Cablegate: Mumbai Blitz; Guantanamo 07/12/06;Buenos Aires

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DE RUEHBU #1548 1931811
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 121811Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5192
INFO RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL//SCJ2//
RULGPUA/USCOMSOLANT

UNCLAS BUENOS AIRES 001548

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 MEDIA REACTION
SUBJECT: MUMBAI BLITZ; GUANTANAMO 07/12/06;BUENOS AIRES

1. SUMMARY STATEMENT

Today's leading international stories include the bomb blitz in
Mumbai killing more than 160 in India's worst terrorist attack since
1993; and the USG's alleged announcement that the Geneva Convention
will apply to the Guantanamo prison.

2. OPINION PIECES AND KEY STORIES

- "Just alike"

Marcelo Cantelmi, international editor of leading "Clarin," comments
(07/129 "The Mumbay criminal assault is similar to the Atocha attack
in Madrid in 2004. Both attacks were launched against trains or
railway stations, synchronized, and in neither of the two cases did
anyone immediately claim responsibility. If more similarities become
apparent, they would not only point to a connection but to something
more serious...

"A more dangerous and spontaneous enemy has emerged with its own
funds, timing and targeting the attacks based on common themes - the
war in Iraq, harassment of the Palestinians, hatred of the
'crusades' and their allies.'"

- "Al Qaeda's fingerprint"

Left-of-center "Pagina 12" carries an opinion piece by Santiago
O'Donnell, who writes (07/12) "... Today, it seems impossible not to
associate the regional confrontation between India and Pakistan and
the global conflict between the Islamic fundamentalism and the West
and its allies.

"Ties between Kashmir's separatist groups and Al Qaeda are not
new...

"... The US invasion of Afghanistan unleashed an exodus of Arab and
Afghan warriors toward Kashmir...

"It is clear that Al Qaeda would profit from a nuclear war between
India and Pakistan. The terrorist network has proved it tends to
promote and fuel regional conflicts in Indonesia, the Palestinian
territories, Iraq and Philippines for its own benefit. There are no
reasons to think that yesterday's attack is external to this
logic."

- "Now, Bush will reportedly acknowledge rights to terrorist
prisoners"

Ana Baron, Washington-based correspondent for leading "Clarin,"
writes (07/12) "In a 180-degree turn, the Bush administration
announced yesterday that every terrorist prisoner, including those
who have been detainees for four years in Guantanamo will be
protected by the Geneva Convention and will have the guarantee of
humane treatment set forth in it.

"... So far, the Bush administration has argued that prisoners of
the antiterrorist war were not such, but simply terrorists, and
therefore, they had no right to protection through the Geneva
Convention.

"... The shift in policy is due to the US Supreme Court ruling that
declared the extraordinary military courts established by the White
House to deliberate detainees in Guantanamo illegal."

- "Bush cedes to world pressure about Guantanamo prison"

Hugo Alconada Mon, Washington-based correspondent for
daily-of-record "La Nacion," comments (07/12) "Four and a half years
after the arrival of the first prisoners to the Guantanamo prison,
the Geneva Convention will be enforced in the Caribbean military
base where the US has arrested hundreds of Al Qaeda's alleged
terrorists.

"Yesterday, the White House confirmed the unexpected order, which
will turn detainees arrested by US troops in any part of the world
into 'war prisoners.' In the meantime, the Bush administration is
seeking a way out through the US Congress."

To see more Buenos Aires reporting, visit our classified website
at:
http://www.state.sqov.gov/p/wha/buenosaires

GUTIERREZ

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