EE UU reconoce el desvío de submarinos nucleares por la Base Naval de Rota

  • El 93% de los buques de EE UU que pasan por la Península recalan en puertos españolas.
  • Sólo el 7% pasa por la Bahía de Algeciras.
  • EE UU reconoce su derecho a pasar por Gibraltar.

ID

92460

Etiquetas

PREL, MARR, PGOV, SP

Fecha

2007-01-12 17:10:00

RefID

07MADRID69

Origen

Embassy Madrid

Clasificación

CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN

Destino

Encabezado

Contenido

VZCZCXRO7131

PP RUEHLA

DE RUEHMD #0069 0121710

ZNY CCCCC ZZH

P 121710Z JAN 07

FM AMEMBASSY MADRID

TO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY

RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1615

INFO RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA PRIORITY 2355

RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 1453

RUEHMD/USDAO MADRID SP PRIORITY

RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY

@ELIMINADO@

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000069

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/11/2027

TAGS: PREL, MARR, PGOV, SP

SUBJECT: SPAIN: DEFMIN ON SECDEF/NATO MINISTERIAL, SUB

ACCIDENT, LEBANON, AFGHANISTAN, NCIS

Classified By: Ambassador Eduardo Aguirre for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).

1. (C/NF) Ambassador Aguirre met with Spanish Defense

Minister Alonso January 11 to touch base on the upcoming

visit to Seville of SecDef Gates in connection with the

February 8-9 NATO Defense Ministerial. The two, who meet

frequently, were to meet briefly for coffee but the session

lasted an hour and a half and covered a range of issues.

2. (C/NF) On the SecDef visit, Alonso noted that he was eager

to meet Secretary Gates, had requested a bilat, and expected

it would take place in the usual manner during NATO Defense

Ministerials. Alonso told Ambassador Aguirre that he did not

know whether President Zapatero planned to be in Seville

during the Ministerial, noting that Zapatero's schedule at

this point might make his presence difficult. Ambassador

Aguirre noted that planning for the Ministerial seemed to be

on track based on reports from the USNATO/Embassy pre-advance

team which had just concluded a planning trip to Seville.

3. (C/NF) The Ambassador noted that Alonso might want to

conclude the on-going negotiations over the operations of the

Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Air Force

Office of Special Investigations (OSI) by the time of the

SecDef visit. Alonso said his team was sending over a

revised, far simpler and shorter MOU draft text aimed at

finding a rapid and mutually agreeable solution to the issue.

(NOTE: Embassy/ODC received a fax'd copy of the new text in

English and Spanish and has sent it by e-mail to OSD for

initial review, and will also report by septel.) Alonso

stressed that the GOS desire for an MOU was driven by public

opinion concerns and the need for the government to

demonstrate it has oversight over the activities of other

governments in Spain. The new text, he hoped, would give the

GOS what it needed for public opinion but also be flexible

enough to allow the US to agree to it.

4. (C/NF) Alonso raised concerns about the US nuclear

submarine Minneapolis-St Paul (MSP) that had docked at the

base in Rota, Spain (shared by US and Spanish Navies) after

an incident in British waters on December 29 in which four

sailors fell overboard and two sailors died. The MSP docked

at Rota on January 2 and has remained in port pending

completion of the accident investigation. Alonso said the GOS

wanted to a clear statement from the US, again for public

opinion purposes, about whether the MSP has extended its stay

because of problems with its nuclear propulsion system.

(COMMENT: The GOS is sensitive on this issue because of an

2000 incident in which the British sub Tireless spent nearly

a year in Gibraltar performing repairs to its propulsion

system. The incident caused loud public protests in southern

Spain. During the 2003 campaign, the current government

promised not to allow "another Tireless" incident if elected.

END COMMENT.) Ambassador Aguirre explained that the US would

expect GOS support on this matter, in the context of our

regular and frequent nuclear-powered sub visits to Rota.

Aguirre said the US had had taken note of the GOS's

preference for the US to send nuclear-powered subs to Rota

rather than the base in Gibraltar, which has been an irritant

to the GOS. The Ambassador said that if Spain were going to

go beyond normal agreed information-sharing requirements for

nuclear powered sub visits, Gibraltar would become a more

attractive alternative. Alonso reiterated his government's

public opinion concerns (Note: Embassy DAO/ODC are working

with NAVEUR and the GOS to resolve this matter in a way

satisfactory to US information-sharing caveats related to

nuclear vessels.)

5. (C/NF) Turning to regional issues, Alonso expressed

concern that Spanish troops in Lebanon, numbering some 1100,

are at increasing risk. He also noted that the MOD had

raised the alert levels for its troops resulting from the

December 30 ETA terrorist bombing which killed two people and

destroyed a huge parking garage and numerous vehicles at the

new wing of Madrid's Barajas airport. Alonso was also

discouraged by the situation in Afghanistan, noting that the

winter lull, due only to weather conditions, would not soon

last. With increasingly corrupt tribal leaders, massive drug

trade and increasing insurgency there, Alonso was pessimistic

about the end game in Afghanistan.

Aguirre;"

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