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TAGS: KPAO AU OPRC
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: January 17, 2007 
 
 
Gusenbauer Offers Tutoring Lessons 
 
¶1. A statement made by Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer during his 
inaugural address in Parliament has caused a stir among MPs: 
Gusenbauer offered to give tutoring lessons in Austrian schools once 
a week, thus reflecting a proposal included in the coalition 
agreement that students could do community work instead of paying 
university tuition fees. The OeVP has dismissed the idea as a "poor 
joke," while the SPOe defended it as a "symbolic gesture." 
According to semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung, Gusenbauer was 
aiming to take the wind out of the university tuition fee critics' 
sails with his proposal to give tutoring lessons. He emphasized 
during his inaugural address that the "people have to be at the 
heart of politics," the daily quotes. Mass-circulation provincial 
daily Kleine Zeitung publishes a critical rating of the Chancellor's 
inaugural address: It was a "monotonous, dramaturgically not 
aspiring speech, which he read off his notes for the most part." In 
addition, it was "not a major socio-political accomplishment, but a 
series of vague announcements and phrases." The daily concludes that 
it was "not exactly a rousing speech: A premier marked by boredom." 
 
Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung also publishes a survey by 
polling institute OGM, which shows that the majority of Austrians is 
not happy with the launch of the new government: 62 percent say the 
coalition kick-off was not a success, according to the daily. 
 
 
More Student Demonstrations 
 
¶2. The Austrian University Students' Association (OeH) has announced 
demonstrations are being held in Vienna and Graz today, as 
university students continue to protest against the retaining of 
tuition fees, despite a promise made by the SPOe during its election 
campaign that the fees would be abolished. 
A front-page report in independent provincial daily Salzburger 
Nachrichten mentions that a number of high-ranking SPOe 
representatives have urged negotiations on the controversial 
university study fees should continue: The last word on the issue 
has not been spoken yet," the daily quotes floor leader Josef Cap. 
Science Minister Johannes Hahn from the OeVP, however, has dismissed 
calls for additional talks on the matter, stressing that it is the 
terms of the coalition pact, which count for him. 
 
 
Terrorist Suspect Arrested in Vienna 
 
¶3. A terrorist suspect has been arrested at Vienna's Schwechat 
airport. The Albanian-born US citizen, for whose capture there is an 
international arrest warrant, is said to also have worked as a 
double agent for the CIA, an Austrian daily writes. The suspect, 
identified by the paper as Dodu L., is allegedly the head of a 
former Yugoslavian terrorist group, which had planned to carry out 
two bomb attacks at the parliamentary elections in Montenegro last 
September. 
Mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung reports on the arrest at 
Schwechat airport of Albanian-born terrorist suspect Dodu L., 
calling it a "success for the Austrian police." The daily suggests 
that Dodu L., who was en route back to the United States, must have 
been "aware of the international arrest warrant," and of the fact 
that he "ranked high on the list of internationally wanted terrorist 
suspects." The suspect is currently being held at a detention 
facility in Korneuburg, Lower Austria, and awaiting extradition. It 
is not clear, however, where he will be extradited to, as both the 
US and Montenegro have claimed him, apparently. The Kronen Zeitung 
cites Dodu L's alleged activities as a double agent for the CIA as 
the reason for why the United States wants to prevent an extradition 
to Montenegro. 
 
 
Iranian Terrorist Suspect Arrested? 
 
¶4. A main suspect in the murder of an Iraqi Kurdish opposition 
politician in Vienna in 1989 may be among five Iranians arrested in 
Iraq. The Iranians were captured by US troops during a raid in Irbil 
last week. There has been no official confirmation that the suspect 
Mohammed Jafari Sahroudi is in custody, however. 
Major Austrian media report on the alleged arrest in the northern 
Iraqi city of Irbil of Mohammed Jafari Sahroudi, one of the Iranian 
assassins of three Kurdish opposition leaders in Vienna in 1989. 
Like all leading Austrian dailies and ORF television and radio, 
centrist daily Die Presse mentions the arrest, and adds that 
Austrian radio had been sourcing the US media earlier this week. 
However, the daily points out, there has been no official 
confirmation at this point, neither from the American authorities, 
nor from the Austrian Foreign Ministry that Sahroudi is indeed among 
those arrested in Irbil in a raid carried out by US troops last 
week. 
 
 
President Defends His Iraq Strategy 
 
¶5. US President George Bush in a television interview has defended 
his decision to commit thousands more troops to the Iraqi capital 
Baghdad to try to end sectarian violence there. In related news, at 
least 70 people were killed and dozens injured in a double bombing 
at a Baghdad university yesterday. According to experts, there is 
evidence some of the bombings are targeting more educated people in 
Iraq. 
Independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten runs the 
headline "The costly war in Iraq," and reports that the United 
States is spending about 200 million dollars daily on their security 
and reconstruction efforts in Iraq - a massive strain on the US 
budget. The entire sum spent on Iraq so far can thus easily compete 
with expenses for the Vietnam War, and is likely to create another 
problem in the White House's dealings with Congress, the daily adds. 
After all, some Republicans and the Democrats alike have been 
demanding the inflationary Iraq expenses need to be curbed 
considerably, according to the Salzburger Nachrichten. 
Meanwhile, commentator for liberal city weekly Falter Raimund Loew 
writes in the January 17 issue that the Iraq study groups headed by 
Republican James Baker and the Democrat Lee Hamilton "rested on the 
hope that the entire Middle East policy can be put on a basis that 
both parties have agreed on. That hope is now dead. Until the 
presidential elections in 2008, Iraq will be the center of the 
political debate. Just like in the case of Bush vs. Kerry in 2004, 
the debate will focus on the US position in the world. The 
unavoidable collective conscience probing that will take place will 
hopefully also bring people to reflect on the latest disgrace in the 
Iraq that America created:  The gruesome series of executions of 
condemned top officials of the toppled Baathist regime. (...) It was 
the US that, after the invasion, rejected the idea of turning those 
officials of the Baathist regime that were responsible for crimes 
against humanity over to an unassailable institution such as the 
International Tribunal of The Hague. The legitimacy that the US 
lacks in Iraq will hardly be achieved by sending more troops. That 
is a lesson already learned in Vietnam." 
 
 
Doubts Regarding Alleged Syria Deal 
 
¶6. Israel and Syria have denied reports on an alleged draft for a 
peace accord set up in secret negotiations. However, the draft 
agreement actually exists, an Austrian daily says, explaining that 
it had been drawn up as a private initiative, and without having 
been officially commissioned. 
Liberal daily Der Standard quotes the report published in Israeli 
newspaper Ha'aretz earlier this week on an alleged "clandestine 
agreement between representatives from Israel and Syria, which 
created quite a stir in media circles." The draft after all suggests 
that Israel has in principle agreed to give back the Golan Heights 
to Syria as part of a gradual, long-term process, the daily 
explains. Official sources immediately denied the report, stressing 
that the talks had taken place without any authorization from the 
Israeli government. Spokespeople for Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert 
have emphasized that "no one has been commissioned to talk to the 
Syrians." 
McCaw