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PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHBS #0355/01 0720942
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P 130942Z MAR 09
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000355 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/12/2019 
TAGS: PREL IS AF PK PBK EUN
SUBJECT: EU'S ROBERT COOPER AND S/P SLAUGHTER DISCUSS 
MIDDLE EAST, AFGHANISTAN, AND IRAN 
 
Classified By: USEU POL M-C Chris Davis for reasons 1.4 (b. and d.) 
 
1.(C) SUMMARY: On the margin of the U.S.-EU Ministerial 
Troika March 6, S/P Anne-Marie Slaughter met with EU Council 
Secretariat DG Robert Cooper, who asked that the USG "raise 
the temperature" on Israeli settlements, and help enhance 
movement and access for Palestinians.  Noting some divergence 
with respect to the fate of PM Salam Fayyad and dealing with 
moderate members of Hamas, Dr. Slaughter urged the EU and the 
U.S. to get on the same page regarding the formation of a 
Palestinian unity government.  Cooper argued that solving 
Cyprus could remove impasses to NATO sharing information with 
EUPOL in Afghanistan and to the U.S. participating in 
EUSR-Bosnia, heretofore blocked by Turkey-Cyprus disputes. 
Cooper was wary about the prospects of success in 
Afghanistan, and said the European public was against 
involvement there.  Cooper encouraged U.S.-Iranian 
consultations on Afghanistan.  On Iran's nuclear program, 
Cooper said the best we could hope for was a freeze and 
transparency.  Mr. Cooper was accompanied by John Gatt-Rutter 
of the Council Secretariat's Middle East Task Force, and Dr. 
Slaughter by USEU Pol M-C.  Dr. Slaughter's meeting with the 
Head of the Policy Unit at the Secretariat, Helga Schmid, is 
reported septel. End Summary 
 
 
The Middle East: Trade is the Thing 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) Opening their discussion with the Middle East, both 
Dr. Slaughter and Mr. Cooper noted that Secretary Clinton and 
High Representative Solana had been deeply affected by their 
recent visits to Ramallah and Gaza, respectively.  Cooper 
pressed the point that Palestinians now need access more than 
anything.  By obstructing access, he said, Israeli 
authorities were flouting the agreement on Palestinian 
movement and access negotiated by the U.S.  Access means 
trade, Cooper continued, which it the key to Palestinian 
recovery, not "throwing money" at the problem.  Dr. Slaughter 
noted that an Israel-Palestine-Jordan free trade agreement, 
on the model of the Benelux countries, was worth 
reconsidering, citing the writing of Gidon Gottlieb on this 
subject.  She added that the EU could nurture such a 
"Benelux" approach through its Euro-Mediterranean Union, and 
the U.S. could provide security.  Israel might be prompted to 
consider the idea, she said, by the worsening global economic 
crisis. 
 
 
Stop Settlements 
---------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Robert Cooper expressed satisfaction upon hearing 
that the Secretary was upset about the Israeli order to 
demolish some Palestinian apartment buildings in East 
Jerusalem issued earlier that same week.  Cooper said he 
hoped the Secretary would remain "fighting mad" about that. 
Shifting to a discussion about Israeli settlements, Cooper 
said they were "at the heart" of the Israeli-Palestinian 
problem.   Since Oslo, he continued, there has been one 
settlement after the other.  Cooper speculated that if the 
USG was willing to raise the temperature on settlements, the 
EU could institute something such as a "no-settlements" 
content rule in trade with Israel.  Dr. Slaughter said the 
USG was waiting for the formation of a new Israeli government 
before pronouncing on settlements. 
 
 
Unity Government, but what about Fayyad? 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) Dr. Slaughter asked that the EU insist on keeping 
Salam Fayyad as PA prime minister, saying that the USG 
supported Palestinian reconciliation, but not to the point 
where Fayyad is obliged to leave. Gatt-Rutter suggested that 
Fayyad could be excellent as a finance minister and could 
better monitor the money pledged for the Palestinians. 
Noting that Fayyad was the exemplar of a government of 
technocrats, Cooper thought that Fayyad could be an effective 
eminence grise to the Palestinian Authority.  Both Cooper and 
Gatt-Rutter contended that Hamas included a broad spectrum of 
people, some educated and "reasonable," and that Mahmoud 
Abbas was coming around to the idea of sharing power with 
moderates in Hamas.  Dr. Slaughter stated that the U.S. and 
EU needed to get on the same page on this question, 
acknowledging that Abbas as much as suggested that too much 
visible support from us might weaken him.  Cooper said that 
High Representative Javier Solana "lives the Middle East and 
is relentlessly optimistic a 
 
BRUSSELS 00000355  002 OF 003 
 
 
bout it," and encouraged the Secretary to talk to him often 
about it. 
 
 
The Broader Middle East: Cyprus 
------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) Both Cooper and Slaughter agreed that solving the 
Cyprus problem could have a positive ripple effect for other 
seemingly intractable problems in the Middle East.  Cooper 
said this is the year to fix it, particularly since the Greek 
and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Christofias and Talat, can 
apparently work together.  The Greek Cypriots should 
understand, said Cooper, that property resettlements would 
cost them nothing. 
 
¶6.  (C)  As examples of the detrimental effects of the Cyprus 
vs. Turkey dynamic, Cooper said that Turkey blocks NATO from 
sharing intelligence with the EU in Afghanistan, "which could 
end up costing us lives lost."  Cyprus, for its part, wants 
to stop the EU from inviting the U.S. to take part in a large 
EU Special Representative mission to Bosnia (once the Office 
of the High Representative closes, which Cooper said he 
thought was inevitable).  The Cypriots, he said, see the U.S. 
as a Trojan horse for Turkey's own involvement in the EUSR 
mission.  Cooper complained of bad faith on the part of both 
Turkey and Cyprus: the Ankara Protocol allowing Cypriot ships 
into Turkish ports, he said, has not been implemented; the 
Greek Cypriots acted in bad faith regarding the Annan Plan 
(and, by extension, the premise of their own accession to the 
EU). 
 
 
Afghanistan and Pakistan: The Truth 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) Speaking candidly about Afghanistan, Robert Cooper 
told Dr. Slaughter that "the truth" was that the war was very 
unpopular in Europe.  While he lauded Defense Secretary 
Gates, Cooper was still troubled by lingering parallels with 
the Soviets' failed adventure in Afghanistan and the U.S. war 
in Vietnam.  Cooper punctuated his discussion with remarks 
such as, "Why are we there?" "Everything we do is always 
wrong there," and "9-11 was organized in Pakistan, not 
Afghanistan."  The Western effort in Afghanistan lacks 
legitimacy in the eyes of the Afghan people, Cooper 
continued.  "Look at France during World War Two," he 
remarked. "More than 70,000 French were killed by Allied 
action there, yet the French, who wanted an Allied victory, 
kept quiet about that."  Cooper contrasted that attitude with 
President Karzai's public criticisms about civilian 
casualties in Afghanistan.  While Cooper acknowledged that 
Karzai got rid of (the corrupt) justice and interior 
ministers, he judged that the Afghan electorate would vote 
for what it perceived the U.S. wanted; so why not support a 
candidate other than Karzai? 
 
¶8.  (C) S/P Slaughter responded that the Afghan National Army 
is doing better, but we still needed an integrated NATO 
strategy, to include a civilian surge.  Civilian mentors can 
report corruption right away, she said.  Dr. Slaughter said 
she thought the U.S. public would not support rebuilding 
Afghanistan as a goal in itself, and we therefore needed a 
realistic framework for our strategy.  She said she expected 
Robert Cooper to be encouraged by how we frame our objectives 
in the Afghanistan/Pakistan policy review.  On the long term 
in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Cooper said he would try to 
introduce Dr. Slaughter to English professor Geoff Mulgan, 
who argues that governments overestimate what they can change 
in the short term, and underestimate their long-term impact. 
 
¶9.  (C) Slaughter and Cooper agreed on the importance of 
Pakistan, Dr. Slaughter saying she thought the recent attack 
against the cricketers in Lahore would help turn the tide of 
Pakistani public opinion against such extremism.  Taking a 
lesson from the Irish Republic Army, Cooper cautioned that 
the loss of legitimacy for extremists may only come "at the 
end of a long, long process." 
 
 
Iran: Transparent Freeze 
------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (C) Robert Cooper said he thought there was little 
chance stopping Iran from going nuclear, if that is really 
what Iran wanted.  He quipped that the favorite Iranian 
pastime, however, is not making decisions.  The best we can 
do, Cooper said, is to "freeze things as they are," and get 
maximum transparency.  He said he was happy to hear of the 
 
BRUSSELS 00000355  003 OF 003 
 
 
idea of having the USG and Tehran attend the same conference 
on Afghanistan.  He noted that a visiting Iranian diplomat 
had lamented to interlocutors at the Council in Brussels on 
March 5 the lack of consultations with Iran on Afghanistan. 
While sanguine about the prospect of new USG approaches to 
Iran, Dr. Slaughter warned that could not lose sight of 
Israel's redlines with respect to Iran's nuclear program. 
 
¶11.  (U) This cable has been cleared by Dr. Slaughter. 
 
MURRAY 
.