VZCZCXYZ0005
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #0561/01 0820930
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 230930Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7634
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 000561 
 
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; US PRESIDENT BUSH'S LATAM TOUR; IRAQ; 
GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM; 03/22/07; BUENOS AIRES 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Leading international stories today include the implications for 
Argentina of US President Bush's tour of Latin America; an 
assessment of the four-year war in Iraq; and misconceptions in the 
US-led Global War on Terrorism. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES 
 
- "The political scenario is marked by provincial elections" 
 
Leading "Clarin" carries an op-ed page by Carlos Acua, Director, 
Master in Public Policies, Universidad San Andres, and researcher at 
Conicet (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas) 
(National Council on S&T Research), who penned (03/22) "... (US 
President George W.) Bush's visit to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, 
Guatemala and Mexico seems a belated 'I-have-not-forgiven-you' 
signal, aimed at putting a siege on anti-US President Chavez's 
voice. 
 
"This wink, which is based on an axis with Brazil, is historical and 
has little to do with Argentina's current policies... 
 
"... (Bush's) visit to Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico is a visit to 
'friendly' governments, through which (the USG) expects to 
neutralize the mistrust typical of the Southern Cone... 
 
"... The Kirchner administration (gladly?) paid the cost of 
tolerating in its own territory a political rally led by a foreign 
president in defiance of another foreign president based on the fact 
that, regardless of sovereignty-related issues, Bush's visit to Lula 
and Vazquez granted (Kirchner) little gratitude for Argentina's 
stance on Iran and too much political air to the Uruguayan president 
in a framework of the prevailing tension with Argentina. 
 
"In brief, there is nothing new or dramatic in the US President's 
tour of Latin America. If this is so, his tour has been a sign of 
USG weakness rather than a historical change in US ties to the 
region or some of its country-members. In this framework, Argentina 
neither won nor lost. 
 
"The most important event for Argentina in recent days was not 
Bush's visit to Latin America but provincial elections in 
Catamarca." 
 
- "The force that works wonders" 
 
James Neilson, contributor to liberal, English-language "Buenos 
Aires Herald," writes (03/22) "... A precipitate US retreat from 
Iraq would be welcomed by most people in Europe and Latin America 
not because they imagine it would help make the Middle East a kinder 
and gentler place... but because they want to see the superpower 
humbled. 
 
"After more than half a century of being shielded by US power 
against totalitarian and on occasion genocidal communism, Western 
Europeans have contrived to persuade themselves that military force 
is always useless and that all problems can be solved by peaceful 
negotiations... 
 
"Unfortunately, there are still plenty of people out there who do 
not think like modern Europeans. Militant Islamists, Arab 
nationalists and many others take it for granted that force works 
wonders, which is why they are more than willing to use it. So far 
they have been proved right. The best way to wring concessions from 
Western countries is to attack them and then threaten them with more 
violence. Whenever a terrorist atrocity occurs, a sizeable chunk of 
public opinion can be relied upon to blame it on the local 
government and accuse it of failing to address the terrorists' 
grievances." 
 
- "Four years of war in Iraq" 
 
Leading "Clarin" editorializes (03/22) "After four years of war, 
Iraq poses today a greater threat to international peace and 
security than when the US decided to launch its 'Iraqi Freedom' 
operation. 
 
"... The most powerful army in the world managed to defeat Saddam 
Hussein, but not to establish any kind of orderly system, to the 
extreme that Iraq's territorial integrity is today at risk. 
 
"On the other hand, the costs of war (about 150 million dollars per 
day) have already affected the US economy and, therefore, global 
economy and will continue doing so in the future. 
 
"... As long as occupying powers do not manage to guarantee a ruling 
 
system in Iraq, the troop withdrawal will not only signify the 
assumption of a huge strategic error but also the evidence of its 
destabilizing impact on the most conflictive region in the world." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
WAYNE