VZCZCXYZ0013
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #1798/01 1871232
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061232Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7847
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS VIENNA 001798 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/AGS, INR/EU, AND EUR/PPD FOR YVETTE SAINT-ANDRE 
 
OSD FOR COMMANDER CHAFFEE 
 
WHITEHOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KPAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: July 06, 2007 
 
 
Parliament Wraps Up Investigative Committees 
 
¶1. The Austrian Parliament will meet for its last session before the 
summer recess today. After it concluded the investigation into the 
purchase of Eurofighter interceptors for Austria's armed forces 
yesterday, Parliament will now also wrap up the inquiry into 
Austrian banking practices in connection with the bank Bawag 
scandal. In the absence of an agreed outcome, committee chairperson 
Martin Graf will present a report to Parliament. Later, Chancellor 
Alfred Gusenbauer and Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik will present 
their assessments of the EU summit in June, says ORF radio early 
morning news Morgenjornal. 
 
 
Eurofighter: Accusations Continue 
 
¶2. Mutual accusations over the purchase of Eurofighter interceptors 
for Austria continued in Parliament yesterday. The head of the 
investigative committee looking into the deal, Peter Pilz of the 
Green Party, argued that the investigation had been a success and 
done valuable work demonstrating the significance of parliamentary 
control, "in spite of the OeVP's" attitude. Pilz also accused the 
SPOe of having "gone back on its word," an accusation the Social 
Democrats have rejected, defending Defense Minister Norbert Darabos 
and claiming that a cancellation of the deal would not have been an 
option, despite the findings of the parliamentary expert opinions on 
the matter. 
Like all Austrian media reporting on the Eurofighter controversy, 
semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung writes that Defense Minister 
Norbert Darabos from the Social Democratic Party "weathered a vote 
of no confidence" in Parliament yesterday. The motion tabled by the 
FPOe was backed by the Greens and the BZOe, but failed to get any 
support from the two major parties, the SPOe and the OeVP.  The 
ensuing Eurofighter debate turned out to be quite heated, the daily 
continues, with the SPOe and the OeVP successfully dispelling the 
opposition parties' misgivings about the deal, thus paving the way 
for the first jets to be delivered to Austria. Liberal daily Der 
Standard also reports on the "final round" in the "fight over the 
Eurofighter," and quotes the OeVP as saying the first interceptors 
are expected to land in Austria as early as next week. 
 
 
Ambassador McCaw Ends Her Assignment 
 
¶3. Several Austrian media continue to report on the press release 
put out by the US Embassy Vienna earlier this announcing that US 
Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw will end her assignment towards 
the end of this year. Austrian media also report on this year's 
event at the Ambassador's residence in Vienna to celebrate 
Independence Day. 
Mass-circulation tabloid Oesterreich reports on what it believes are 
the "real reasons" for why US Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw has 
"made the certainly difficult decision" to end her assignment this 
year. According to the tabloid, the "charming US Ambassador" is 
stepping down in favor of her family, preferring to return to the US 
over continuing the "long-distance relationship" with her husband 
Craig McCaw. The Ambassador underscored, however, that it is a 
"great honor to serve as the President's representative to Austria, 
this wonderful and dynamic country." According to Oesterreich, the 
announcement of her departure came at a time when Mrs. McCaw, a 
close friend of US President George Bush, had "successfully won the 
hearts of the Austrian people" with her "pleasant and personable 
style and proverbial diplomacy." Ambassador McCaw is "the fourth in 
a series of power ladies heading the US Embassy in Vienna," where 
her staff has experienced her as an "extremely likeable and entirely 
down-to-earth boss," Oesterreich writes. 
Centrist daily Die Presse meanwhile reports on this year's July 4 
Party at the Ambassador's residence - the last Independence Day 
celebration for US Ambassador McCaw in Vienna. Among the about 1,000 
guests on Wednesday, who thoroughly enjoyed the "country- and 
western-style " event complete with hot dogs and hamburgers, cowboy 
hats and bandanas, line-dancing and a band playing country music, 
were Austrian Minister for Healthcare Andrea Kdolsky, Interior 
Minister Guenther Platter, State Secretary in the Foreign Minister 
Hans Winkler, UN special rapporteur for torture Manfred Nowak, the 
head of the Austrian Muslim Community Anas Shakfeh, US Ambassador to 
the OSCE Julie Finley and US Ambassador to UNVIE Gregory Schulte, 
the daily notes. 
 
 
More Fighting At Pakistani Mosque 
 
¶4. Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has intervened in the siege 
of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, ordering a temporary halt to the 
security forces' operations against radical militants inside the 
complex. One of the mosque's leaders said he and his followers were 
"ready to surrender," if they were not arrested. However, according 
to a spokesperson for the Pakistani government, the offer has been 
rejected. ORF radio quotes the spokesperson as stressing the 
militants' move would "not be accepted." Their leader "is a 
criminal, and he has to come and surrender before the government 
unconditionally," according to the spokesperson. Further explosions 
and gunfire have been reported around the mosque this morning. 
Reporting on the current developments in Pakistan, liberal daily Der 
Standard says that after several days of fighting at the Red Mosque 
in Islamabad, the Pakistani security forces have further increased 
pressure on the people barricaded in the besieged mosque. While the 
captured head of the mosque has called on his followers to 
surrender, the radical students are apparently planning to use the 
hundreds of women and children they are holding in the complex as 
human shields, the daily says. The Standard's foreign affairs writer 
Markus Bernath meanwhile comments that if Musharraf's army "succeeds 
in ending the siege of the Red Mosque without much bloodshed, the 
head of state has once again established himself as a guarantor of 
stability in a chronically unstable country." Bernath also believes 
that a "half-way successful autocrat in Pakistan would at any rate 
be more bearable for the West than a democratic regime of political 
parties which would pursue its own interests in an unrestrained 
fashion, break down under the pressure of the various interest 
groups in the country, and pave the way for an Islamist leadership 
of the nuclear power Pakistan."  Similarly, mass-circulation daily 
Kurier says the Pakistani security forces' tactical "goal is to wear 
down the students still holed up in the Red Mosque." The daily's 
foreign affairs editor Livia Klingl argues that Pakistan has "taken 
precedence over Afghanistan when it comes to recruiting religious 
warriors from all over the world. It is a place of rest and a mental 
training ground for future suicide bombers - and it is increasingly 
becoming a failed state, a country which is ungovernable." 
 
 
Israel Continues Gaza Operations 
 
¶5. Israel continued its actions against militants in Gaza yesterday, 
using aircraft, tanks and bulldozers, before withdrawing early this 
morning. More than ten militants, most of them from Hamas, have 
reportedly been killed in the operation. According to witnesses, 
there was a heavy exchange of fire between the Israeli forces and 
Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. According to the Israeli 
military, the operations aim at putting a stop to Palestinians 
firing rocket from Gaza against Israeli border settlements, 
according to liberal daily Der Standard. 
McCaw