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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 BERLIN 001628 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PAPD, EUR/PPA, EUR/CE, INR/EUC, INR/P, 
SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/DSAA, DIA FOR DC-4A 
 
VIENNA FOR CSBM, CSCE, PAA 
 
"PERISHABLE INFORMATION -- DO NOT SERVICE" 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IR YM IS AF
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: U.S., IRAN, TERRORISM, ISRAEL, GERMANY- 
AFGHANISTAN;BERLIN 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
¶2.   (U.S.)   Failed Terrorist Attack 
¶3.   (Iran)   Clashes Between Regime and Opposition 
¶4.   (Terrorism)   U.S.-Yemen 
¶5.   (Israel)   New Settlements 
¶6.   (Afghanistan)   London Conference 
 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
 
Print media focused on the events in Iran (FAZ, Berliner Zeitung), 
the 
aftermath of the failed terrorist attack in the U.S. (taz) and the 
stock market index DAX crossing the 6,000 point level (Die Welt). 
Editorials focused on Iran and Foreign Minister Westerwelle's 
criticism of the upcoming Afghanistan conference.  ZDF-TV's early 
evening newscast heute opened with a report on security controls at 
 
airports, while ARD-TV's early evening newscast Tagesschau opened 
with 
a story on violence in Iran. 
 
¶2.   Failed Terrorist Attack 
 
All papers (12/29) carry reports of the discussion over new security 
 
measures in air traffic.  Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim 
Herrmann 
(CSU) told Bild: "If full-body scanners (German 'naked-scanner') 
would 
increase security and not cause an intolerable violation of privacy, 
 
then we must now reconsider introducing them."  Frankfurter 
Allgemeine 
cited several German politicians in an article under the headline: 
"Warning Against Hasty Moves," and wrote: "CDU domestic policy 
expert 
Wolfgang Bosbach said that the terrorist attempt 'is for us no 
reason 
to change security laws.'  He told Berliner Zeitung that 'tougher 
laws 
do not help against human failure.'  Bavaria's Interior Minister 
Hermann also opposed tougher security laws.  He said they are 
"absolutely not necessary."  Instead he criticized U.S. security 
agencies saying that "great shortcomings happened again in the 
United 
States."  He added that if security in air traffic is to be 
increased 
then this is "by no means a question of laws but of a better 
implementation of existing laws." FAZ also cited a spokesperson for 
 
the pilots' trade union "Cockpit" who criticized the new measures 
implemented by U.S. security agencies as "total nonsense" and which 
 
"have not been thought through."  He added that a terrorist would be 
 
able to carry out a terrorist attack one hour and five minutes 
before 
landing.  Financial Times Deutschland headlined: "U.S. Admits 
Security 
Gap," and reported that "Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano 
confirmed that the list of terror suspects had deficiencies." 
 
ARD-TV's late evening newscast Tagesthemen (12/28) commented: "The 
procedures on the ground before an aircraft can take off last longer 
 
and longer: tougher controls, complaining passengers, even though 
their security is concerned.  To frisk everyone will create a 
 
BERLIN 00001628  002 OF 006 
 
 
Herculean task for airports.  There won't be enough staff, and 
sometimes even no space.  In my eyes, this is doing things for the 
sake of doing things, and it looks as if previous controls did not 
create too much confidence.  This is true: the controls for liquids, 
 
for instance, are really absurd.  Those who come from Asia and 
transfer aircraft in Frankfurt will be taken away the liquid goods 
they bought at duty free shops in Asia because German security 
agencies do not recognize Asian security controls. The only 
reasonable 
proposal would be for me to use modern technology. This exists, for 
 
instance, with full body scanners." 
 
Under the headline: "Trivialities Govern the World," Financial Times 
 
Deutschland (12/29) editorialized: "Now [after the failed terrorist 
 
attempt], we hear everywhere that security measures must be 
intensified among airlines, at airports, and from politicians.  This 
 
is always laudable and the reflex is more than understandable.  But 
in 
their efforts to avoid an attack  la Abdulmutallab, the security 
regulators are going over the top. They are patching up arrangements 
 
which are nerve racking for passengers but can easily be bypassed by 
 
potential attackers.  That is why the new measures for flights to 
the 
United States do not create a grain of greater security.  To not do 
 
anything after such an attack is not possible in view of the usual 
spiral of hysteria.  Let's take note of one fact: there will be 
absolute security only if we board a plane without luggage and get 
on 
the plane naked but only after security experts have inspected all 
our 
body openings...." 
 
According to Sueddeutsche Zeitung (12/29), "the gaps must now be 
ferreted out which allowed the attacker from Detroit to slip 
through. 
But at the same time, all sides involved should beware of hysteria. 
 
What a few airlines are now expecting the passengers to accept has 
nothing to do with security but with blind, hectic action.  Instead 
we 
recommend learning the lesson from the failed terrorist attempt. The 
 
most important one is: ground controls must be improved.  And 
greater 
security will exist only if there are more control inspectors and 
better technical devices.  Greater security does not exist only in 
aircraft.  To treat passengers like potential terrorists and monitor 
 
them per video even on the toilets will not result in anything but 
would probably violate human dignity.  And this must also be 
respected 
by airlines." 
 
Under the headline: "Obama's 9/11" Tagesspiegel (12/29) argued: "In 
 
the United States, all political camps know that the terrorist 
danger 
is a factor that can decide elections, even though the actors have 
only limited control over events.  A bloody attack could cost Barack 
 
 
BERLIN 00001628  003 OF 006 
 
 
Obama his re-election even if he were successful otherwise.  And the 
 
failed terrorist attack now offers a new opportunity to accuse Obama 
 
of being too soft on terrorism.  First, Obama does not take the 
terrorist danger seriously.  Second, he did not deliver a rousing 
speech but only ordered a few additional security measures, and, 
third, he does too little against those countries which plot 
attacks. 
The first two charges are easy to grasp for many Americans, even 
though they are not true when looking at the facts but the third 
aspect is totally wrong.  Bush had neglected the war in Afghanistan 
 
because of Iraq.  But Obama is taking it seriously.  In Yemen, too, 
 
Obama does more than Bush to counter terrorist dangers.  For some in 
 
Europe, Obama's policy towards Yemen probably goes too far, but in 
America he is rather running the risk of being considered too gentle 
 
in this respect, too." 
 
¶3.   (Iran)   Clashes Between Regime and Opposition 
 
Most papers (12/29) carried reports and analysis on the latest 
events 
in Iran.  Sueddeutsche headlined; "Iran's Regime is Striking Back," 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine carried a front-page report: "Iranian Regime 
 
Arrests Khatami and Moussavi aides - Unrest Continues."  FAZ also 
carried a front-page editorial under the headline: "At a 
Turnaround," 
and wrote: "Only one thing can certainly be said about developments 
in 
Iran: the government is not succeeding in breaking the wave of 
protests that has affected the country since the controversial re- 
election of President Ahmadinejad...and it is by no means clear 
whether 
the opposition movement has or needs 'leadership,' or whether the 
protesters are organizing themselves by relying on the means of 
advanced technology.  The regime does not have the tendency or the 
ability to implement reforms.  But it has the decisive means of 
power: 
the military police and the revolutionary guards.  But if it uses 
these weapons with all their brutality, the government will 
undermine 
its own legitimacy and possibly start a civil war." 
 
In the view of Sueddeutsche Zeitung (12/29), "the regime will not 
fall 
that easily even if blood is shed on Tehran's streets.  Broad and 
powerful classes are interested in the survival of the regime.  They 
 
all have to defend their own power and economic privileges and will 
 
not surrender them only because unrest is making increasingly clear 
 
that they have lost legitimacy and popularity among the people.  In 
 
addition, the protest movement does not have an organization or a 
leadership that is recognized by everyone: by critical religious 
leaders but also by many who want a different state." 
 
Financial Times Deutschland (12/29) is of the opinion that "after 
the 
most recent clashes...it is clear that the regime is unable to end 
the 
 
BERLIN 00001628  004 OF 006 
 
 
unrest so easily by using force.  On the contrary, after six months 
in 
which protests flared up again and again, large parts of the 
opposition look more determined today than ever before to oust the 
theocratic dictatorship.  Over the past few days it has become clear 
 
that many demonstrators are willing to enter into a battle with the 
 
government's militia forces.  The longer the confrontation lasts and 
 
the further it escalates, the more unlikely is a political solution, 
 
for instance, a deal between Ahmadinejad and the opposition." 
 
Berliner Zeitung (12/29) judged: "Many Iranians, among them 
prominent 
supporters of the green opposition such as ex-President Khatami and 
 
opposition leader Moussavi currently only want a reform of the 
regime, 
not an abolition of the system.  The majority are, and this is 
understandable, simply afraid of a violent coup, of chaos and 
bloodshed.  Their country is an example of how revolutions can end, 
 
not in the way the majority of their participants want.  When the 
Shah 
was ousted, it was nationalists and Trotskyites, anarchists and 
communists, Social Democrats and a strong women's movement that took 
 
part in the ouster.  But they all got an Islamic Republic." 
 
Regional daily Nrnberger Zeitung (12/29) observed: "For the first 
time since the beginning of the protests, the demonstrators have now 
 
massively defended themselves against the brutality of the militia 
forces.  This reduces hopes for a gentle revolution and is all the 
more so because the reactions of the (still) powers-that be look 
increasingly panic-stricken.  Khatami has already lost the support 
of 
the intelligentsia, the youth and thus the future.  In addition, the 
 
merchants in the cities are getting nervous because they are selling 
 
less because of the protests.  The about-face of the basaris 
resulted 
in the ouster of the Shah 30 years ago." 
 
Regional daily Rhein-Zeitung of Koblenz (12/29) is of the opinion 
that 
"the brute force of the regime no longer deters protesters.  This 
shows that the regime has lost its threatening potential and it can 
no 
longer pin its hopes on fears of repression in society.  And any 
further escalation will weaken it ever more.  Ahmadinejad no longer 
 
sits firm in his saddle." 
 
¶4.   (Terrorism)   U.S.-Yemen 
 
All papers (12/29) carry lengthy reports on the involvement of Yemen 
 
in terrorist activities and wrote that the U.S. government obviously 
 
offered the Yemenite government support in the bombing of alleged 
terror camps in Yemen between December 17 to 24 in which, according 
to 
Yemenite government sources, 60 terrorists died.  FAZ reported that 
 
 
BERLIN 00001628  005 OF 006 
 
 
the bomb attacks were flown by Yemeni aircraft but "it is very 
likely 
that the Americans gave logistical assistance."  Die Welt headlined 
a 
report: "America's New Terror Front" and wrote that the failed 
terrorist attack has "directed Washington's view at the powder keg 
in 
Yemen."   Sueddeutsche headlined: "Net with Many Spiders" and wrote 
 
that "al-Qaida is especially thriving in Yemen and initiates attacks 
 
from there," while Financial Times Deutschland carried a report on 
U.S. activities in Yemen under the headline: "U.S. Opens New Anti- 
Terror Front [in Yemen]." 
 
Financial Times Deutschland (12/29) carried an editorial under the 
headline: "The Lesser Evil," and reported: "The treatment of 
al-Qaida 
terror camps in Yemen is one of those things.  The United States has 
 
now obviously thought of doing it wrong:  It is no longer waiting 
for 
the Yemeni government to fight terrorists in the country but is now 
 
taking things in its own hands.  For the first time it has not only 
 
supported attacks on terror camps with funds but also militarily. 
This is risky but the lesser evil. It is risky because any military 
 
attack can also kill civilians.  This is reprehensible and will 
intensify the support of Yemenis for the terrorists.  That is why 
the 
attacks in Yemen should remain what they are: the lesser of two 
evils 
but not the beginning of a new strategy." 
 
¶5.   (Israel)   New Settlements 
 
"Without Consequence" is the headline in Frankfurter Allgemeine 
Zeitung (12/29), which editorialized: "At the beginning of this 
month, 
Israel was successfully outraged at the fact that the draft 
resolution 
of the European foreign ministers included the phrase that a 'vital 
 
Palestinian state' also includes Eastern Jerusalem.  The final draft 
 
had a different tone but in the matter itself, the EU did not give 
in. 
It does not recognize the annexation of the Arabic part of the city 
 
after the Six-Day war.  That is why it is logical not to accept that 
 
the Israeli government is now waiting for tenders for the 
construction 
of seven hundred apartments in Eastern Jerusalem.  For a long time, 
 
Prime Minister Netanyahu withstood President Obama's demand to stop 
 
all settlement activities before he offered a ten-month settlement 
stop on the West Bank.  But this announcement was explicitly not 
valid 
for Jerusalem.  This shows: Netanyahu is not serious.  He believes 
that his attitude will not have any consequences, apart from a few 
expressions of disapproval." 
 
¶6.   (Afghanistan)   London Conference 
 
 
BERLIN 00001628  006 OF 006 
 
 
According to Frankfurter Allgemeine (12/29), Foreign Minister 
Westerwelle's threat not to attend the Afghanistan conference in 
London is "the kind of threat with which one can only expose oneself 
 
to ridicule.  Westerwelle's absence would be a tough strike but the 
 
question is for whom.  For the German government, which put forward 
 
the idea of a conference?  Of course, the London conference must 
discuss civilian reconstruction but the FDP chairman will not be 
able 
to prevent a debate over future troop levels.  Does he really think 
 
that President Obama will send additional tens of thousands of 
soldiers and then be satisfied with European platitudes?  A 
discussion 
over an overall strategy can certainly take place - the coalition 
government certainly has the liberty to make such a move - if it 
knows 
what an overall strategy should look like.  But the reference to 'a 
 
networked security' will not be enough." 
 
DELAWIE