Cablegate: Media Reaction Report - Lebanon - U.S. Stance - Gwot

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Lucia A Keegan 08/21/2006 10:11:07 AM From DB/Inbox: Lucia A Keegan

Cable
Text:

UNCLAS PARIS 05555

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ACTION: PAO
INFO: POL AMB ARS DCM

DISSEMINATION: PAOX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: PRS: LPLATT
DRAFTED: PR: FTHOMAS
CLEARED: NONE

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 005555

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 - Lebanon - U.S. Stance - GWOT
PARIS - Thursday, August 17, 2006

(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT:

Lebanon - U.S. Stance - GWOT

B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE:

Today's top international story which is featured on the front page
of Le Figaro is that "France would take command of the international
force in Lebanon until next February," as announced on FR2
television last evening by MOD Alliot-Marie. Asking that the force's
mission be defined, she is quoted in several outlets: "It is not
about when and how many, but about what and how." Le Figaro says her
position is appropriate given that the UNSCR does not "specify how
to go about disarming Hezbollah." "No country in Europe, and least
of all France, is ready to send troops where everything could
explode any minute," writes the Beirut correspondent Lamia Oualalou,
who quotes Alliot-Marie: "When one sends troops without a clear
mission and without proper or sufficient means, it can lead to a
catastrophe."

Le Parisien titles its report: "France Wants a Well-Defined Mission"
while on FR2 televisions MOD Alliot Marie said that "France is
playing its traditional role in Lebanon, which is to protect the
population." She asked the UN to "be more specific about the UNIFIL
mission in Lebanon and to give soldiers the necessary means to
protect themselves and to react if they are attacked." She added it
would be very positive to include Muslim countries in the UNIFIL,
"to avoid giving the image of the West against the Muslim world."

FM Douste-Blazy's visit to Beirut yesterday is widely reported. In
Le Figaro the article notes his attempts to get Israel to "lift the
air and sea blockade" as well as get assurances from Lebanon that
"no weapons would be delivered to Hezbollah." The report indicates
that the French delegation was at an impasse: "The Lebanese PM is
incapable of disarming Hezbollah: disarmament must be voluntary...
and will necessarily require associating Hezbollah's two patrons,
Syria and Iran." On FR2 television, the reporter said: "Lebanon
seems unable to disarm Hezbollah which is now more popular than
ever." For Liberation, "Hezbollah is Complicating the Post-War
Scenario." The editorial by Pierre Haski is a harsh criticism of
President Bush and his remarks about Lebanon being a "third front"
in the war against terror. (See Part C)

Le Figaro interviews Former Socialist FM Vedrine, "who denounces the
'fiasco' of the U.S. policy in the Middle East." According to
Vedrine, Hezbollah can "still strike... and has managed to elicit
greater resentment towards Israel in the Arab-Muslim world. On the
Lebanese scene, it has garnered prestige..." Vedrine judges the U.S.
action in this crisis as "negative. The Bush administration has a
schematic vision which has led it to the situation in Iraq... and
left it handicapped when it comes to dealing with all other Arab
issues. Never was a U.S. administration as aligned with the Likud as
this one... We are looking at the fiasco of the so-called GME...
America's idea of fighting against terrorism leaves no room for a
political approach... It is counter-productive because it has
consolidated the wave of anti-west feelings... when in fact we
should be separating the fundamentalist wave from the large majority
of moderate Muslims. We need to break away from this policy... We
must negotiate with Hamas and Hezbollah... America's 'boycotting' of
Hamas renders our message of democratizing the Middle East
inaudible. The Bush administration is condemning itself to failure."

The security situation in Iraq is reported by Le Figaro:
"Self-defense Shia groups are taking on the Sunni guerrillas, which
have been targeting civilians... 'Inter-religious' fighting has led
150,000 Iraqis to flee in the past four months. Delphine Minoui
comments in Le Figaro that "the political class is impotent in the
face of the daily violence which has caused the deaths of close to
6,000 civilians in the past two months." The report indicates that
the security plan, "other than causing huge traffic jams, is
essentially ineffective."

Le Figaro carries an op-ed jointly penned by the British and French
Interior Ministers, John Reid and Nicholas Sarkozy, on fighting
terrorism: "We share the belief that the best way to win the war
against terrorism is international cooperation and shared vigilance
from everyone."

A Figaro op-ed by Alexandre Adler contends that "after Joe
Lieberman's defeat, it remains to be seen whether the American
people will be able to recognize itself in a Democratic Party which
is pacifist, anti-Zionist and narcissistic, and is influenced by
Hollywood's star system."

Economic daily Les Echos, in its continuing series on the "Saga of
Black Gold" examines "The Bush, Such a Powerful Family..." "The Bush
family is of course oil and power. But it is also an extraordinary
network of relations in the U.S., which for the past century has
interwoven the mysterious 'Skull and Bones' society, high finance,
steel, energy and Congress, with an important 'I scratch your back,
you scratch mine' philosophy."

(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES:

Lebanon - U.S. Stance - GWOT

"Unwelcome"
Pierre Haski in left-of-center Liberation (08/17): "With friends
like President Bush, who needs enemies? Just when the conflict in
Lebanon is on the brink of being resolved through a fragile
equilibrium, the U.S. President has made remarks which will at best
complicate the implementation of UNSCR 1701. By speaking of Lebanon
as the 'third front' of the war against terror, along with Iraq and
Afghanistan, he is inscribing the Israeli conflict with its Arab
neighbors into the wider confrontation against the 'axis of evil.'
Most countries about to send troops to bolster the international
force in Lebanon do not recognize themselves in this crusade. First
among them France. The American President's stance has the merit of
ideological coherence, but not of diplomatic logic. What is the use
of voting a resolution which is to rely on cooperation, if some of
the essential parties are already characterized as mortal enemies...
If one follows the Bush line of thinking, it is not a UNIFIL force
which is needed, but the U.S. helping Israel to squash its
indomitable enemy. The American President's logic is all the more
unwelcome because his unilateral Iraq policy is a resounding
failure, with his own military chiefs predicting a civil war. The
international operation in Afghanistan under the auspices of the UN
is also facing difficulties. It is obvious that the new UNIFIL
mission in Lebanon will not be a walk in the park and that Hezbollah
is not ready to be disarmed. All the more reason to keep from
turning an already impossible mission into an ideological crusade.
Failure is ensured if we follow Bush's logic." HOFMANN

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