US embassy cable - 04MADRID2230

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 002230 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, MOPS, IZ, SP, UNSC, KICC 
SUBJECT: SPANISH DEPUTY FM CONFIRMS INCREASED AFGHANISTAN 
PARTICIPATION 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires J. Robert Manzanares, reasons 1.4(b) a 
nd (d). 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  Spanish Deputy Foreign Minister Bernardino 
Leon apologized to Charge June 14 on behalf of the Spanish 
government for negative remarks the Spanish first vice 
president made about Secretary Rumsfeld June 4.  Leon also 
confirmed Spain will increase its participation in 
Afghanistan by providing "tactical assistance" and by 
increasing its troop presence.  Leon additionally said that 
if the U.S. needs the GOS to vote in favor of ICC rollover to 
prevail on the resolution, the GOS would do so.  Finally, 
Leon said Spain does not plan to backtrack on its Iraq 
Donors' Conference commitments, only to reassess priorities 
for spending the money.  End summary. 
 
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Official Apology 
---------------- 
 
2.  (C) Leon requested the meeting with Charge in order to 
apologize for remarks First Vice President de la Vega made 
about Secretary Rumsfeld June 4.  In response to incorrect 
reports June 4 that Secretary Rumsfeld had said in Singapore 
that Spain was among the countries terrorists might target 
over the summer, de la Vega said Rumsfeld's supposed remarks 
were "imprudent and irresponsible."  Leon said he was 
apologizing "officially on behalf of the government of Spain" 
for de la Vega's "inappropriate remarks," which were based on 
an incorrect report by the official Spanish news agency EFE. 
Leon added the government was asking EFE to begin an 
investigation of how the inaccuracies occurred.  He asked 
Charge to transmit the apology to the State Department and to 
Secretary Rumsfeld. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
3.  (C) Charge replied that he would do so and had no plans 
to make the apology public, but asked Leon to work to curb 
the anti-American comments being made by members of the 
Zapatero government, which were simply unconstructive.  Leon 
said the Zapatero government is not anti-American and 
attributed some of the more intemperate comments to 
electioneering.  Charge observed the elections were now over 
and it was time for Spain to show with concrete examples that 
it wants to cooperate with the U.S. 
 
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Spain to Up Afghanistan Participation 
------------------------------------- 
 
4.  (C) Leon said Spain was already showing it means to have 
strong relations with the U.S. and pointed to Afghanistan. 
He was happy to report that the Council of Ministers June 11 
approved sending helicopters, transport planes and a hospital 
unit to Afghanistan.  Also, Spain was sending additional 
troops to Afghanistan as part of the Eurocorps deployment, 
and would send a battalion to further augment its presence 
sometime in the future.  He was not certain about specific 
numbers, deferring to the Defense Ministry. 
 
5.  (C) Leon did not know precisely when the GOS would make 
this decision public but promised to provide the Charge with 
a statement or other information the USG could make public in 
the next several days.  He also said the GOS had not yet made 
a decision on whether to participate in a provincial 
reconstruction team. 
 
------------------------------- 
A Spaniard as UN Envoy to Iraq? 
------------------------------- 
 
6.  (C) Leon then suggested to Charge that one way for Spain 
to show it was maintaining its commitment to Iraq and had 
patched things up with the U.S. would be for the next UN 
special representative for Iraq to be a Spaniard.  The GOS, 
in fact, already has someone picked out, according to Leon: 
Spain's Consul General in Washington.  Leon said the diplomat 
is well and favorably known to the U.S. and is also an 
Arabist.  Charge said he did not know how the USG would react 
to Leon's suggestion but would transmit it to Washington. 
 
7.  (C) Charge mentioned that recent remarks by Foreign 
Minister Moratinos suggesting Spain was "re-examining" its 
financial commitments made at the Iraq Donors' Conference 
would not help a Spanish candidate for the UN position.  Leon 
said he was prepared to say "officially" that Spain "was not 
re-examining its commitments."  Rather, Spain was taking 
another look at priorities for spending the money it has 
committed.  Spain would not back away from the commitments it 
made in Madrid last October, said Leon. 
 
------------------------------------ 
ICC Rollover: We'll Be There for You 
------------------------------------ 
 
8.  (C) Charge then reminded Leon that in previous 
consultations on the ICC rollover resolution in the UNSC, 
Spain had told the U.S. that it would abstain on the 
resolution unless the U.S. needed Spain's vote for the 
resolution to pass.  Charge told Leon that we now need 
Spain's vote to win and hoped they would follow through on 
their promise.  Leon said if the U.S. needs Spain's vote for 
the resolution to pass, "we'll be there for you."  And there 
would be no need for Secretary Powell to call Foreign 
Minister Moratinos again on the issue. 
 
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Comment 
------- 
 
9.  (C) Leon's apology for de la Vega's remarks was welcome 
but his comments on Afghanistan, Iraq and the ICC were more 
important.  Leon's statement that the GOS has made the 
decision to augment its presence in Afghanistan was 
encouraging.  When and how Spain will do this, of course, 
remains to be seen.  On Iraq, while Leon's suggestion that a 
Spaniard might be appropriate as the next UN envoy to Iraq 
seemed a bit off the mark, his confirmation that Spain did 
not plan to "re-examine" its financial commitments made to 
Iraq at the Madrid Donors' Conference was also positive, if 
that proves to be the case.  Finally, Spain has said it "will 
be there" for us on the ICC rollover if we need them.  The 
Zapatero government will have to fulfill its commitment to 
the U.S. on this issue or blatantly fail to keep its word. 
 
 
MANZANARES