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 001468 
 
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 - Iran UN Reform 
PARIS - Wednesday, March 08, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Iran 
UN Reform 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Domestic social political issues dominate today's front-page 
headlines and editorials. Yesterday's strikes and the mounting 
dissatisfaction with PM Villepin's employment plan are 
extensively analyzed. Commentators note Villepin's loss of 
popular support in the ratings but report that "he is standing 
firm." The Socialist Party's criticism of the government's 
employment policy is widely reported. 
 
Women's Day is today's second lead story, with wide coverage 
of employment equality or the lack thereof in France and 
elsewhere in Europe, especially at the political level. This 
morning France 2 TV reported that France's women are poorly 
represented at the National Assembly: France is next to last 
in the list, just before Hungary. Scandinavian countries top 
the list. 
 
Le Monde devotes its editorial to Iran in an analysis which 
concludes that the U.S. "wants to topple the Iranian regime," 
more than contain its nuclear ambitions. (See Part C) Le Monde 
also carries an analysis of UN reform penned by Daniel Vernet. 
(See Part C) 
 
Catholic La Croix devotes a one page report to the British 
film, "The Road to Guantanamo" which tells the story of three 
Muslim youth from Great Britain who travel to Pakistan and 
Afghanistan before ending up in Guantanamo. The story is 
entitled "Opposition to Guantanamo Grows in the UK." Eric 
Albert concludes: "The many calls from within the British 
Cabinet to close Guantanamo are a growing embarrassment to 
Downing Street." The film won last week the Berlin Film 
Festival's Silver Bear Award. According to the article, "the 
scenes depicting the detainees are particularly harsh." 
 
Liberation devotes a report to Turkey's handling of the 
Muhammad caricatures, and points out that "although the 
tempest is over, it will leave its mark, especially in 
Turkey's relations with the EU-25." Liberation quotes a 
Turkish professor of EU issues: "The image of Turkey has 
seriously suffered in Brussels because the Erdogan government 
reacted first as a Muslim nation. Even if it spoke in the name 
of moderate Islam, it did not understand that what was at 
stake was freedom of the press and the right of law, not 
dialogue between civilizations." 
 
Economic Les Echos devotes a full page to France's snafu with 
biometric passports in a report entitled: "A Bug, French 
Style." The Counsel of State's decision to grant the 
Imprimerie Nationale the monopoly on printing biometric 
passports "will cost the state dearly." A separate report 
details the costly obstacle course for U.S. visa candidates 
who do not have the appropriate passport to travel to the U.S. 
visa-free. The main story concludes: "Even if biometric 
passports will begin to be issued next month, it will take 
time before the Imprimerie Nationale can catch up. But beyond 
the issue of U.S. visas, the EU has asked its members to 
establish biometric passports by August 28. France cannot 
afford to miss the new deadline." A separate story in the 
satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaine points to Interior 
Minister Sarkozy as being responsible, "and all for what? 
Millions of euros lost in travel revenues, planetary 
humiliation for France and we are back where we started from." 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
"Bush and Iran" 
The unsigned Le Monde editorial (03/08) comments on the "front- 
stage play whose theme is the transfer of the Iran nuclear 
crisis to the UNSC with the players apparently united. But 
this may simply be a smokescreen hiding a different battle. 
When John Bolton says that Iran is a `global threat,' he is in 
fact revealing President Bush's true concerns. He is not just 
alluding to Iran's nuclear ambitions, which are just making 
things worse. He is pointing at Ahmadinejad's statements 
against Israel, his support of terrorist organizations such as 
Hezbollah and Hamas, and Iran's ambivalent role in the 
incidents which are tearing Iraq apart. In short he is simply 
putting in question Iran's regime, in which he sees the source 
of all evil. In this light, the solution does not lie with the 
nuclear crisis and the UNSC. It is no coincidence if the U.S. 
has never directly taken part in the negotiations with Iran, 
leaving Europe to deal with them. If they had succeeded, 
everyone would have benefited. But mainly, Washington never 
really believed they would be successful, and mostly it had 
other priorities. President Bush and his friends have one goal 
in Iran: to change the regime. To reach that goal they will 
use every means possible. The sanctions they are seeking 
against Iran are not aimed at stopping Iran from pursuing its 
nuclear program. Their aim is to undermine the regime. The 
talk of possible military strikes on Iranian nuclear 
installations has to be analyzed within this context. It is 
easier to talk about a regime change than to implement it, 
especially in view of the Iraqi fiasco. But the fact remains 
that the Americans are slowly revealing their true intentions. 
Beyond the seriousness of the Iran nuclear issue, the 
Europeans would do well to keep in mind this other stakes in 
the Iranian tug of war, or they will find themselves caught in 
the middle." 
 
UN Reform 
 
"The UN and Human Rights" 
Daniel Vernet in left-of-center Le Monde (03/08): "The 
international community as a whole agrees that the UN Human 
Rights Commission needs to be reformed especially in light of 
discredit it has faced over the last few years. Is reform of 
the Human Rights Commission destined to failure? This is what 
the Americans fear. The reform proposed by General Assembly 
President Jan Eliasson has been called `shameful' by the New 
York Times, which for once is on the same side as President 
Bush and UN Ambassador John Bolton. Two philosophies are at 
loggerheads within the UN: on the one hand the realism of the 
majority which is happy with the progress made despite the 
difficult conditions, and on the other the intransigence of 
the Americans, who mistrust an international organization 
where they and other western democracies can be outnumbered by 
nations which everyday violate human rights and civil 
liberties. The U.S. is concerned that half measures will 
hinder real reform. This semi reform of the UN which is 
underway reflects the ambivalence of this organization." 
STAPLETON