Cablegate: Media Reaction Report - Gwot - Death of Chechen Rebellion

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 004724

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.

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - GWOT - Death of Chechen Rebellion
Leader - Iraq - Sectarian Violence
PARIS - Tuesday, July 11, 2006

(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT:

GWOT - Death of Chechen Rebellion Leader
Iraq - Sectarian Violence

(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE:

The French national soccer team's return to Paris yesterday and the
"Zidane Affair" (a seemingly inexplicable head butt inflicted by the
team captain on an Italian player in the World Cup final) again
captures headlines and commentaries. Left-of-center Le Monde's front
page finds "Civil War Worsening the Chaos in Iraq," and focuses on
how Shiite militias assassinate Sunni civilians on the basis of
their identity papers. Right -of-center Le Figaro finds "Putin
Reinforcing His Russian Empire" with five days left until the
opening of the G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg.

Right-of-center Le Figaro notes that North Korea has "succeeded in
dividing Asia" between the Japanese who are in favor of sanctions
and the Chinese who are against. "The tensions that already exist in
North East Asia are weighing in the North Korean missile crisis...
Following the missile tests, Japan adopted an unprecedented hard
line position pushing for sanctions against Pyongyang... which
sparked strong reticence on the part of China... American diplomacy,
incarnated by Condoleezza Rice, is much more attentive to the
diverging views of the international community on the subject even
if the credo with regard to North Korea calls more for a firm stand
and rapid reaction than unity. France, however, puts the accent on
the latter to 'get all parties on board to vote the resolution.'"

Right-of-center Le Figaro's front page reports the targeted killing
of the head of the Chechen rebellion Chamil Bassaiev. The inside
article says: "Moscow's public enemy number one killed just days
before the meeting with George Bush, champion of the international
war on terrorism... Vladimir Putin could not have dreamed of
anything better." The editorial by Pierre Rousselin highlights the
"new Russia." A separate piece notes that he Kremlin is hunting down
anti-globalization militants before the opening of the Summit." On
privately-run RTL radio, foreign affairs commentator Isabelle Dath
said that "Bassaiev is to Putin what Bin Laden is to Bush". She
added that: "Putin's brutal politics have created generations of
extremists." (See Part C)

Le Monde's headline announces that "Civil War is Worsening Chaos in
Iraq." The daily's correspondent in Baghdad writes: "The scent of
civil war has been hovering over Iraq since the day after the
American invasion and the fall of the Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.
The attacks aimed against the Shiite community have never ceased
since the assassination of the Ayatollah al-Hakim in Nadjaf in
2003." (See Part C)

(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES:

GWOT - Death of Chechen Rebellion Leader

"A New Russia"
Pierre Rousselin in right-of-center Le Figaro (07/11): "The
elimination of the Chechen terrorist Chamil Bassaiev is perfectly
timed for Vladimir Putin with the G8 Summit coming up... This death
is for the Kremlin what the death of al Zarkawi was for the White
House last month with one marked difference. Even in the northern
part of the Caucasus is unstable, Russia can boast having
practically quashed the Chechen insurrection while America seems
powerless to prevent Iraq from plunging into civil war... The
emergence of a new Russia, more sure of itself and more determined
to defend its interests means that the other members of the G8 need
to redefine their relationship with Moscow. And for Russia this
means a better assessment of its relationship with the West... The
West will have to remain firm in its insistence that the values of
freedom, democracy and competition without appearing to give
lessons."

Iraq - Sectarian Violence

"The Mask of God"
The editorial in communist l'Humanite by Maurice Ulrich (07/11): "In
what way would keeping American troops in Iraq ensure security for
Iraqis...? The members of the G8 will need to collectively respond
to this question. The future of Iraq cannot be left up to the
Americans."

"Anarchy, Insurrection and Civil War: The Three Circles of Hell in
Iraq."
The analysis in right-of-center Le Figaro by Renaud Girard (07/11):
"The neoconservatives at the Pentagon thought that it was enough to
topple the Baathist regime to bring about an improvement in the
political, social and economic situation in the region of the Tigris
and the Euphrates. For these worshippers of democracy nothing could
be worse or more terrible than the very real dictatorship of Saddam
Hussein. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy
Paul Wolfowitz, thought therefore that it was superfluous to prepare
Iraq for the post-war period. They thought that things would sort
themselves out and that these things would necessarily be good since
they were the fruit of democracy. These two ideologues, who at the
time compared the fall of Baghdad to the liberation of Paris in 1944
have since learned that there could be much worse than a political
dictatorship: there could be anarchy, or worse than anarchy:
insurrection and even worse than insurrection: civil war... In order
to break free from the circles of hell in Iraq, the Americans are
going to have to give up their dream of being able to withdraw their
troops any time soon because the entire country needs to be rebuilt,
brick by brick and Washington will have to devote itself
quantitatively and qualitatively much more to the task than it has
until now." STAPLETON

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