US embassy cable - 05SANTIAGO1674

UNCLAS SANTIAGO 001674 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR IIP/G/WHA, INR/R/MR, WHA/BSC, WHA/PDA, INR/IAA, 
EUR/RUS, EAP/CM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KNNP, KMDR, KPAO, OPRC, PARM, CI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION - ATOMIC FALL OUT 
 
1.   On August 6, conservative, influential newspaper-of- 
record "El Mercurio" (circ. 116,807) ran an editorial 
entitled, "Will Europe Find a Solution?"   Quote: 
 
"60 years after the first atomic bomb was dropped on 
Hiroshima, the world still fears nuclear holocaust.  This 
is why...we must find effective ways to live in harmony 
and to negotiate with `untrustworthy' countries that will 
inevitably seek prestige and power through nuclear 
weapons." 
 
2.   On August 7, conservative, independent "La Tercera" 
(circ. 102,000) carried a column by staff writer with the 
acronym MOJ entitled, "60 Years to Remember": 
 
"In WWII, humankind showed deplorable traits that must 
not be forgotten: autocrats willing to lead their nations 
to the abyss, totalitarian systems in which men became 
simple spare parts for a machine...racial prejudice taken 
to extremes...the capability and will to build more 
deadly war machines, and a moral corruption inherent to 
all wars that made the bombing of civilians--labeled a 
barbarous act at the war's beginning--acceptable by the 
war's end.  In light of recent events, it is not clear 
that we have learned from the mistakes and horrors of the 
past.  If in another 60 years we still remember 
Hiroshima, we will have progressed." 
 
3.   On August 6, conservative, independent "La Tercera" 
(circ. 102,000) carried an editorial entitled, 
"Hiroshima: The Effects of `Total War.'"  Quote: 
 
"What we can do today is analyze the world following the 
bombings (of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).  The availability 
of nuclear weapons and the proof of their destructive 
power took the world...into the longest period of peace 
in centuries.  A stability based on the fear of mutual 
destruction...has prevented the use of these weapons 
until today....  In the 21st century, however, the 
challenge is different: countries that are unhappy with 
their position in the international system could use 
atomic weapons as currency or to threaten other nations. 
That is the path North Korea has chosen and the fear-- 
which we now know was mistaken--regarding Saddam Hussein. 
These are countries that are unafraid of taking risks and 
in which decisions are not adequately processed through 
institutional filters.  Therefore, together with the 
possibility--thus far unconfirmed--that terrorist groups 
may have obtained nuclear weapons the greatest threat 
today is proliferation." 
 
KELLY