US embassy cable - 05PARIS4906

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004906 
 
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; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, FR 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR: LONDON 
BOMBINGS 
PARIS - PARIS - FRIDAY, JULY 15, 2005 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
LONDON BOMBINGS 
 
(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
PRESIDENT CHIRAC'S JULY 14 TELEVISED INTERVIEW DOMINATES 
HEADLINES AND EDITORIALS TODAY WITH THE MAJORITY OF NATIONAL 
AND REGIONAL DAILIES NOTING THAT THIS YEAR'S PRESIDENTIAL 
MESSAGE WAS NOT INTENDED TO `ANNOUNCE' ANYTHING, RATHER IT WAS 
DESIGNED TO GIVE NEW IMPETUS TO FRANCE'S MORALE FOLLOWING THE 
"NO" VOTE ON THE EU CONSTITUTION REFERENDUM, THE CHOICE OF 
LONDON TO HOST THE 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES AND FRANCE'S HIGH 
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE AND POOR ECONOMIC OUTLOOK. 
 
THE OTHER MAJOR STORY TODAY IS THE IDENTITY OF THE LONDON 
BOMBING SUSPECTS QUALIFIED FOR THE MOST PART AS "BEYOND 
SUSPICION" AND "WELL-INTEGRATED." COMMUNIST L'HUMANITE NOTES 
THAT: "WITH THESE ATTACKS, THE ISLAMISTS IN EFFECT HAVE BROKEN 
THE UNWRITTEN PACT THAT THEY HAD WITH LONDON IN EXCHANGE FOR 
TOTAL FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT." POPULAR RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE 
PARISIEN'S HEADLINE ON THURSDAY: "THE THREAT OF KAMIKAZES IN 
FRANCE" AND INSIDE STORY RELATE THE ITINERARY OF TWO YOUNG 
PARISIANS WHO COMMITTED SUICIDE ATTACKS IN IRAQ.  (SEE PART C) 
 
THE FRIDAY EDITION OF LEFT-OF-CENTER LE MONDE CARRIES AN 
INTERVIEW OF FRANCOIS HEISBOURG DIRECTOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL 
INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES IN LONDON. ASKED IF THE WAR IN 
IRAQ IS A FACTOR IN THE LONDON BOMBINGS HEISBOURG RESPONDED: 
"THEY DO NOT ATTACK US FOR WHAT WE DO BUT FOR WHAT WE ARE. 
AFTER ALL, FRANCE HAS NO TROOPS IN IRAQ AND REMAINS AS MUCH A 
TARGET AS ANYWHERE ELSE." 
 
IN THE SAME VEIN, ALAIN CHOUET, FORMER CHIEF OF THE DGSE 
(FRENCH INTELLIGENCE) SAYS IN AN INTERVIEW IN LE PARISIEN ON 
THURSDAY: "BY RECRUITING YOUTHS WHO APPEAR TO BE INTEGRATED IN 
THE COUNTRY THAT IS TARGETED, THE ISLAMISTS ARE CONSCIOUSLY 
ATTEMPTING TO DESTABILIZE THE COUNTRY BY INSTILLING A FEELING 
OF INCOMPREHENSION AND FUELING HATRED AMONG THE VARIOUS 
COMMUNITIES." 
 
SPECIALISTS ON TERRORISM AND COMMENTATORS DELVE INTO THE ROOTS 
OF TERRORISM. ALI LAIDI, RESEARCHER AT THE FRENCH INSTITUTE 
FOR INTERNATIONAL AND STRATEGIC RELATIONS (IRIS) PENS AN OP-ED 
IN TODAY'S LE FIGARO THAT TRACES THE ROOTS OF MODERN-DAY 
TERRORISM TO THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL WHICH MARKED THE END 
OF A WAR OF IDEOLOGIES AND THE BEGINNING OF A WAR OF VALUES 
DOMINATED BY THE WEST IN GENERAL AND THE U.S. IN PARTICULAR. 
LAIDI EXPLAINS THAT BEN LADEN HAS SEIZED THIS SHIFT AND 
THEREFORE MERELY USES RELIGION AS A PRETEXT IN A `STRUGGLE' 
THAT IS ESSENTIALLY POLITICAL. 
 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
"HOME-MADE KAMIKAZES" 
THE UNSIGNED EDITORIAL IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LE MONDE (07/15): 
"THE IMAGE OF YOUTHS LEAVING THEIR HOMES TO BLOW THEMSELVES UP 
IN SUICIDE ATTACKS HAS UNFORTUNATELY BECOME A FAMILIAR ONE IN 
THE MIDDLE EAST BUT IT IS A FIRST IN EUROPE. IN THE MIDDLE 
EAST WE TRY TO EXPLAIN THEIR ACTS USING GEO-POLITICAL REASONS 
SUCH AS THE OCCUPATION OF THEIR COUNTRY BY A FOREIGN POWER, 
REPRESSION, POVERTY, ETC. BUT THE SHOCK IS THAT MUCH GREATER 
IN GREATER BRITAIN SINCE THE KAMIKAZES IN QUESTION ARE 
HOMEGROWN. THE BRITISH TENDED TO BELIEVE THAT THEIR MODEL OF 
INTEGRATION BASED ON THE CO-EXISTENCE OF DIFFERENT 
COMMUNITIES, PROTECTED THEM FROM EXTREMISM. THE AWAKENING IS 
PARTICULARLY HARSH." 
 
"THE BRITISH MODEL IN DANGER" 
PIERRE ROUSSELIN IN THURSDAY'S RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO 
(07/14): "THE KAMIKAZES ARE EASY TO RECRUIT AND EASY TO 
REPLACE FOR. IN THIS GREAT APOCALYPTIC SECT THAT IS AL QAEDA. 
THE SACRIFICE OF THE FOUR TERRORISTS IN LONDON WILL BE USED AS 
A RECRUITMENT TOOL. TODAY THE BRITISH MODEL OF INTEGRATION HAS 
COLLAPSED FACED WITH ISLAMIC EXTREMISM. THE AWAKENING WILL BE 
AS BRUTAL FOR THE BRITISH AS IT WAS FOR THE DUTCH AFTER THE 
MURDER OF THEO VAN GOGH. TONY BLAIR IS RIGHT TO CALL FOR THE 
PRESERVATION OF THE BRITISH WAY OF LIFE. ANTI-MUSLIM ACTS ARE 
EXACTLY WHAT THE TERRORISTS ARE HOPING FOR." 
 
"AL QAEDA: A BANNER" 
JACQUES AMALRIC COMMENTED IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION 
(07/14): "THE ATTACK IN LONDON CONFIRMS THAT AL QAEDA IS NOT A 
PYRAMIDAL STRUCTURE BUT A BANNER AROUND WHICH FANATIC 
IDEOLOGUES CAN RALLY. THE TERRORISTS NO LONGER INFILTRATE A 
COUNTRY, AS WAS THE CASE ON SEPTEMBER 11 2001 IN NEW YORK AND 
WASHINGTON, NOW THEY ARE BORN AND RESIDE IN THE COUNTRY. THE 
NEW TWIST TO THE LONDON ATTACKS IS THAT THE TERRORISTS WERE 
SUICIDE BOMBERS. THIS NOVELTY IS PARADOXICALLY TERRIBLE AND 
REASSURING AT ONCE. REASSURING BECAUSE IT MEANS THAT SECURITY 
MEASURES HAVE PREVENTED MASSIVE ATTACKS ON THE SCALE OF 
SEPTEMBER 11. TO JUSTIFY THE WAR IN IRAQ, GEORGE W. BUSH USED 
TO CLAIM THAT IT IS BETTER TO FIGHT TERRORISM ABROAD RATHER 
THAN AT HOME. BUT THE DAY WILL COME WHEN AMERICANS WILL COME 
TO THE REALIZATION THAT THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM IS NOT A 
WAR AND THAT IT WILL NOT BE WON ON SOME FAR OFF BATTLEFIELD. 
IT IS A LONG DRAWN-OUT JOB INVOLVING POLICE COOPERATION, THE 
RESPECT FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS (UNDENIABLY TRAMPLED AT 
GUANTANAMO, IN BAGHDAD OR IN COUNTRIES WHERE PRISONERS ARE 
HANDED OVER BY WASHINGTON TO BE TORTURED). IT INVOLVES 
PATIENCE, RESOLVE AND COURAGE BECAUSE WE WILL HAVE TO DEAL 
WITH ISLAMIC TERRORISM FOR A LONG TIME TO COME." 
 
"THE BRITISH MODEL OF RESISTANCE" 
IVAN RIOUFOL IN HIS WEEKLY `BLOCK NOTES" IN RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE 
FIGARO WRITES (07/15): "MANY BLAMED GEORGE W. BUSH AND TONY 
BLAIR FOR HAVING FUELED THE FUROR OF AL QAEDA WITH THE 
INTERVENTION IN IRAQ. AND YET THIS INTERVENTION SERVED TO DO 
AWAY WITH A DICTATOR WHO SUBSIDIZED WHOLE FAMILIES OF 
PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBERS. EVEN IF BUSH AND BLAIR MADE 
MISTAKES THEY REMAIN THE SYMBOLS OF DEMOCRATIC RESISTANCE IN 
THE FACE OF HATRED." STAPLETON