US embassy cable - 05PARIS7577

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007577 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KMDR, FR 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Paris Riots President Bush to 
Latin America Iraq - Saddam Trial - Oil For Food 
PARIS - Monday, November 07, 2005 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Paris Riots 
President Bush to Latin America 
Iraq - Saddam Trial - Oil For Food 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Once again the spreading suburban violence makes every front 
page today, including in the regional press, with such titles 
as "The Worrisome Spread" (Le Figaro) or "How Long Is This 
Going to Last?" (Le Parisien). Sunday's Le Journal du Dimanche 
headlines: "How to Stop the Violence." But several headlines 
are devoted to President Chirac's short press conference 
yesterday evening after a special ministerial meeting on 
security. While La Tribune states: "Chirac Takes Over" many 
question his "empty words" and lack of concrete measures: 
"Chirac Asks for Order, And Then What?" headlines France Soir. 
Liberation comments on its front page: "the government appears 
to be impotent." Catholic La Croix devotes its lead to 
"Religions and the Suburbs." The Figaro editorial concentrates 
on the foreign media's perspective with special emphasis on 
the U.S. media "which compares Paris to Baghdad." This morning 
France 2 television gave a media review of European cover 
stories devoted to the riots with commentaries on "the 
possibility of riots spreading to other European cities after 
having ignited regional French areas." (See Part C) PM 
Villepin is scheduled to speak this evening on TF1 television 
during the prime time 8 PM news broadcast. 
Interior Minister Sarkozy pens an op-ed in Le Monde where he 
asserts that "the nation's strategy is the right one. The 
police's role is to re-establish order. If it didn't do its 
job, what would happen? Extremism and various mafias would 
take over." Saturday's Le Figaro carries an op-ed by Georges 
Fenech of the National Assembly praising "New York's zero 
tolerance" for delinquents. 
 
International stories concentrate on President Bush's Latin 
American tour. For Le Figaro "Bush Fails to Charm Latin 
America." (See Part C) 
 
Le Figaro carries an op-ed by Adrien Jaulmes titled "In an 
Iraq in Disarray, Saddam Trial Fails" while Le Monde devotes a 
full page to the French companies implicated in the `Oil for 
Food' scandal, a story also reported in Liberation and La 
Croix. (See Part C) 
 
La Croix carries an op-ed on cultural diversity which asks: 
"Between the WTO and UNESCO, which institution and which 
preoccupations, cultural or economic, will prevail?" 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Paris Riots 
 
"France Accused" 
Yves Threard in right-of-center Le Figaro (11/07): "Is Paris 
Burning? The U.S. press does not hesitate to compare Paris to 
Baghdad and its suburbs to the Gaza strip. Either the concern 
is sincere and we should be grateful, or the opportunity was 
too good to be missed to criticize the country of human rights 
always eager to give lessons. While there is probably a little 
bit of both, the second guess is most certainly the right one. 
France is paying today for its arrogance. The Americans will 
never forget the less than flattering words used to qualify 
America and its society at the start of the war in Iraq and 
after Katrina. But the fact is that France has failed its 
forty-year old immigration policy." 
 
"A Waste" 
Jean-Michel Helvig in left-of-center Liberation (11/07): "If 
it became apparent that the state could not ensure public 
order, individual solutions could spread. While Sarkozy has 
made things worse through his choice of words, it would be a 
vain victory to use him as scapegoat. What is becoming obvious 
with each day that passes is the incredible waste of a 
domestic security policy which is the hostage of electoral 
demagogy. What this country needs is continuity in its 
domestic security policy. Why is it impossible to have on a 
domestic level what we already have at the national level?" 
"An Affair of State" 
Francois-Xavier Pietri in centrist La Tribune (11/07): 
"Suburban unrest has become an affair of state. By calling a 
cabinet meeting on security, President Chirac is taking over 
an affair that may turn out to be the most serious crisis of 
his presidency. During the past eleven days, PM Villepin has 
given the impression of always being one step behind, caught 
in his rivalry with Sarkozy, but also never offering concrete 
solutions. The political class is as always unable to deal 
with the social and economic reality of the suburbs. And this 
is what the foreign media has been picking up. When faced with 
these shadow warriors, each of our successive governments has 
indeed given up. What used to be contained in closed areas has 
now exploded, with possible collateral damage for France's 
domestic policy as well as its image abroad." 
 
"Choosing Between Modesty and Ambition" 
Left-of-center Le Monde in its editorial (11/07): "The 
explosion of suburban violence and its causes are so complex 
that all theories have a little bit of truth in them. The 
brutal intrusion of reality in the presidential pre-campaign 
with its more than twenty potential candidates is turning our 
political life into a vaudeville . If we want to avoid what 
happened in 2002 with Le Pen in the runoff, it is high time 
our politicians turn their backs on politics as a spectacle 
and begin to think about concrete solutions for France's 
society." 
 
President Bush to Latin America 
 
"Bush Fails to Charm Latin America" 
Lamia Oualalou in right-of-center Le Figaro (11/07): 
"President Bush's welcome in Brazil was glacial. This has 
become a habit for the President. But the situation was all 
the more difficult to swallow because President Bush left the 
Summit of the America's practically empty handed. The stakes 
were high for a President whose popularity ratings are at 
their lowest. 
 
Iraq - Saddam Trial - Oil For Food 
 
"Iraq in Disarray, Saddam Trial A Failure" 
Adrien Jaulmes in right-of-center Le Figaro (11/07): "The 
crimes retained against Saddam have not convinced Iraqi public 
opinion, nor the Arab world in general. Saddam's televised 
appearance did not elicit the disgust expected. The 
organization of the trial is perceived by Iraqi public opinion 
as a permanent reminder of the U.S. presence and the Iraqi 
government's weakness. Finally the special tribunal satisfies 
no one: not the Shiites, the Sunnis or the Kurds." 
 
"Privileges and Corruption" 
Philippe Bolopion in left-of-center Le Monde (11/07): "French 
companies are not the only ones implicated by the Volker 
report. But France, considered to be `a friend' of the Iraqi 
regime, enjoyed certain privileges. After Russia and Egypt, 
France's companies were the biggest beneficiaries of the `oil 
for food' program. Still, out of the 440 French companies that 
participated in the program, only 180 are being accused of 
having paid bribes. Among those, several are foreign companies 
with branches in France and taking advantage of the `special 
French relationship' with the Iraqi regime." STAPLETON