VZCZCXRO1308
OO RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHVI #0111 0181242
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181242Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5989
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS VIENNA 000111 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/AGS - SAINT-ANDRE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MARR MOPS PGOV PREL IZ AU
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA ON THE NEW WAY FORWARD ON IRAQ 
 
REF: STATE 3592 
 
This message is Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please handle 
accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) DCM and EconPolCouns discussed the President's Iraq 
policy address with Austrian MFA Middle East and Africa 
Director Ralph Scheide on January 16.  The DCM stressed the 
importance of ensuring the independence, integrity and 
democratic development of Iraq.  He said America would help 
Iraq oppose violent extremists, recognizing that a basic 
level of security is critical to political and economic 
progress.  He noted that the Iraqi government had to take the 
lead in bringing the current situation to a successful 
conclusion. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Scheide said no one in Austria or throughout the EU 
could be happy about the problems the coalition faced in 
Iraq.  The successful reconstruction of Iraq was important, 
he said.  Austria had provided political and economic 
support, along with security assistance in the form of police 
trainers at the Iraqi Police Academy in Jordan.  He said all 
of us were united in the effort to make Iraq peaceful, stable 
and united.  We all knew, he added, that there were no easy 
answers.  Scheide noted that the U.S. strategy in Iraq 
depended on the willingness of Iraqis to do their part.  He 
expressed the hope, tinged with some doubt, that this would 
be the case. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Scheide said the Austrian press was reporting that 
one of the Iranians the U.S. arrested in Iraq the prior week 
was Mohammed Jafari Sahroudi.  Sahroudi was the subject of an 
international arrest warrant for participating in the 
assassination of three Kurdish opposition leaders in Vienna 
in 1989.  Scheide asked that we let him know if we had any 
confirmation of these reports. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Scheide also asked whether there had been a 
toughening of the United States' stance toward Iran.  DCM 
replied that the U.S. remained committed to a multilateral 
track to address Iran's nuclear program.  Regarding Iranian 
interference in Iraq, however, the President had made very 
clear that we would continue to counter such efforts whenever 
we could. 
McCaw