VZCZCXYZ0004
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0007 0041049
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 041049Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6231
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 7313
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 7688
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 2668

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000007 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: IRAQ: SADDAM'S DEATH; AFRICA: SOMALIA; SAO 
PAULO 
 
 
¶1. "Saddam And The Hanging" 
 
Columnist Carlos Heitor Cony wrote in liberal, largest national 
circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (1/4): "Except for the US and 
the UK, the supporters of the Western civilization, apparently all 
other nations have condemned Saddam Hussein's execution.... I oppose 
the death penalty, but we should respect the laws of a nation that 
is currently more or less sovereign as is the case of Iraq. There is 
the death penalty for murderers there, and Saddam was a murderer.... 
Regardless of how much worse he has been - and Saddam was the worst 
in many aspects - he deserved the respect that every culprit is 
entitled to. His enemies both inside and outside Iraq had already 
lynched him morally, in addition to having submitted him to a 
controversial trial. He could not be acquitted.... But [the hanging] 
was a barbarism, a medieval rite and a violent aggression against 
the sensitivities of a civilized world." 
 
¶2. "A 6th US Army For Africa" 
 
Center-right national circulation daily O Estado de S. Paulo's Paris 
correspondent Giles Lapouge commented (1/4): "The Pentagon is 
considering the creation of a new military command to operate only 
in Africa, a 6th US Army.... Why? For two reasons. The first is that 
Somalia continues to be a weak nation. The 'Muslims' have fled, but 
they continue around, in a lawless area in the Somalia-Kenya border. 
In addition, the Ethiopian soldiers who expelled the Muslims are 
hated by the Somali population.... The second reason is more 
profound. The Americans fear that the Islamic insanity will 
contaminate that continent, especially the Horn of Africa region. 
They fear that lawless states such as Somalia become a sanctuary for 
Al Qaeda. That would represent an enormous risk for the West, mainly 
because the Horn of Africa is a necessary passage for international 
oil traffic. If Washington is so concerned with the possibility of 
Islamism installing itself in that area it is because it has already 
received significant warnings.... Such reasons have led Washington 
to create this 6th Army. The Pentagon's spokesperson, Joe Carpenter, 
announced the goal: 'To prevent the creation of another 
Afghanistan'.... Everything indicates that the recent intervention 
by Ethiopian troops in Somalia had the support of US reconnaissance 
aircraft." 
Wolfe