VZCZCXRO2477
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHLZ
DE RUEHRL #0016/01 0071316
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071316Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6213
INFO RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 1898
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0620
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1137
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 2642
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1663
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0826
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFE RAMSTEIN AB GE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE//J5 DIRECTORATE (MC)//
RHMFISS/CDRUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE
RUKAAKC/UDITDUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 BERLIN 000016 
 
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: AF PTER US KGHG
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: US, AFGHANISTAN, TERRORISM, U.S. 
ENVIRONMENT;BERLIN 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
¶2.   (U.S.)   Obama-Intelligence Services Meeting 
¶3.   (Afghanistan)   Run-up to London Conference 
¶4.   (U.S.)   Guant namo, Yemen 
¶5.   (U.S.)   Obama Policy 
¶6.   (Environment)   Climate Policy 
 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
 
ZDF-TV's early evening newscast Heute opened with a story on the 
technical problems German banks and customers are having with flawed 
 
cash cards and ARD-TV's early evening newscast Tagesschau opened 
with 
a story on the FDP's Epiphany meeting in Stuttgart.  Frankfurter 
Allgemeine also led with a story on the FDP, headlining: 
"Westerwelle: 
We stay on course."  Sddeutsche and Frankfurter Rundschau led with 
 
the ongoing controversy over the role of the German Federal 
Association of Expellees.  Tagesspiegel led with AfPak Envoy 
Holbrooke's interview with Die Zeit.  Berliner Zeitung highlighted 
that children living with single parents will get more money. 
Editorials focused on President Obama's meeting with intelligence 
officials, the FDP's Epiphany meeting, the German Federal 
Association 
of Expellees and the massive technical problems of cash cards. 
 
¶2.   (U.S.)   Obama-Intelligence Services Meeting 
 
Almost all papers (1/7) carried reports on the meeting between 
President Obama and the heads of his intelligence services. 
Sueddeutsche headlined: "Obama Accuses his Intelligence Services of 
 
Failure U.S. President announced Reforms After Failed Terrorist 
Attack 
and stops Release of Guant namo Prisoners."  Handelsblatt carried a 
 
report under the headline: "Obama Harangued Intelligence Services," 
 
while Die Welt wrote: "Obama Criticizes Failure of Intelligence 
Services." 
 
Under the headline: "Bush Light?" Frankfurter Allgemeine (1/7) 
argued 
that: "The issue of security and terror has again showed up 
overnight 
on the Americans' agenda of concerns.  It is obvious that the 
Republicans will now try to damage Obama's reputation.  Whether he 
likes it or not, Obama now finds himself playing the role of a 
fighter 
against terrorism, who, with a few exceptions, continues where his 
predecessor left off.  And government officials again use a term 
that 
the current government had banned from its vocabulary: the war on 
terror.  Is this 'Bush light'?" 
 
Die Welt (1/7) carried an editorial, saying: "The President is in 
trouble now because the impression has developed that terror is no 
longer a top issue for Obama.  It is true that he can refer to the 
fact that a few of the planners of the attack in Yemen were released 
 
from Guant namo under the Bush government, but the series of 
blunders 
that the U.S. intelligence services made over the past few weeks 
also 
shows that the vigilance of the U.S. government has eased.  Obama 
 
BERLIN 00000016  002 OF 006 
 
 
does 
not like swaggering gestures, and this is one reason for his high 
reputation abroad.  But he knows that his government cannot allow 
any 
more blunders.  That is why he treated his security czars so 
harshly." 
 
Under the headline; "Barack Obama Finds Strong Words for the Failure 
 
of his Intelligence Services - But There is a Lack of Deeds," 
Sueddeutsche Zeitung (1/7) editorialized: "The President announced 
that he would now take the necessary steps, but he didn't say what 
they would be.  Thus far, these strong words have not been followed 
by 
strong deeds.  This could turn out to be a serious political 
mistake.... 
Obama's reaction to the blunder is laudable but the time has now 
come 
for something different.  He must address the nation and assume 
responsibility for the failure of his apparatus.  And he must 
replace 
his intelligence czar whom he installed a year ago.  Otherwise, 
Obama 
will have difficulty regaining the confidence of Americans and that 
he 
is serious about demonstrating his promise to learn his lesson from 
 
the debacle." 
 
According to Frankfurter Rundschau (1/7), "basically, Obama is 
reacting in a way a government must react after a failed terrorist 
attack.  He orders an analysis of mistakes, examines security gaps, 
 
and intensifies controls.  One can wonder why travelers from 14 
nations, of which 13 countries are Muslim countries, must 
systematically accept body searches or why he stopped the 
deportation 
of Guant namo prisoners to Yemen, even though U.S. courts order 
this. 
But Obama cannot be accused of blind revenge.  Unlike Bush, this 
President does not pursue a policy of fear." 
 
Under the headline: "Organized Uncontrolled Growth," Handelsblatt 
(1/7) argued: "All of a sudden, President Obama is presenting 
himself 
as a resolute fighter.  This is a totally new facet.  But Obama does 
 
not reveal how he wants to eliminate the deficiencies among his 
intelligence services.  After the crisis meeting in the White House, 
 
it is becoming clear that there is no panacea but one insight: the 
current system of spooks is choking from its own organization. 
Obviously the system has become unwieldy' it must be streamlined. 
For 
more than one year, Obama has pushed aside the anti-terror issue, 
but 
now it is caching up with him.  Now Obama is confronted with the 
same 
questions as George W. Bush, but he does not have different answers 
 
than his predecessor.  After the fiasco of the past few days, Obama 
 
should have realized that he must work on a new construction site in 
 
addition to the ones he already has." 
 
die tageszeitung (1/7) judged in a front-page editorial, headlined: 
"A 
 
BERLIN 00000016  003 OF 006 
 
 
Rational Commander," that "those are wrong who consider Obama a 
prince 
of peace.  He is a rational commander.  But he is at least rational, 
 
and honest, as far as we can judge from here.  Both characteristics 
 
distinguish him from his predecessor.  George W. Bush proclaimed a 
crusade, began a war under false conditions, lied to the public, and 
 
declared Islam an enemy.  Barack Obama is not Islamophobic and he is 
 
no crusader.  This does not yet make him a European diplomat, but at 
 
least a reliable interlocutor." 
 
Regional daily Westdeutsche Zeitung of Dsseldorf (1/7) argued: "it 
is 
very likely that the unnerved U.S. security agencies will again 
overreact and get things moving in the wrong direction.  The 
psychological consequences - the nervousness of security forces 
connected with fears and an increase in inconvenience for the public 
- 
are already a form of terror itself." 
 
Rhein-Zeitung of Koblenz (1/7) judged: "With this debacle, the 
security agencies did not make a slight hitch, they almost made a 
disastrous mistake.  That is why President Obama should have taken a 
 
more drastic step.  It is surprising that he left the officials 
responsible for the intelligence services in office, and this could 
be 
interpreted as a sign of weakness.  At least for the time being, 
Obama 
missed the opportunity to teach [the nation] to respect him." 
 
¶3.   (Afghanistan)   Run-up to London Conference 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine (1/7) editorialized: "It is an old chestnut 
that Afghanistan cannot be stabilized by military means alone, 
despite 
the warlike conditions in some of its regions.  NATO acknowledged 
this 
since the summit in autumn 2006 at the latest.  The continuously 
repeated call for a new strategy only serves as an excuse in the 
domestic debate, so one does not have to seriously discuss the 
military engagement of the international community....  The talk of 
war 
after the incident in Kunduz does certainly not make the decision of 
 
deploying additional soldiers easier.  However, Germany has accepted 
a 
job in the north of the country, which it should do without 
referring 
to the demands of others." 
 
Berliner Zeitung(1/7)  opined: "There are three weeks to go to the 
London conference on Afghanistan.  How does the German government 
see 
the German contribution for Afghanistan?  Only vague statements are 
 
made in public.  Interior Minister Thomas de Maizire does not 
believe 
that it is necessary to say when and how many additional police 
officers should be sent.  The Americans take the lead and plan to 
deploy several hundred U.S. trainers to the region where the Germans 
 
are.  The [German] government can only blame itself for this 
disgrace. 
 
BERLIN 00000016  004 OF 006 
 
 
Those who only deal with the policy on Afghanistan behind closed 
doors 
must not be surprised that the Americans now take action and that 
the 
German public is increasingly skeptical about the mission." 
 
Under the headline "Doubts about Germany," Tagesspiegel remarks in 
an 
editorial: "U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and 
Pakistan, 
Richard Holbrooke, has made clear to the weekly Die Zeit what it is 
 
really about.  It is in the German as well as the American interest 
 
that the war is not lost.  Washington has responded to Berlin's 
delaying tactics and will deploy additional troops to Kunduz.  The 
Germans are apparently no longer trusted to be able and willing to 
defend the north." 
 
Die Welt (1/7) notes: "Islamists have apparently been focusing on 
the 
fights in Afghanistan for months to demoralize the people and 
frustrate the West.   It shows that they want the decision to be 
made 
there that is expected to bring them not just Afghanistan but also 
Pakistan with its nuclear weapons.  This would be the triumph of all 
 
triumphs....  Afghanistan is not yet lost, but the torn country can 
be 
lost...  Future historians will date the Islamists' victory to the 
day 
when the last helicopter leaves from the roof of the U.S. Embassy in 
 
Kabul." 
 
¶4.   (U.S.)   Guant namo, Yemen 
 
Berliner Zeitung (1/7) carried an analysis on the most recent U.S. 
steps to counter terrorism and reported under the headline: "Obama, 
 
Guant namo and Double Standards," that "as a reaction to the failed 
 
terrorist attempt, President Obama decided not to release more 
Guant namo prisoners to Yemen.  That is why dozens of alleged 
innocent 
prisoners in Guant namo will begin their ninth year in the camp 
without hope for release.  Their worst crime is that they were born 
as 
Yemenites, not Americans.  Last week, federal judge Ricardo Urbina 
demonstrated what kind of difference this makes.  He suspended 
proceedings against five guards of Blackwater were accused of having 
 
killed 17 Iraqis.  But because U.S. investigators promised the 
defendants that they can keep their jobs if they make a testimony, 
the 
judge declared the entire proceedings to be inadmissible.  Then the 
 
U.S. commander in Iraq spoke of a "lesson in the rule of law."  This 
 
is unbelievable.  It is this injustice that drives recruits into al 
 
Qaida's hands.  Obama should know that Guant namo is only a symbol 
of 
this." 
 
Regional daily Stuttgarter Zeitung (1/7) editorialized: 
"Shortcomings 
come back to haunt [politicians] -- some sooner, some later.  In 
 
BERLIN 00000016  005 OF 006 
 
 
hindsight it has turned out to be a serious mistake that the 
Afghanistan and Iraq-fixated Americans have lost sight of Yemen. 
Al- 
Qaida's attack on the USS Cole in Aden Harbor almost a year before 
the 
9/11 attacks should have been an alarm call at that time in order to 
 
take action against the Islamic terrorists in the south of the Arab 
 
peninsula.  Today, almost ten years later, the chances to succeed 
are 
far worse, the risks attached to driving Osama bin Laden's followers 
 
out of their hideouts in Yemen much higher. 
 
Washington correspondent Andreas Geldner opines in regional daily 
Freie Presse of Chemnitz (1/7):  "Obama's admirers abroad should 
gear 
up for quite a few surprises in the coming weeks which are bound to 
 
alter their image of the 'global president.'  The Americans singling 
 
out persons from 14 allegedly terrorist-infiltrated countries, is 
just 
the beginning. Nonetheless Obama is very aware of the fact that he 
needs - first and foremost - solid international cooperation to 
fight 
terrorism.  He stubbornly refuses to resort to the term "war against 
 
terror" because - from his perspective - it disregards the much more 
 
essential civilian component.  Obama is also staying the course when 
 
it comes to the closure of Guant namo, all the while knowing that a 
 
turnabout on this issue would be a disastrous for his international 
 
credibility." 
 
¶5.   (U.S.)   Obama Policy 
 
Weekly Die Zeit (1/7) had this to say: "Barack Obama is by no means 
a 
naQve peace apostle who is brutally being thrown into reality by a 
thwarted attack.  Since he is in office, he has been waging a fight 
 
against Islamic terrorists with all consequence, even though with 
fewer battle cries than his predecessor and with a fine instinct for 
 
the limits of the rule of law.  The supporters of George W. Bush and 
 
Dick Cheney are now attacking the incumbent in the White House as 
being too soft, arguing that the security of the country is in bad 
hands with him. But is this president too yielding towards Islamic 
terrorists?  Not this president.  He knows about the constant 
terrorist dangers.  He is not only a master of words.  He does not 
only talk but he also takes action by sending another 30,000 
soldiers 
to Afghanistan....  But Obama is by no means a cloned Bush.  As 
president and supreme commander, he promised the American people to 
 
protect them from hostile attacks and to respect the Constitution 
and 
freedom rights.  Under Bush these were contradictions.  Obama, 
however, wants to show that even in difficult times, the tightrope 
act 
between security and freedom can succeed.  Barack Obama is not a 
naQve 
 
BERLIN 00000016  006 OF 006 
 
 
idealist but a pragmatist who is serious about his principles." 
 
Regional daily MQrkische Oderzeitung of Frankfurt on the Oder (1/7) 
 
opined: "Obama succeeded in setting a new tone - in relations to 
Moscow, with respect to disarmament, in his approach to the Islamic 
 
world.  The reward was - and this was probably a bit premature - the 
 
awarding of the Nobel Peace prize.  The war in Iraq is not yet over, 
 
the one in Afghanistan is being intensified, and in the war on 
terror 
new fronts are opening on a global scale.  Obama, the Nobel Peace 
laureate, has arrived as war president in tough reality." 
 
¶6.   (Environment)   Climate Policy 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine (1/7) remarks in a front-page editorial: "The 
 
despondency after the climate conference in Copenhagen was great. 
Not 
just the Europeans had to digest a disappointing result.  The 
experience was unpleasant and indicated a future loss of global 
influence and power....  It is clear that the Europeans did not find 
any 
allies among the U.S. and larger threshold countries that shared 
their 
priorities and determination.  At the end, Europeans and those most 
 
hit by global climate change stood alone.  On a field where they 
wanted to take the lead by making great efforts, support was hardly 
 
visible....  New institutions are required in the new century. 
Traditionalists still support the United Nations under all 
circumstances and everywhere.  However, given that the 
multilateralism 
of the UN is ineffective, takes a lot of time, and is often abused 
by 
anti-Western propagandists, there is a trend to bypass it.  This 
trend 
toward informal groups might increase." 
 
DELAWIE