US embassy cable - 05PARIS5693

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 005693 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
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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 
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ROME/PA; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, FR 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - IRAQI CONSTITUTION - 
PRESIDENT BUSH SPEECH GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
PARIS - WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2005 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
IRAQI CONSTITUTION - PRESIDENT BUSH SPEECH 
GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
FOLLOWING YESTERDAY'S REPORT IN FRANCE'S NUMBER ONE SPORTS 
DAILY L'EQUIPE, ALLEGING THAT THERE IS PROOF THAT LANCE 
ARMSTRONG WAS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF EPO DURING THE 1999 TOUR 
DE FRANCE, LE MONDE, LE FIGARO AND LIBERATION DEVOTE THEIR 
EDITORIALS TO THE STORY. ALL THREE LAMBAST ARMSTRONG FOR 
CHEATING AND LYING AND SUGGEST THAT LEGAL ACTION SHOULD BE 
TAKEN AGAINST HIM. 
 
THE IRAQI CONSTITUTION IS TODAY'S MAJOR INTERNATIONAL STORY, 
ALONG WITH THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH IN UTAH. LE MONDE WRITES: 
"BUSH TRIES TO JUSTIFY THE WAR TO A SKEPTICAL AUDIENCE" WHILE 
LE FIGARO NOTES THAT PRESIDENT BUSH WAS "PREACHING TO THE 
CHOIR" IN UTAH WHERE 72 PERCENT OF THE VOTERS VOTED FOR HIM. 
REPORTS ABOUT THE ADVANCES MADE IN THE IRAQI CONSTITUTION ARE 
LUKEWARM. FOR LE FIGARO IT IS A "SECOND RATE CONSTITUTION" 
WHILE LE MONDE TALKS ABOUT "AN EMBRYO OF A CONSTITUTION 
WITHOUT THE SUNNIS." LE MONDE DRAWS A PORTRAIT OF AMBASSADOR 
TO BAGHDAD KHALIZAD (SEE PART C) 
 
LIBERATION DEVOTES MAJOR COVERAGE AND A SECOND EDITORIAL TO 
THE GAZA DISENGAGEMENT, WHICH IT CALLS "THE END OF A TABOO" 
BECAUSE OTHER SIMILAR DISENGAGEMENTS ARE NOW POSSIBLE. (SEE 
PART C) LIBERATION ALSO CARRIES AN OP-ED TITLED "THE MORALITY 
OF DISENGAGEMENT" BY CERI RESEARCHER ARIEL COLONOMOS WHO 
BEGINS: "TODAY GAZA, TOMORROW AFGHANISTAN AND THE DAY AFTER 
TOMORROW IRAQ." (SEE PART C) 
 
RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO CARRIES AN OP-ED BY STEVEN METZ 
WHICH APPEARED IN ENGLISH IN A PAKISTANI DAILY, TITLED "WILL 
THE RUMSFELD REVOLUTION CONTINUE?" 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
IRAQI CONSTITUTION - PRESIDENT BUSH SPEECH 
 
"THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT DOES NOT DISARM" 
GUILLEMETTE FAURE IN RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO (08/24): 
"PRESIDENT BUSH HAS DECIDED TO COME OUT OF HIS RANCH TO BOOST 
SUPPORT FOR THE WAR IN IRAQ. ON MONDAY, BEFORE A CONQUERED 
AUDIENCE OF VETERANS IN UTAH, WHERE 72 PERCENT OF THE 
POPULATION VOTED FOR HIM, THE U.S. PRESIDENT GAVE A SPEECH 
THAT LOOKED VERY MUCH LIKE HIS PREVIOUS ONES. AND IN WHICH HE 
USED THE WORD `LIBERTY' 26 TIMES. THE ONLY BREAK WITH PAST 
SPEECHES WAS HIS EXPLICIT MENTION OF U.S. CASUALTIES IN IRAQ. 
BUT HE WAS NOT MORE EXPLICIT ABOUT AN EXIT STRATEGY FROM IRAQ. 
THE PROSPECT OF A CONSTITUTION FOR IRAQ IS NOT ELICITING FROM 
U.S. PUBLIC OPINION THE KIND OF SUPPORT FOR THE WAR THAT CAME 
AFTER THE ELECTIONS IN JANUARY." 
 
"FOR IRAQ, A CONSTITUTION FULL OF DANGERS" 
CHRISTOPHE BOLTANSKI IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION (08/24): 
"THE WHITE HOUSE, WHICH IS IN DIRE NEED OF GOOD NEWS FROM 
IRAQ, SALUTED THE `ADVANCE MADE IN IRAQ.' BUT EVEN IF AN 
AGREEMENT ON THE CONSTITUTION IS REACHED BY THURSDAY, IT WILL 
NOT HELP TO REDUCE VIOLENCE ON THE GROUND OR PUT AN END TO THE 
CONTROVERSY IN THE U.S. IN ITS EDITORIAL, THE NY TIMES WAS 
VERY CRITICAL OF THE CHARTER WHICH IT CONSIDERS TO BE AN OPEN 
DOOR TO A `IRANIAN- STYLE THEOCRACY' IN IRAQ.'" 
 
"THE NEO-CONSERVATIVE AMBASSADOR FROM KABUL TO BAGHDAD" 
CORINE LESNES IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LE MONDE (08/24): "KHALIZAD 
WAS AMONG THE NEO-CONSERVATIVES WHO HAD INITIALLY SAID THAT 
TOPPLING SADDAM WOULD HELP SPREAD DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE 
EAST. AFTER HAVING BEEN `BUSH'S AFGHAN' HE HAS BECOME `CONDI'S 
IRAQI.' BUT BAGHDAD IS NOT KABUL. THE FORMER AMBASSADOR, JOHN 
NEGROPONTE HAD SHINED BY HIS DISCRETION. TODAY THE IRAQIS 
RESENT WASHINGTON'S PRESSURES. KHALIZAD DOES NOT DENY HAVING 
PROVIDED FULLY WRITTEN PARTS OF THE CONSTITUTION TO THE 
IRAQIS. KHALIZAD CONTINUES TO BELIEVE THAT IRAQ CAN BE AN 
EXAMPLE FOR THE MIDDLE EAST. AFTER THE AUGUST 15 FAILURE, HE 
WENT BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE 
CONSTITUTION IS THE KEY TO WASHINGTON'S EXIT STRATEGY." 
GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
 
"THE END OF A TABOO" 
GERARD DUPUY IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION (08/24): "WHILE 
EVACUATION DOES NOT MEAN PEACE, IT IS THE BEGINNING OF A 
PROCESS. ON THE ISRAELI SIDE, THE EVACUATION OF THE SETTLERS 
DID NOT TRIGGER THE RESISTANCE PREDICTED BY SOME. THE LITTLE 
REACTION THAT COULD BE NOTED AMONG THE ULTRAS, WHO PREDICTED A 
BLOODBATH, MARKS THE END OF A TABOO REGARDING THE RESTITUTION 
OF LAND OCCUPIED BY FORCE. A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRESHOLD HAS BEEN 
CROSSED AND EVERYONE KNOWS THAT PEACE WILL REQUIRE SIMILAR 
RESTITUTIONS. ON THE PALESTINIAN SIDE, THE CALM PROMISED BY 
MAHMUD ABBAS WAS DELIVERED. THE PRESIDENT OF THE PALESTINIAN 
AUTHORITY WAS SUFFICIENTLY CONVINCING TO RESTRAIN THE 
TROUBLEMAKERS. THE DEPARTURE OF THE ISRAELI SETTLERS FROM GAZA 
IS THE FIRST POSITIVE RESULT HE CAN BE CREDITED FOR. IN A 
REGION SO FULL OF BAD NEWS, GOOD NEWS SHOULD COUNT DOUBLE." 
 
"THE MORALITY OF DISENGAGEMENT" 
ARIEL COLONOMOS OF CERI IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION (08/24): 
"TODAY GAZA, TOMORROW AFGHANISTAN, AND THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW 
IRAQ. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS ARE HAUNTED BY THE SELF- 
FULFILLING PROPHESY THAT DISENGAGEMENT IS A SIGN OF WEAKNESS. 
THE UNILATERAL DISENGAGEMENT FROM GAZA IS AT ONCE A MASK AND A 
SYMPTOM OF THE FEAR OF SHOWING ONE'S WEAKNESS. IF DISENGAGING 
POSES A PROBLEM, IS IT THEN USEFUL TO ENGAGE? WHAT IS AT STAKE 
IS THE NOTION OF PERMANENCE IN A TERRITORY WHICH IS NOT FULLY 
UNDER CONTROL. IT IS ESSENTIAL TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE DEEP 
TRANSFORMATION OF WAR AS SEEN FROM THE WEST: IN AFGHANISTAN 
AND IRAQ ONE CAN DETECT PRE-EMPTIVE AND PREVENTIVE ACTIONS. 
THERE CANNOT BE INTERVENTIONS WITHOUT THINKING AHEAD TO A 
LIMITED PRESENCE OF THE OCCUPIED LAND. WE MUST THEREFORE 
REDEFINE THE NOTION OF JUST WAR. IF TOMORROW THE WEST GOES TO 
WAR AGAINST A NATION ON THE WAY TO NUCLEARIZATION, IT WILL 
NEED TO REFLECT ON THREE POINTS. IT WILL NEED TO BE CONVINCING 
ABOUT THE LEGITIMACY OF THE NATION DECLARING WAR: THE 
COALITION MUST BE AS WIDE AS POSSIBLE AND PROVE THE 
DANGEROUSNESS OF THE INVADED NATION, BOTH TO ITS PEOPLE AND TO 
THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE. THE DURATION OF THE OCCUPATION MUST BE 
ANTICIPATED. AND THE TRANSFER OF SOVEREIGNTY TO PRE-IDENTIFIED 
PARTNERS MUST BE PLANNED. THE WEST, WITH ITS UNEQUALED 
CAPACITY FOR KILLING, GRANTS ITSELF A TREMENDOUS POWER: 
DESTROY WHO IT WANTS WHEN AND HOW IT WANTS. REFLECTING UPON 
THE LENGTH OF TIME TO DEVOTE TO THE WAR HAS THE MERIT OF 
LIMITING THIS MADNESS. IT ESTABLISHES A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 
THE POLITICAL TIMEFRAME AND A MORAL TIMEFRAME." HOFMANN