VZCZCXRO3289
RR RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHFR #2242/01 0951517
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051517Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6002
RUEAWJA/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PARIS 002242 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOJ PLEASE PASS TO OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL, CRIMINAL 
DIVISION (FRONT OFFICE, COUNTER-TERRORISM SECTION, OFFICE OF INTERNAT 
AFFAIRS) 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KJUS FR KJUS PREL PGOV KCRM PTER
SUBJECT: VISIT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALES FROM MARCH 1 TO 
4, 2006. 
 
REF: NONE 
 
¶1. (U)  SUMMARY: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales traveled to 
France from March 1 to 4, 2006. He met with Pierre de 
Bousquet de Florian, Director of the DST; Nicolas Sarkozy, 
Minister of the Interior; French Counter-terrorism 
Officials; Ron Noble, Secretary General of Interpol; Pascal 
Clement, Minister of Justice and a number of media and 
opinion maker representatives. The meetings were cordial 
and constructive and focused on counter-terrorism 
cooperation; with the Attorney General expressing 
appreciation to his counterparts for the excellent working 
relationship between France and the United States in this 
area; and his making a number of appearances with the media 
and opinion makers to explain to the French public the 
United States approach to combating terrorism.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) After a March 1 evening arrival, on March 2, the 
Attorney General met with Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, 
director of the DST, France's internal security service. 
Both the Attorney General and de Bousquet complimented US- 
French C/T cooperation, calling it "exceptional," and 
recognizing that both countries were fighting a common 
enemy, and both had experienced losses.  France's C/T fight 
was led by intelligence agencies working in concert with 
the judiciary, said Bousquet.  Although France did not 
pretend that its model could be applied elsewhere, it 
strongly believed that judiciary and police/intelligence 
services needed to cooperate closely in order to attack 
terrorist networks before they struck. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In response to questions from the Attorney 
General concerning the DST's view of the evolving nature of 
the terrorist threat, de Bousquet expressed a concern that 
democracies not compromise their essential values in 
combating terrorism as this could weaken the foundation of 
their societies.  Most important, said Bousquet, was to win 
the battle of communication.  Videos of USG actions were a 
continuing source of motivation and repulsion for 
extremists.  Although USG communication regarding terrorism 
was focused on convincing its citizens, images of abuses in 
Iraq and the messages of the USG as received overseas both 
rebounded negatively overseas and encouraged Muslim youth 
to join extremist movements, said Bousquet. 
 
¶4.   (SBU) Bousquet said France was most concerned about 
the worldwide upsurge of radical Islam.  For this reason, 
the GOF was building a "French Islam"  a moderate Islam 
that worked within the French culture.  All those who 
refuse to participate in this system would have no place in 
French society, said Bousquet.  He believed that the next 
generation of terrorists would be born and well-integrated 
into French society, since well-educated and integrated 
French Muslims were already beginning to be seen in 
jihadist circles.  He called for continued close 
coordination between intelligence and police agencies, and 
asked that the Attorney General look into streamlining 
current procedure for passing telephone and Internet 
communication details based in the United States and needed 
for investigations in France. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The Attorney General also met Minister of the 
Interior Sarkozy.  Also present for the Ministry of the 
Interior were Diplomatic Advisor David Martinon, Legal 
Advisor Sylvie Smanniotto, and DST Director de Bousquet de 
Florian.  Sarkozy complained that the Ministry of the 
Interior felt cooperation in terrorism matters with the 
United States were one sided.  He declined to give further 
specifics  Attorney General Gonzales stated that if Sarkozy 
had a specific complaint, he should feel free to call him 
directly. [Note:  Subsequent discussion with de Bousquet 
and Sarkozy's staff yielded apologies and assurances that 
GOF-USG CT cooperation is, and is seen as, good.] 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Sarkozy also signaled that he was under pressure 
to remedy the current inability of France to produce 
biometric visas in conformity with recent U.S. legislation, 
so as to participate in the visa waiver program.  [Note: 
Septel on recent biometric passport developments.] 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Sarkozy also discussed general geopolitical 
issues concerning France and the United States.  He 
believed France should not be in an adversarial posture 
with the U.S. and should change its approach.  The U.S. is 
an important friend and ally of France, the level of 
 
PARIS 00002242  002 OF 004 
 
 
convergence of interest is much greater than with major 
non-democratic powers like Russia or China.  While he was 
constrained by the current government's policies, he 
believed the situation would change after the election.  He 
indicated he would travel to the U.S. to be able to tell 
the French public what his impressions were of the U.S. and 
that he would provide more detail on his positions as his 
run for the French presidency advanced.  Sarkozy stated 
that France and the international community would have to 
help the United States resolve the situation in Iraq, as 
the U.S. could not do so alone; perhaps with international 
forces eventually replacing the U.S. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) On the morning of March 3, Ambassador Stapleton 
hosted a breakfast for the Attorney General and four key 
French counter-terrorism officials, counter-terrorism 
investigative judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, Prosecutor 
General of Paris Yves Bot, Prosecutor of Paris Jean-Claude 
Marin, and Director of the Criminal Division of the Justice 
Ministry Jean-Marie Huet.  The Attorney General started the 
discussion by thanking the officials for their assistance 
and asked them for their assessment of the current counter- 
terrorism situation.  Led by the commentaries of Judge 
Bruguiere, the officials noted the advantages they operated 
under, including their ability to protect the sources of 
intelligence information that they use in their 
investigations, the fact that they do not need to detail 
facts to the same extent as in the U.S. to arrest persons, 
or undertake searches and seizures or wiretaps, and the 
fact that there was no jury system, no formal rules on 
admissibility of evidence and no hearsay rule.  There 
followed a general legal discussion on these aspects of the 
French system. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Judge Bruguiere also outlined the two general 
threat trends France was experiencing:  First, that French 
youth were being drawn into terrorist activities to a 
greater extent, reflecting that the threat was moving from 
East to West.  Second, that the new terrorists were on an 
increasing level of sophistication and education.  Recent 
arrests had demonstrated that highly educated electronics 
experts had been recruited by jihadist networks for 
purposes of executing attacks in Europe, and that they had 
developed highly sophisticated methods for detonating 
explosive charges at long distance. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The Attorney General next met with Ron Noble, 
Secretary General of Interpol, on March 3.  The discussion 
 
SIPDIS 
commenced with the Attorney General inquiring about the 
recent request for Interpol red notices made by Italy 
concerning the alleged abduction of an individual from 
Italy by USG officials.  Noble advised that the procedure 
at this stage is for Interpol to review the requests to 
determine whether issuance of the red notices would be 
consistent with the Interpol Constitution, which prohibits 
Interpol from participating in political matters, or 
pursuing politically motivated requests. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Noble also briefed the AG on a number of current 
issues, including a push to list with Interpol those al- 
Qaida and Taliban members on the UN sanctions list so that 
Interpol could generate a new kind of notice providing 
details on these persons to police in member states, and to 
facilitate wider contribution to and use of the Interpol 
database on lost or stolen passports.  Regarding 
lost/stolen passports, a pilot project conducted between 
Interpol and the Swiss government demonstrated that the 
Interpol database could be used in real-time, leading to a 
marked increase in the seizures and prosecutions for those 
using false travel documents.  He cited the example of one 
seized passport that had been in use since April 2003, had 
passed through 19 countries and had successfully gone 
through border controls 46 times without being caught. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Noble requested that the Attorney General 
consider detailing a legal attach/prosecutor to Interpol 
headquarters, given the rise in legal issues in recent 
years.  The Attorney General expressed concern that a DOJ 
prosecutor might have to address cases that would 
conceivably work against USG interests.  Noble replied that 
the DOJ prosecutor would always have the option of recusing 
him/herself. 
 
¶13.   (U) Embassy Paris also organized three press events 
for Attorney General Gonzales on March 3:  a print press 
 
PARIS 00002242  003 OF 004 
 
 
roundtable, an interview with Radio France Internationale, 
and an interview with French all-news channel LCI-TV. 
Major French newspapers as well as wire services Agence 
France Presse, Reuters, and Associated Press, attended his 
print press roundtable.  The AG took numerous questions on 
Guantanamo and detainee treatment.  He explained the 
differences between treatment of detainees on a battlefield 
and prisoners in the criminal justice system and 
underscored that the U.S. treats detainees humanely and in 
accord with Geneva even if they do not come under the 
Geneva Convention since they are unlawful combatants.  Wire 
reports quoted AG Gonzales as saying: "The relationship 
between French and U.S. law enforcement is outstanding," 
and, "Both countries share the common objective of 
preventing terrorist attacks."  The press roundtable also 
triggered articles in center-left daily Libration 
(circulation: 158,086) and Catholic daily La Croix 
(circulation: 102,022).  La Croix highlighted that, "Four 
years after 9/11, the determination of the U.S. government 
has not faltered when it comes to fighting against terror." 
 
¶14.  (U) Excerpts of his interview with the French 
worldwide broadcasting radio network Radio France 
Internationale (RFI-- similar to Voice of America) aired on 
March 3, and the interview was aired in full in RFI's 
weekly Wednesday, RFI English service program "Voices."  In 
the radio interview, AG Gonzales was asked about the CIA 
flights controversy, and he emphasized that the U.S. is a 
nation of laws that respects its legal commitments. 
 
¶15.  (U) The all-news television network LCI featured the 
full interview in its "News of the World" program, which 
was re-broadcast three times the same evening.  The 
Attorney General was asked about his visit to Paris, the 
use of death penalty in Texas when President Bush was 
governor -- AG referred to the due process of law accorded 
the prisoners, and the possible death penalty for Zacharias 
Moussaoui who, the AG said, has pleaded guilty and his 
sentence will be decided by the Court. 
 
¶16. (SBU) The Attorney General met with French Justice 
Minister Pascal Clement on March 3.  The two complimented 
U.S.-French cooperation as "very good" on terrorism and 
other legal matters.  The Attorney General said Interior 
Minister Sarkozy had complained that counter-terrorism 
information sharing was not as robust as it could be, to 
which Clement responded that in his opinion, information 
sharing between U.S. and France was good.  They compared 
notes on the different French and U.S. legal systems.  The 
Attorney General reassured Clement that any information 
provided by France for the Moussaoui trial would not be 
used to support a death penalty conviction.  He also 
invited Clement to the United States.  Clement thanked the 
Attorney General and said he would be pleased to do so when 
their schedules permitted. 
 
¶17. (SBU) Clement hailed the U.S. and France's mutual 
exchange of magistrates as a way to ward off any budding 
legal problems between the two countries.  He said the lack 
of major problems to discuss was a fruit of this type of 
exchange.  Clement asked the AG when the U.S. would ratify 
the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention, noting that 
France had recently done so.  The AG stated that he hoped 
we would be able to overcome final Senate objections soon 
and get the treaty ratified.  They also discussed a number 
of other issues, including the sex offenses, and 
psychiatric testimony, child abduction cases, and growing 
illegal drug use.  At the conclusion of the meeting, the 
ministers had a walk-out for the press, in which they 
delivered statements regarding the issues discussed.  The 
Clement statement included mention of the assurance 
provided by the U.S. that the evidence provided by France 
in the Moussaoui case would not be used to obtain the death 
penalty. 
 
¶18. (U) This visit provided a good opportunity for Attorney 
General Gonzales to both meet in depth key French law 
enforcement officials, express U.S. appreciation for the 
strong cooperative law enforcement relationship between the 
two countries, as well as to explain the French public 
through his interviews the United States approach to 
combating terrorism.  Ambassador Stapleton accompanied the 
Attorney General to all of his meetings.  The Attorney 
General departed on March 4, 2006, for other meetings in 
the United Kingdom. 
 
PARIS 00002242  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶19. (U) This message was approved by the Office of the Attorney 
General. 
 
STAPLETON