Cablegate: Media Reaction Report - Iraqi Constitution -
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 005693
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 - 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