOMBING - REQUEST FOR AN INTERNATIONAL ARREST ORDER 
AGAINST RAFSANJANI; US EXPERT MARK JONES' STATEMENTS ON ARGENTINA 
10/26/06; BUENOS AIRES 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
All local papers widely report on the AMIA bombing prosecutor's 
request that an international arrest order be issued against former 
Iranian president Ali-Akbar Hashem Rafsanjani and seven other former 
Iranian government officials.  The U.S.'s strong support for the 
investigation and the GOA received front page coverage. 
 
Leading "Clarin," daily-of-record "La Nacion" and Cordoba newspaper 
"La Voz del Interior" publish articles on yesterday's press 
conference with INL DAS Christie McCampbell, which was organized by 
the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Buenos Aires. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES 
 
- "The US congratulates the Kirchner administration" 
 
Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for 
daily-of-record "La Nacion," comments (10/26) "The USG and the 
different circles of power in this capital city received the 
expected decision from the AMIA prosecutor with equal doses of 
comfort and caution, according to remarks by the US Department of 
State, the US Jewish community and the OAS. 
 
"The Bush administration congratulated the Kirchner administration 
for its 'dedication' to make progress in the investigation on the 
AMIA bombing. According to official spokespersons of the US Embassy 
in Buenos Aires, the attack was 'the deadliest anti-Semitic action 
since the end of the Second World War.' 
 
"US Embassy representatives said 'we think that Prosecutor Alberto 
Nisman's report provides convincing evidence that the attack was 
planned and funded by the Iranian government and carried out with 
the cooperation of Hezbollah and local Iranian diplomats.' They 
therefore pointed out that 'the US congratulates the Argentine 
government for its dedication in seeing that justice is done in the 
AMIA bombing case.' 
 
"... The gesture from the US Embassy in Buenos Aires helps to ease 
US-Argentine ties after April's USG annual report on international 
terrorism reiterated concern about the possible presence of Hamas 
and Hezbollah's groups on the Triple Border." 
 
- "The danger of playing with fire" 
 
Jorge Urien Berri, columnist of daily-of-record "La Nacion," writes 
(10/26) "Prosecutor Alberto Nisman's request for international 
arrest orders should be taken cautiously... 
 
"... Everything seems to indicate that Judge Canicoba Corral will 
agree to his request for the international warrants. 
 
"If this happens, the Argentine Government will either support his 
request eagerly or try instead to distance itself from the decision 
based on the independence of the three branches of power. 
 
"In the first case, it will distance itself from Iran and Lebanon... 
In the second case, it will distance itself from Argentine Jewish 
leaders and Israel. 
 
"The prosecutor's decision is functional to both the US and Israel, 
which are confronted with Iran... 
 
"...  In the AMIA official story, Syria has always had little room 
for progressing because Israel has prioritized the fact that the 
Damascus regime, as opposed to Tehran's, is neither a theocratic nor 
a fundamentalist regime. 
 
"... Why hurry and put the Government on the verge of a 
confrontation with Iran? Why playing with fire when we have already 
burnt ourselves?" 
 
- "A step that was delayed until yesterday not to offend Chavez" 
 
Business-financial "Ambito Financiero" editorializes (10/26) "... 
The most important figures of the Jewish community, both at a local 
and international level, have long known about the report by AMIA 
prosecutor produced to justify his request for an international 
arrest order against the former Iranian president and seven other 
former government officials. 
 
"... In the prosecutor's private meetings with representatives of 
the Jewish community, he always gave the same explanation - 
political caution... The (Argentine) Government did not want to 
break ties with Hugo Chavez, an ally of Iran... 
 
 
"The authorities of the World Jewish Congress, the AMIA and other 
Jewish institutions took into consideration his explanation and 
brought the issue to Cristina Kirchner and Jorge Taiana's attention 
during their last trip to New York, and they expressed their huge 
concern about the delay which, according to their understanding, was 
the result of some kind of pressure from the (Argentine) 
government. 
 
"... The Argentine government waited to launch the request for 
international arrest orders until the Venezuelan bid for a seat at 
the UN Security Council failed." 
 
- "Twelve years on, the same clue" 
 
Daniel Santoro, political analyst of leading "Clarin," writes 
(10/26) "The same clue pursued by the CIA and the Mosad when the 
AMIA was bombed in 1994 reappeared yesterday - Iran as the alleged 
mastermind of the attack and Hezbollah as the perpetrator. The 
so-called 'Syrian clue' seems to have been removed from the list of 
priorities in this stage of the investigation, which started in 
September 2004. 
 
"... As the Argentine Government is unable to perform intelligence 
in the Middle East, both Judge Galeano and Prosecutor Nisman have 
resorted to reports from Mosad and the CIA, at a time when Iran is 
again being questioned by the US due to its controversial nuclear 
plan, which allegedly seeks to build a nuclear bomb. 
 
"Nisman said that the Iranian government's reason to order Hezbollah 
to carry out the attack against the AMIA was the anger caused by by 
former president Menem's decision to unilaterally cancel in 1991, 
due to US pressure, a 30-million dollars contract according to which 
the INVAP public company was going to export to Iran one uranium 
purification factory and another for the manufacturing of 
inflammable elements. While Judge Galeano was not as specific as 
Nisman, he recalled that Menem had sent an Argentine Navy ship to be 
part of the US-led coalition to expel Iraq from Kuwait." 
 
- "An advisor to (US President Bush) with expert knowledge about 
Argentina harshly criticizes Kirchner" 
 
Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading "Clarin," 
comments (10/26) "He is one of the experts in Argentina that the 
Bush administration most consults. Two weeks ago, Professor Mark 
Jones participated in a seminar organized to provide newly appointed 
US Ambassador to Argentina Anthony Earl Wayne with information. The 
seminar was private and, in addition to Jones, members of the CIA, 
the US Treasury Department, the US Department of Commerce and the US 
Pentagon participated. 
 
"Jones, a professor at Rice University in Houston (George W. Bush's 
city), asserted that (the US) 'is very disappointed with Kirchner.' 
 
 
"... Asked how he sees the US-Argentine bilateral relationship, 
Jones answered: 'It is good, because for Bush, Condoleezza Rice, or 
National Security Advisor Steven Hadley, Argentina is little 
relevant. When they think of Argentina, they think of small things, 
just like maintaining troops in Haiti, managing to appease Bolivia, 
and getting some international support. However, at the same time, 
the US is very disappointed with Kirchner because he handles foreign 
policy in the same way he handles domestic politics and says things 
that make a bad impression. On top of everything we had the Mar del 
Plata Summit. Ever since then, the bilateral relationship has been 
frozen because at that moment, everyone (Rice, Bush and Hadley) was 
thinking of Argentina, and it turned out so badly.' 
 
"Asked why, then, Shannon insists that the US-Argentine bilateral 
relationship is good, Jones answered: 'The relationship is good on a 
formal level. They do not want more friction with the South, they 
want no more problems but it is a relationship without substance.' 
 
"Asked what cost Argentina's support for Venezuela will have at the 
UN, Jones said 'Not much, I think. Kirchner is not viewed in 
Washington like Chavez, Castro or Morales. He is neither viewed like 
Bachelet, Tabare or Lula, but in the middle. Most of the members of 
the Bush administration think that Kirchner is devoting more time to 
domestic than foreign policy, and that his ties with Chavez are 
guided by convenience, and not by ideological affinity.'" 
 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
MATERA