US embassy cable - 05PARIS8049

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 008049 
 
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 - Europe: Allegation of GWOT 
Secret Prisons and Rendition Flights Iraq - Saddam Trial and 
 
SIPDIS 
Democracy EuroMed- Barcelona Conference and GWOT Israel - 
Sharon 
PARIS - Monday, November 28, 2005 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Europe: Allegation of GWOT Secret Prisons and Rendition 
Flights 
Iraq - Saddam Trial and Democracy 
EuroMed- Barcelona Conference and GWOT 
Israel - Sharon 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
On Saturday, Le Monde headlined: "The Americans Created a 
Secret Prison in Kosovo." The front-page story revolved around 
 
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allegations made by Gil Robles, the Human Rights Commissioner 
at the European Council, who recounted his visit of Camp 
Bondsteel in Kosovo in September 2002. According to him, the 
detainees wore orange jumpsuits, "like the ones in 
Guantanamo." He wonders whether "Bondsteel served as a 
clearing house for detainees arriving on CIA flights, between 
Afghanistan, the Middle East Europe and Guantanamo." Asked by 
Le Monde why he was speaking up now, Robles answered: "The 
number of recent allegations about CIA secret prisons and the 
magnitude of rendition flights have brought back to mind the 
episode, shedding new light on it." 
 
Monday's Le Monde devotes its editorial to this particular 
story, commenting: "It would be extremely shocking if the U.S. 
used the province of Kosovo as conquered territory when it was 
in fact under UN mandate." Saturday's Le Figaro also reports 
on the suspicion of a "small Guantanamo in Kosovo." Arnaud de 
La Grange claims "the French military doubts the existence of 
such a prison." (See Part C) De La Grange interviews General 
Valentin: "I visited Camp Bondsteel on several occasions and 
noted that all was regular. I found 75 detainees and suggested 
it was too many." 
 
The "difficult trial" of Saddam Hussein is featured on the 
front page of Le Figaro, which contends that "fear dominates 
the debates." Le Figaro devotes several articles to Iraq, one 
of which, by Renaud Girard, is titled "Democracy as Promised 
by the Americans, Is Slow in Coming." Girard writes: 
"Democracy appears to be a distant prospect that may even be 
totally unrealistic." (See Part C) Lieutenant Colonel James 
Corum is interviewed in Le Figaro about the training of the 
Iraqi police: "The Pentagon's mistake was to go to war without 
a plan of reconstruction for Iraq's security forces. We will 
need from two to three years before the Iraqis can handle 
security on their own." 
 
Other international news include the EuroMed summit in 
Barcelona with commentaries on international terrorism (See 
Part C). Jose-Manuel Barroso, President of the European 
Commission, writes an op-ed in Le Figaro: "The line of 
demarcation between foreign policy and domestic policy is 
becoming less clear. Ideological radicalization and terrorism 
have privatized the war. These problems cannot be resolved by 
single nations. In this regard the Euro-Mediterranean region 
is a European priority: it is at the crossroads of the biggest 
challenges: peace, security and the fight against terrorism." 
 
Liberation devotes an editorial to what it calls "Sharonism" 
or Ariel Sharon's "De Gaulle-style" charisma. (See Part C) 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Europe: Allegation of GWOT Secret Prisons and Rendition 
Flights 
 
"Unalienable Right" 
Left-of-center Le Monde in its editorial (11/28): "Was there a 
Guantanamo-style prison in Kosovo after 2001? If the answer is 
yes, has it been closed since then? Did the Americans use KFOR 
installations to create a prison that did not answer to 
international legislation? All of these questions have been 
raised by the Human Rights Commissioner at the European 
Council, Gil Robles. His comments have come to reinforce 
concerns being voiced by international human rights 
organizations. The Kosovo detainment center he talks about is 
said to have housed Kosovar activists and a handful of others 
from the Middle East. This information seems to corroborate 
the suspicion that Washington officials may have `outsourced' 
detention centers for `terrorists' in Europe, in `friendly' 
nations either ready to overlook civil liberties or who were 
particularly vulnerable to pressure. Such activities, if the 
accusations prove to be true, are inexcusable. They discredit 
the rhetoric of democracy and human rights, which were 
supposed to justify the crusade against terrorism and tyranny 
launched by the U.S. after 9/11. They dishonor a nation than 
presents itself as the incarnation of universal values, as 
their defender and promoter. Contrary to what President Bush's 
entourage believes, war does not justify everything. Certainly 
not torture, as Senator McCain recently reminded the 
President. It would be extremely shocking if the U.S. used the 
province of Kosovo as conquered territory when it was in fact 
under UN mandate, to implement suspicious methods. Its allies 
must react firmly to this. This is a good opportunity for 
France, always ready to defend legality, to voice its 
disapproval. The West did not wage a war in Kosovo for 
humanitarian reasons, to tolerate today the creation of zones 
which are outside the law." 
 
"Suspicion About a `Small Guantanamo' in Kosovo" 
Arnaud De La Grange in right-of-center Le Figaro (11/26): "A 
little Guantanamo in the heart of Europe? The recent 
allegations of `secret CIA prisons' across Europe have led Gil 
Robles to wonder about the past existence of a Guantanamo- 
style prison in Kosovo, which he visited in 2002: Bondsteel 
Camp. In his declarations to Le Monde he says he saw 15 to 20 
detainees wearing Guantanamo-style orange jumpsuits. The 
question that comes to mind then is whether the Americans used 
the base in the framework of their fight against terrorism. 
Officially, they were banned from doing this because the base 
was under NATO command. But the then French general in 
command, General Valentin says: `I visited the camp several 
times and judged they were too many inmates (75); I asked for 
an explanation and for the number to be reduced to a half- 
dozen.' Valentin does confirm the presence at Camp Bondsteel 
of `North African-looking individuals.' But all of this, he 
says, `was known and official.' The French military doubts 
Americans might have used a NATO base for secret activities. 
The prison may have served more as a transit stop for 
detainees on rendition flights, rather than as a detention 
center." 
 
Iraq - Saddam Trial and Democracy 
 
"Democracy Long in Coming" 
Renaud Girard in right-of-center Le Figaro (11/28): "Two and a 
half years after the toppling of Saddam, Iraq still does not 
have political institutions that work. The peaceful democracy 
promised by the Pentagon's neo-conservatives appears to be a 
far away prospect, and possibly an unrealistic one. Iraq 
possesses a showcase for democracy - press conferences and 
free elections broadcast by foreign televisions - but it is 
not a nation governed by the right of law that usually 
accompanies a democracy. The incident of militia operating 
within the Ministry of Interior is not an anecdote. It is a 
symbol of a country with practically no authority, where 
allegiance goes to one's tribe, clan or family. The recent 
elections show that voters were not moved by a national 
platform, but that they followed religious and ethnic 
considerations. Without security, freedom of expression is a 
vain word. And in today's Iraq an individual's security is 
guaranteed by his tribe, not the Americans." 
EuroMed- Barcelona Conference and GWOT 
 
"An `Alliance of Civilizations' to Counter Terrorism" 
Alain Barluet in right-of-center Le Figaro (11/28): "Can the 
fight against terrorism help to bring closer together the two 
sides of the Mediterranean? In a region where the slightest 
mention of `the war against terror,' dear to President Bush, 
provokes allergic reactions, the stakes go beyond security. 
Hence the `alliance of civilizations' made official in 
Barcelona in order to reduce the cultural and religious 
fracture that feeds Islamic radicalism. At the close of the 
conference the final document will insist on `zero tolerance' 
for terrorism. The text will also include a reference to 
cooperation between the police and justice systems, and invite 
the different nations to share information on terrorists and 
their supporters. But this is easier said than done: on the 
other side of the Mediterranean the definition of terrorism 
itself varies, colored as it is by the Palestinian-Israeli 
conflict. The participants believe that this difference in 
perspective, between `civilian innocents' and `rebels fighting 
the occupiers' could lead to a shock between civilizations. 
The risk is greater, they think, because of the U.S strategy 
in fighting terrorism, from which many want to distance 
themselves." 
 
Israel - Sharon 
 
"Sharonism" 
Patrick Sabatier in left-of-center Liberation (11/28): "Is 
Sharon like De Gaulle, a charismatic general who will be able 
to lead his nation to peace and make concessions no one 
believed he could make? Will there be Sharonism' like 
`Gaullism?' Is Sharon's plan to confine the Palestinians 
behind the security fence without economic prospects and to 
close the door on a compromise for Jerusalem? Or does he want 
to go back to the `roadmap' and create a viable Palestinian 
state that will require painful concessions, similar to those 
that were almost agreed to under President Clinton? Sharon 
himself may not know exactly where he is going. His future 
will depend on the elections and on the Palestinians. But at 
least he wants to rid Israel of the ideologists and their 
plans for Greater Israel, thus giving peace a chance." 
STAPLETON