US embassy cable - 05PARIS2582

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 002582 
 
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 - MIDDLE EAST - IRAQ - RUMSFELD 
TO BAGHDAD - LEBANON EU CONSTITUTION 
PARIS - FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2005 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
1. MIDDLE EAST - IRAQ - RUMSFELD TO BAGHDAD - LEBANON 
2. EU CONSTITUTION 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
TODAY'S MAJOR FRONT-PAGE STORY FOLLOWS PRESIDENT CHIRAC'S 
TELEVISED APPEAL LAST NIGHT IN FAVOR OF THE EUROPEAN 
CONSTITUTION. ALTHOUGH HIS COMMENT ABOUT IT BEING IN THE U.S. 
INTEREST TO STOP EUROPE'S CONSTRUCTION IS BEING REPORTED IN 
THE FINANCIAL TIMES, IT GOES UN-REMARKED IN THE FRENCH PRESS. 
FOR LE FIGARO, IT WAS "A DIFFICULT APPEAL" WHILE POPULAR LE 
PARISIEN TITLES: "CHIRAC SWIMMING UPSTREAM." FINANCIAL LA 
TRIBUNE QUOTES THE PRESIDENT IN ITS HEADLINE: "DO NOT BE 
AFRAID OF THE CONSTITUTION." COMMENTATORS NOTE THE PRESIDENT'S 
CHOICE OF WORDS, A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE POPE'S ADDRESS, "DO 
NOT BE AFRAID," TO THE POLISH PEOPLE. LEFT-OF-CENTER 
LIBERATION SPEAKS OF PRESIDENT CHIRAC'S "EVENING CLASS," WHILE 
NICOLAS BEYTOUT IN RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO TITLES HIS 
EDITORIAL "A MISSED OPPORTUNITY." (SEE PART C) 
 
TODAY'S SECOND MAJOR STORY MARKS THE 100TH DAY OF DETENTION 
FOR FRENCH JOURNALIST FLORENCE AUBENAS AND HER DRIVER- 
INTERPRETER HUSSEIN HANOUN. THE MEDIA IS DEVOTING WIDESPREAD 
COVERAGE TO THE COMMEMORATIVE CELEBRATIONS. IN LEFT-OF-CENTER 
LIBERATION, THE EMPLOYER OF AUBENAS, THE HEADLINE READS: "ONE 
HUNDRED DAYS WITHOUT THEM."  COMMUNIST L'HUMANITE HEADLINES: 
"FREE THEM!" AND DEVOTES A TWO-PAGE SPREAD OF PHOTOGRAPHS FROM 
IRAQ AS A MEMORIAL TO THE DETAINED JOURNALIST. THESE 
PHOTOGRAPH FROM INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED REPORTERS DEPICT 
HARSH MOMENTS OF IRAQ'S RECENT PAST, INCLUDING THE LIBERATION 
OF PRISONERS FROM ABU GHARAIB. CATHOLIC LA CROIX'S EDITORIAL 
IS SIMPLY TITLED: "FOR FLORENCE." 
 
CATHOLIC LA CROIX, WHICH DID NOT SEND A REPORTER TO THE 
AMBASSADOR'S FAREWELL PRESS BRIEFING ON APRIL, 12, NONETHELESS 
REPORTS ON AMBASSADOR LEACH'S TENURE IN PARIS "WHEN THE 
TENSION BETWEEN PARIS AND WASHINGTON WAS AT ITS WORSE." BUT 
GILLES BIASSETTE CONCLUDES ON A POSITIVE NOTE: "TENSION 
BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES HAS SUBSIDED AND HOWARD LEACH CAN 
LEAVE ON A POSITIVE NOTE." 
 
RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO CARRIES AN "OPEN LETTER TO A FRENCH 
FRIEND" BY HEZBOLLAH LEADER HASSAN NASRALLAH, SIMILAR TO A 
PREVIOUS LETTER ALREADY PUBLISHED IN A LEBANESE PAPER. 
NASRALLAH WRITES ABOUT UN RESOLUTION 1559, "A COMPROMISE BY 
THE FRENCH WITH THE AMERICANS" TO "IMPROVE THEIR BILATERAL 
RELATIONS." (SEE PART C) 
 
THE SITUATION IN IRAQ IS ANALYZED IN POPULAR FRANCE SOIR BY 
THOMAS DE ROCHECHOUART, IN A REPORT TITLED: "IRAQ: THE 
AMERICAN IMPASSE." (SEE PART C) DE ROCHECHOUART INTERVIEWS 
PASCAL BONIFACE, DIRECTOR OF IRIS, (INSTITUTE FOR 
INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC RELATIONS) ON WHAT HE INTERPRETS 
AS THE "RISKS OF A FOURTH WORLD WAR." "THE FOURTH WORLD WAR IS 
THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO IN WHICH THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS 
DRAGGING US, WITH A POLICY BASED ON A FALSE DIAGNOSIS. THE WAR 
ON TERROR IS DANGEROUS. BECAUSE IT NEVER ENDS. AND LIKE 
PYROMANIAC FIREFIGHTERS, BUSH AND HIS TEAM ARE FEEDING THE 
FIRES OF TERRORISM, WHICH IN TURN FEED THEIR OWN POLICY. 
ALTHOUGH PRESIDENT BUSH SAYS HE IS NOT THE ENEMY OF THE MUSLIM 
WORLD, THAT IS HOW HE IS PERCEIVED. TO FIGHT TERRORISM ONE 
MUST UNDERSTAND ITS ROOT CAUSES. THE ROOT OF THE HOSTILITY 
TOWARDS THE WEST IS NOT POVERTY, BUT THE FEELING OF INJUSTICE 
TIED TO A FEELING OF BEING MISUNDERSTOOD. THERE IS NOTHING 
WRONG WITH SPREADING DEMOCRACY, BUT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION 
DOES THIS WHILE IT CLOSES ITS EYES TO HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE BY 
CERTAIN REGIMES, LIKE LIBYA. ONE CANNOT PROMOTE FREEDOM WHILE 
ORGANIZING GUANTANAMO AND ABU GHARAIB. PRESIDENT BUSH CAN 
PRESENT HIS POLICY AS A BATTLE FOR FREEDOM, BUT MEANWHILE THE 
ARAB MEDIA SHOW THEIR OWN IMAGES. THAT BUILD ARAB PUBLIC 
OPINION." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
MIDDLE EAST - IRAQ - RUMSFELD TO BAGHDAD - LEBANON 
 
"IRAQ, THE AMERICAN IMPASSE" 
THOMAS DE ROCHECHOUART IN POPULAR RIGHT-OF-CENTER FRANCE SOIR 
(04/15): "IN SPITE OF THE NEW POLITICAL PROCESS IN IRAQ, 
VIOLENCE IS NOT WANING, ON THE CONTRARY. WORSE EVEN THAN THE 
TWO ATTACKS YESTERDAY BY ZARQAWI'S GROUP, IN THE EYES OF THE 
AMERICAN PUBLIC OPINION THERE IS THE KIDNAPPING OF JEFFREY AKE 
AND THE VIDEO BROADCAST BY AL-JAZIRA. AMERICA IS REDISCOVERING 
THE ANXIETY OF HOSTAGE-TAKING, JUST WHEN THE AMERICANS FIND 
THEMSELVES INCREASINGLY ALONE IN IRAQ. AFTER POLAND, GREAT 
BRITAIN, THROUGH ITS FM, INTIMATED YESTERDAY THAT THE BRITISH 
COULD BE LEAVING IRAQ NEXT YEAR. DURING HIS RECENT VISIT TO 
BAGHDAD DEFENSE SECRETARY RUMSFELD REITERATED THERE WAS NO 
EXIT STRATEGY. `OUR STRATEGY IS VICTORY.' WHAT IS OF CONCERN 
IS THAT AMERICA'S STRATEGY IS BASED SOLELY ON THE TRAINING OF 
IRAQI POLICE. THIS IS A VERY UNCERTAIN POLICY, WHICH COULD 
TRAP THE AMERICANS INDEFINITELY IN A COUNTRY WHICH IS ON THE 
BRINK OF EXPLODING." 
 
"OPEN LETTER TO A FRENCH FRIEND" 
HEZBOLLAH LEADER HASSAN NASRALLAH IN RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO 
(04/15): "UN RESOLUTION 1559 WAS A COMPROMISE BETWEEN FRANCE 
AND THE U.S. TO THE DETRIMENT OF OUR COUNTRY. THE FRENCH PART 
OF THE RESOLUTION ASKED FOR SYRIA'S DEPARTURE. THE AMERICAN 
PART FOR THE DISARMAMENT OF LEBANESE MILITIA. THIS COMPROMISE 
HELPED TO BRIDGE THE FRANCO-AMERICAN RELATIONSHIP. BUT FAVORED 
ISRAEL TO OUR DETRIMENT. WHATEVER OUR OPINION OF THE 
RESOLUTION. IT IS CLEAR THAT IT HAS CREATED A NEW SITUATION OF 
DESTABILIZATION FOR LEBANON AND THE REGION." 
 
EU CONSTITUTION 
 
"A MISSED OPPORTUNITY" 
NICOLAS BEYTOUT IN RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO (04/15): "THE 
PRESIDENT'S TASK WAS IMMENSE, MAINLY BECAUSE MOST OF THE 
ARGUMENTS TRADITIONALLY DEVELOPED TO COUNTER THE `NO' HAVE 
ALREADY BEEN PROVEN NOT TO WORK. ALSO BECAUSE FOR YEARS, 
POLITICIANS FROM BOTH THE RIGHT AND THE LEFT HAVE PRESENTED 
EUROPE AS A CONSTRAINT, AND BRUSSELS AS A NEST OF TECHNOCRATS 
WHO ARE IGNORANT ABOUT NATIONAL REALITIES. IT IS NOT CERTAIN 
THAT THE PRESIDENT MANAGED TO REVERSE THE TREND. HE NEVER HAD 
THE OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP ARGUMENTS OTHER THAN TO REASSURE 
HIS AUDIENCE THAT EUROPE WOULD NOT BE ULTRA-LIBERAL, THAT IT 
WOULD PROTECT US FROM THE ANGLO-SAXON MODEL AND THAT WE SHOULD 
NOT BE AFRAID. THE NEXT FEW WEEKS WILL SHOW WHETHER THE 
CAMPAIGN HAS TAKEN A NEW TURN OR WHETHER THE OPPORTUNITY WAS A 
MISSED OPPORTUNITY." LEACH