US embassy cable - 05PARIS1780

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001780 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU; AF/PA; 
EUR/WE /P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA; INR/P; INR/EUC; PM; OSC ISA 
FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR ITA/EUR/FR 
AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA; 
ROME/PA; BRUSSELS/PA; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, FR 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - IRAQ - ITALIAN TROOP 
WITHDRAWAL - CIA EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION CHINA - TAIWAN - ARMS 
EMBARGO 
PARIS - THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2005 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
IRAQ - ITALIAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL - CIA EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION 
CHINA - TAIWAN - ARMS EMBARGO 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
SEVERAL FRONT PAGES AND EDITORIALS ARE DEVOTED TO THIERRY 
BRETON, THE NEW FINANCE MINISTER'S FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE. LE 
FIGARO OPTS FOR A FRONT PAGE ON THE RISING PRICE OF OIL, AND 
THE DIFFICULT EQUATION BRETON MUST RESOLVE, BETWEEN SOCIAL 
REFORMS, THE NATIONAL DEFICIT AND UNION DEMANDS. 
 
STANDING APART, LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION DEVOTES ITS FRONT 
PAGE AND A FIVE-PAGE REPORT TO THE CONTROVERSIAL CASES OF U.S. 
ABUSE OF DETAINEES AND EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION AND HEADLINES: 
"CIA, TORTURE WITHOUT BORDERS." THE EDITORIAL ASKS: "MUST 
AMERICA FORGET ITS VALUES AND REPUTATION IN THIS MAD RACE 
WHERE FEAR HAS LED WASHINGTON TO EXPORT TORTURE WHEN ITS 
DESIGN IS TO EXPORT DEMOCRACY?" (SEE PART C) 
 
ITALY'S ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM IRAQ IS 
SEEN BY LE FIGARO AS "A WEAKENING OF THE COALITION" WHILE 
EDITORIALIST BRUNO FRAPPAT IN CATHOLIC LA CROIX WRITES ABOUT 
"AN ALLIANCE IN TATTERS." CLAUDE IMBERT IN WEEKLY LE POINT 
DEVOTES HIS COLUMN TO THE AFTERMATH OF THE WAR IN IRAQ, AND 
THE AMERICAN SUPPORT TO EUROPEAN NEGOTIATIONS WITH TEHRAN. 
(SEE PART C) 
 
SECRETARY RICE'S TRIP TO ASIA IS BRIEFLY NOTED IN LE FIGARO IN 
 
SIPDIS 
AN ARTICLE PRIMARILY DEVOTED TO CHINA'S ANTI-SECESSION LAW AND 
EUROPE'S DESIRE TO LIFT CHINA'S ARMS EMBARGO. (SEE PART C) 
 
THE NOMINATION OF PAUL WOLFOWITZ TO HEAD THE WORLD BANK IS 
REPORTED. IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION PASCAL RICHE ENTITLES 
HIS REPORT: "A HAWK FOR THE WORLD BANK" AND QUOTES SEVERAL 
REACTIONS: "PURE AND SIMPLE PROVOCATION;" "A DIPLOMATIC 
DISASTER" "A POLITICAL MISSILE." NOTING CLINTON'S VETO OF A 
PREVIOUS EUROPEAN NOMINATION FOR AN IMF CHAIRMAN, WHICH FORCED 
EUROPE TO CHANGE ITS NOMINEE, RICHE CONCLUDES: "SEVERAL 
EUROPEAN DIPLOMATS SUGGEST THE TIME HAS COME FOR EUROPE'S TURN 
TO RETURN THE GESTURE." 
 
KAREN HUGHES IS PROFILED IN CATHOLIC LA CROIX BY GILLES 
BIASSETTE: "THIS FORMER JOURNALIST HAS JUST BEEN TASKED WITH 
RECONCILING AMERICA WITH THE ARAB-MUSLIM WORLD. SHE PLANS ON 
`KILLING PROPAGANDA WITH THE TRUTH.' WHILE HUGHES IS RETURNING 
TO HER FORMER TURF, COMMUNICATIONS., HER KNOWLEDGE OF 
INTERNATIONAL ISSUES REMAINS VERY LIMITED." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
IRAQ - ITALIAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL - CIA EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION 
 
"AN ALLIANCE IN TATTERS" 
BRUNO FRAPPAT IN CATHOLIC LA CROIX (03/17): "WHILE IT IS TOO 
EARLY TO SAY THAT SOON ONLY AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND IRAQI 
SOLDIERS WILL BE LEFT TO `FINISH' THE JOB, THAT PROSPECT IS 
GETTING CLOSER. UNTIL RECENTLY, BUSH COULD COUNT ON THE SOLID 
SUPPORT OF TWO IMPORTANT EUROPEAN ALLIES: GREAT BRITAIN AND 
ITALY. NOW BERLUSCONI IS WAVERING, AND TONY BLAIR LOOKS MORE 
AND MORE ISOLATED IN EUROPE. THE ORIGINAL `ALLIANCE' HAD THREE 
MISSIONS: TO CHASE SADDAM, TO RID IRAQ OF WMD, AND TO 
ESTABLISH DEMOCRACY. THE FIRST GOAL HAS BEEN REACHED, THE 
SECOND, OBVIOUSLY, WILL NEVER BE REACHED. AS FOR THE THIRD, IT 
IS STILL IN THE MAKING." 
 
"THE ROAD TO TEHRAN" 
CLAUDE IMBERT IN RIGHT-OF-CENTER WEEKLY LE POINT (03/17): "IN 
THE COMPLICATED ORIENT, WE MOVE WITH SIMPLISTIC IDEAS. AFTER 
THE ANTI-BUSH HYSTERIA PROVOKED BY THE AMERICAN INTERVENTION 
IN IRAQ, WE ARE NOW IN THE GRIPS OF UNBRIDLED OPTIMISM. THE 
MIDDLE EAST REMAINS EXPLOSIVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO EXPORT ITS 
CONVULSIONS. THE ARAB WORLD CONTINUES TO RESENT GLOBALIZATION 
EVEN IF SIGNS OF HOPE, AS IN LEBANON, BEGIN TO APPEAR. WHILE 
SUCCESS IN IRAQ IS NOT GUARANTEED, IT IS A FACT THAT THERE IS 
THE PROMISE OF A DEMOCRATIC AWAKENING STRETCHING FROM DAMASCUS 
TO CAIRO. THE IRAQI VOTERS WERE THE FIRST TO GIVE CONFIDENCE 
TO AMERICA FOR ITS CHOICES. THEY ALSO DISCONCERTED FRENCH 
DIPLOMACY. WASHINGTON'S WAGER WAS THE ADVENT OF AN EVOLUTION 
IN ARAB MASSES AND YOUTH. A WAGER THAT IS VERY FAR FROM OUR 
`PRO-ARAB' POLICY, MADE UP OF REALISTIC ARRANGEMENTS WITH 
DESPOTS. BUT THE IRAQI ELECTIONS, ALTHOUGH ENCOURAGING, MUST 
NOT LEAD TO EXCESSIVE EUPHORIA. THE QUESTION THAT HAS THE WEST 
IN A QUANDARY IS WHETHER IRAN DESERVES THE SAME FATE. TEHRAN'S 
REGIME IS INCREASINGLY BECOMING UNPOPULAR, AND AMERICANS AND 
EUROPEANS ALIKE ARE RESIGNED TO ITS FALL FROM WITHIN. NEITHER 
WASHINGTON, NOR EUROPE NOR TEL AVIV IS READY TO ACCEPT AN 
IRANIAN NUCLEAR BOMB. HENCE THE NEGOTIATIONS, WITH PERFECT 
WESTERN COOPERATION: EUROPE FOR THE CARROTS, AMERICA WITH THE 
STICK." 
 
"EXPORTING TORTURE" 
JEAN-MICHEL THENARD IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION (03/17): "THE 
U.S. DOES NOT ALLOW ITSELF TO TORTURE, BUT BELIEVES IN ITS 
USEFULNESS WHEN DONE IN SECRET TO FIGHT TERRORISM. THIS 
HYPOCRISY HAS LED TO A NEW INVENTION: OUT-SOURCING TORTURE. 
THIS IS A SIGN OF THE BUSH HYPERPOWER'S WEAKNESS. SINCE 9/11, 
IT IS GOVERNED BY THE FEAR OF BEING VULNERABLE. MUST AMERICA 
FORGET ITS VALUES AND REPUTATION IN THIS MAD RACE WHERE FEAR 
HAS LED WASHINGTON TO EXPORT TORTURE WHEN ITS DESIGN IS TO 
EXPORT DEMOCRACY?" 
 
CHINA - TAIWAN - ARMS EMBARGO 
 
"CONTROVERSY OVER AN EMBARGO" 
JEAN-JACQUES MEVEL IN RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO (03/17): 
"TAIWAN'S PRESIDENT IS TRYING TO PLACE THE DEBATE WHERE IT 
WILL HURT CHINA THE MOST WHILE USING WASHINGTON'S ARGUMENTS. 
IN HIS WORDS, THE NEW CHINESE LAW UNILATERALLY CHANGES THE 
STATUS QUO AND DEPRIVES THE EUROPEANS OF THEIR ARGUMENT TO 
LIFT THE ARMS EMBARGO. CHEN SHUI-BIAN IS TAKING PLEASURE IN 
TURNING THE TABLES ON CHIRAC, USING THE SAME WORDS THE FRENCH 
PRESIDENT HAD USED WHEN VISITING BEIJING. THIS TIME THE 
AGGRESSOR IS CHINA, AND CHEN IS TAKING HIS REVENGE BY ASKING 
EUROPE TO MAINTAIN THE ARMS EMBARGO. SECRETARY RICE, WHO IS 
TOURING THE REGION, HAS SEIZED THE OPPORTUNITY TO REITERATE 
THAT CHINA'S LAW SHOULD CONVINCE THOSE WHO MIGHT WANT TO SELL 
WEAPONS TO THE NEW EMERGING POWER. ON THE EUROPEAN SIDE, THE 
CHINESE ANTI-SECESSION LAW IS CAUSING SOME EMBARRASSMENT. A 
NEW TRANSATLANTIC CONTROVERSY COULD DELAY EUROPE'S LIFTING OF 
THE EMBARGO. AMERICAN DIPLOMACY IS CLOSE TO ACCUSING PARIS AND 
ITS ALLIES OF BEING IRRESPONSIBLE IN THE FAR EAST." LEACH