Cablegate: Media Reaction Report - Middle East - U.S. Policy -

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Lucia A Keegan 08/10/2006 09:30:31 AM From DB/Inbox: Lucia A Keegan

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR

SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Middle East - U.S. Policy -
Lebanese Conflict
PARIS - Wednesday, August 09, 2006

(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT:

Middle East - U.S. Policy - Lebanese Conflict

B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE:

Israel's expanded ground offensive, despite Lebanon's offer to
deploy troops in Southern Lebanon remains the lead international
story. TF1 opened its evening newscast on the intensification of the
aerial strikes in South Lebanon, emphasizing the insulation of the
region. Every network mentioned that Tsahal is getting ready for a
massive attack in the South, "to weaken Hezbollah before the
cease-fire", said a FR2 reporter. Liberation's front page reads:
"Tyr Under Siege," while Le Figaro headlines: "Israel Preparing New
Ground Offensive." In its editorial, Liberation contends that
"Israel has fallen into the trap set by Syria and Iran." (See Part
C)

Popular France Soir devotes its lead to France's participation in an
international force: "Should it or Shouldn't It?" asks the headline.
France Soir interviews Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute of
International and Strategic Relations, about sending French troops
to Lebanon. While Boniface says France's military and diplomatic
capacities make sending troops "tempting," he claims a ceasefire and
a political accord are prerequisites to any international force.
Boniface advises against placing the force under NATO's command:
"For many, that would pass for an alignment with the American
policy, which is not well regarded at this moment in the region."

Liberation analyzes the "tug of war between the U.S. and France at
the UN" and contends that on the French side, "there is little
optimism" after President Bush's remarks from Crawford that "asking
Israel to withdraw was out of the question." France, says
Liberation, "must now stretch its position in order to stay in tune
with Washington, all the while retaining some credibility with
Beirut." Liberation quotes Francois Gere of the Institute of
Strategic Analysis: "France wanted to play a key role, it is now
caught between a rock and a hard place."

Liberation also carries an open letter signed by famous French
Jewish intellectuals entitled "We, Jews Against Israel's Strikes."
On the same page a Liberation opinion penned by the editor in Chief
of the Jewish Radio station 'Radio Communaute Juive' comments: "The
conflict is described as an army against civilians ... but in truth
this is a war pitting one army against another: Hezbollah."

Le Figaro carries an op-ed by Parliamentarian Pierre Lellouche on
Iran's new strategic positioning in the Middle East, while Le Monde
carries two opinion pieces analyzing U.S. policy in the Middle East.
(See Part C)

Oliver Stone's film on 9/11, "World Trade Center" is prominently
featured on the cover of Le Figaro's cultural section, calling it a
"tribute to the victims" which "avoids controversy." The main
editorial in Le Figaro is devoted to "Hollywood and 9/11." For
Nicolas Barre, the five year hiatus since the tragedy, "for a nation
that excels in telling its own story, illustrates the magnitude of
the trauma." Barre finds it is "indicative that Stone is using the
traditional American myth of ordinary men to tell this story." Barre
also explains how 9/11 has marked the beginning of America as
"vulnerable." "What good is America's supremacy if it cannot protect
it from attacks on its own soil?" Barre concludes by saying that
"far from the U.S., it is difficult to assess the impact of the
tragedy on America." Baree also adds: "America's soft power is no
longer what it used to be. We can see this in the Middle East... And
the world unfortunately is no better for it."

(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES:

Middle East - U.S. Policy - Lebanese Conflict

"Into the Trap"
Pierre Haski in left-of-center Liberation (08/09): "A Lebanese
deployment will not put an end to the conflict... The problem is
that while diplomacy moves at a snail's pace, Israel continues to
escalate its ground offensive... This escalation is the result of
Israel's initial failures and the lack of military training of
Olmert and Peretz, who have led Israel into a dead end and fallen
into the trap set by Damascus and Tehran... Israel has managed to
shift, in the eyes of the world, from victim to aggressor and to
turn Hezbollah into an ambiguous hero, re-instating Syria in the
Lebanese equation."

"Siniora Wants Tsahal to Pull Out"
Georges Malbrunot in right-of-center Le Figaro (08/09): "Fouad
Siniora's offer to deploy his troops and impose an Israeli pullout
is a proposal saluted by France. But Washington and London do not
see it as justification enough for Tsahal to withdraw... Hezbollah's
acceptance of the Lebanese offer is the first indication since the
start of the conflict that Hezbollah is putting the local situation
before its own agenda with Iran."

"A Strategic Revolution in the Middle East"
Parliamentarian Pierre Lellouche in right-of-center Le Figaro
(08/09): "The present situation is nothing less than a strategic
revolution in which the Lebanese war is a rehearsal for a much more
general and fundamental conflict... Iran has operated a strategic
revolution in the region... And it is the tug of war between Iran
and the international community that served as detonator to the
conflict with Hezbollah. Iran's strategy has been successful since
it is reaping the most benefits from the conflict... While a
ceasefire is essential for humanitarian reason, it or a UN presence
is sufficient for lasting peace without disarming Hezbollah.
Anything less than that is preparing ourselves for serious
consequences."

"Does Islamism Equal Totalitarianism"
Daniel Vernet in left-of-center Le Monde (08/09): "For G.W. Bush the
offensive against Hezbollah is part of the 'war against
terror...'For Bush, and Blair, this new Middle East confrontation is
perceived as 'an episode in the confrontation between the democratic
and liberal West and fundamentalist Islam... This view is shared by
many 'liberals' in the U.S., not just a handful of neo-cons... The
fear of a clash between civilizations prevails among Europeans and
Americans alike, who want to avoid a political and moral
confrontation with Islam... But although fundamentalist Islam is a
totalitarian ideology, which at times uses terrorism, and must be
fought, we cannot compare it to the totalitarian states of the 20th
century... Traditional means will not overcome fundamentalism and
its ambitions. To make an error in diagnosis means to give out the
wrong medication, which will lead to new catastrophes. Like Iraq."

"President Bush's Failed Strategy"
Gilles Kepel of Science Po in left-of-center Le Monde (08/09): "The
simultaneous wars in Lebanon and Gaza demonstrate the failure of the
policy led by the U.S. in the Middle East and its inability to
secure the region, through the use of unilateral force, and on the
heels of the Iraqi fiasco... Israel fears that the road to Haifa and
Tel Aviv passes through Tehran and that the U.S., mired in Baghdad,
is unable to guarantee its security... To this disaster in America's
security policy in the Middle East one must add the failed
democratic engineering which was supposed to spread from Iraq to
Palestine and from Egypt to Saudi Arabia... Recent Islamic electoral
victories are the illustration of the people's rejection of
America's unilateralism... This is why democratization is no longer
Washington's priority... The irony is that Lebanon, the only country
where Islamists were not elected to power, feels abandoned by the
U.S. ... Iran has the most to gain from the present conflict... Only
a European initiative can help stop the spiral of violence."
STAPLETON

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