VZCZCXYZ0013
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBU #1385/01 2001511
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191511Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8677
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001385 
 
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
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION; AMIA BOMBING ANNIVERSARY; 07/19/07 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY STATEMENT 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion," leading "Clarin," and liberal, 
English-language "Buenos Aires Herald" carry editorials on the 13th 
anniversary of the AMIA bombing. 
 
¶2. OPINION PIECES AND EDITORIALS 
 
- "When 13 is really unlucky" 
 
Liberal, English-language "Buenos Aires Herald" carries an editorial 
(07/19) "Marking yesterday's 13th anniversary of the AMIA terrorist 
bomb destruction (which killed 85 people), the Jewish community 
center's current president Luis Grynwald expressed the hope that 
this would be the last anniversary without anyone found guilty of 
the crime and called on President Nestor Kirchner to break off 
relations with Iran. 
 
"This newspaper cannot concur with the latter statement because we 
concur with the former - until Iranian participation is definitely 
proven, breaking off relations with Iran becomes a substitute for 
finding the guilty parties, a relatively easy way out. It may be 
Israeli state policy to insist on Iranian guilt - perfectly 
understandable with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling 
for Israel to be 'wiped off the map'..., but it does not have to be 
Argentina's state policy. In any case this should not be about 
anybody's state policy but simply justice. If this newspaper 
disagrees with severing ties with Iran, this does not mean that we 
agree with being friendly to such egregious Iranian cohorts as 
Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and far less with being nice to Iran itself, 
which has consistently withheld judicial cooperation in the AMIA 
case, but cutting ties is to slam the door on any such cooperation. 
In a word, we agree with Grynwald in wanting the guilty to be found 
- the culprits, not scapegoats. 
 
"Until the guilty are found, the AMIA anniversary should not be 
allowed to die or even fade, irrespective of the passage of time... 
As the participants in yesterday's ceremony from both home and 
abroad pointed out, the AMIA atrocity was an attack on Argentina 
while at the same time the AMIA victims are the world's victims. 
 
"... Argentina's current government certainly cannot be accused of 
not giving the AMIA anniversary the importance it deserves with both 
the presidential couple and virtually the entire Cabinet showing up 
yesterday... But it is already too late for even such forceful 
gestures as breaking relations with Iran - as Grynwald also said, 
the guilty must be found and justice done." 
 
- "AMIA - thirteen years later" 
 
Leading "Clarin" editorializes (07/19) "On the thirteenth 
anniversary of the attack on the AMIA, the clarification of the 
attack is still pending... 
 
"To the lack of response, negligence and lack of competence, serious 
irregularities committed during the investigation were added, which 
frustrated the legal process against those who are allegedly 
involved in the local connection... 
 
"... The lack of a serious judicial investigation and an explicit, 
consistent and efficient governmental commitment to get to the truth 
and punish the guilty left the country damaged in two ways - first, 
due to the attack and then due to the subsequent impunity. 
 
"... However, the Argentine Government remains responsible for 
supporting the Judiciary's independent performance to solve the case 
and put an end to the impunity related to the bloody and atrocious 
terrorist attack suffered by the Jewish community thirteen ago, 
which was an attack against all Argentines." 
 
- "AMIA - impunity goes on" 
 
Daily-of-record "La Nacion" (O7/19) editorializes "... Yesterday, 
during the public ceremony celebrating the thirteenth anniversary of 
the cowardly attack against AMIA, which was attended by President 
Nestor Kirchner, the AMIA head, Luis Grynwald, publicly asked 
Argentina to break off ties with Iran and declare Hezbollah an 
international terrorist organization, which has already been 
demanded by Federal Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral and other foreign 
judges. 
 
"In spite of its promises, the Iranian government has not cooperated 
with the Argentine Government. However, it is striking that the 
commercial exchange between the two countries continues. And leaders 
of picketers like Luis D'Elia continue publicly defending the 
Iranian Government. 
 
"... Thirteen years after the attack, the Argentine borders remain 
as porous as in those years. A political decision on the future of 
the relationship between Argentina and Iran is still pending and the 
investigation has not made the progress it should. 
 
"Once again, we should say that in the event this abhorrent episode 
of Argentine history is not clarified, our country will continue to 
exhibit an image of vulnerability to the world, which could make it 
the target of new terrorist attacks. The entire society, including 
the national authorities, should not be defeated by impotence or 
confusion." 
 
To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our 
classified website at: 
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires 
 
WAYNE