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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 003872 
 
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 - Iran CIA Renditions 
Afghanistan - NATO U.S. Policy - Principle of Intervention - 
Realpolitik: Hanoi, America Returns 
PARIS - Thursday, June 08, 2006 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Iran 
CIA Renditions 
Afghanistan - NATO 
U.S. Policy - Principle of Intervention - Realpolitik: Hanoi, 
America Returns 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Le Figaro devotes major coverage to Iran and "detente in the nuclear 
crisis." The editorial stresses that "the ball is now in the Iranian 
camp" but also that if a "compromise is reached opening the way to 
negotiations, these will be long and full of surprises..." A 
separate report comments that "while one cannot yet speak of a 
honeymoon, it is seriously beginning to look like one..." (See Part 
C) Le Figaro interviews the Shah's son, Reza Pahlavi, who calls on 
the west to establish a democracy in Iran. 
 
The latest conclusions of the European Council on CIA renditions and 
alleged collusion by 14 states are a major story in Liberation. The 
editorial says "the report is a strong signal to the U.S. government 
and the Americans" and calls for Europe as whole to "put a stop to 
such arbitrary conduct and abuse of human rights." Le Figaro speaks 
of a "gigantic spider web spun by the CIA around the world." (See 
Part C) 
 
Le Parisien Henri Vernet interviews Gordon Thomas, whose book "The 
CIA's Secret Weapons" is published today in its French version. "The 
CIA has violated all the rules of human rights... Short of being 
able to act on U.S. soil, it established Guantanamo and clandestine 
prisons in Europe and elsewhere... The CIA built its own air fleet 
to transport suspects: on board it was hell... French airspace was 
violated on several occasions... The information obtained under 
torture was sent to Washington... The best way to get rid of a 
suspect, as reported to me by a CIA agent, 'was to send him to 
Uzbekistan or Egypt...' These decisions were taken at the highest 
level... President Bush approves all this while saying that America 
does not practice torture... The White House has convinced other 
governments to cooperate in the name of the war against terror. The 
CIA has a license to kill. It always has." 
 
Le Figaro reports on NATO's deployment in Southern Afghanistan (See 
Part C) La Croix carries an op-ed by Political Science Professor 
Bertrand Badie on the "principle of intervention" and its "sad 
agony." "Time and again we see the mighty arrive instead of the 
just, NATO instead of the expected UN, manipulation when we expect 
regulation. There is a great risk of seeing intervention lead to 
tragedy, from Kabul to Abidjan..." and Liberation carries an op-ed 
on the Bush administration's awakening to realpolitik. (See Part C) 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Iran 
 
"The Ball is in the Iranian Camp" 
Pierre Rousselin in right-of-center Le Figaro (06/08): "Negotiations 
on possible negotiations with Teheran have begun. While this does 
not mean the end of the crisis, it means at least that real 
diplomacy is at work... Iran cannot, as it has done in the past, 
reject proposals which have been ratified by the world's leading 
nations... Washington's decision to change its seventeen-year stance 
(sic) and offer to speak with the Iranians has opened the way to a 
united front. Although no resolution on sanctions was agreed to for 
lack of a consensus with China and Russia, the joint proposals 
presented by Solana offer real hope of seeing Iran bend... Iran is 
taking time to think things over. It has already gotten the 
assurance that Washington will participate in future talks. But the 
Iranians also consider the proposals, which have its 'positive 
aspects' to also present some 'ambiguities.' If they refuse the 
offer, it is back to the UNSC, sanctions and a new escalation. If on 
the other hand a compromise is reached in view of negotiations, 
these will certainly be long and full of surprises." 
CIA Renditions 
 
"Warning" 
Antoine de Gaudemar in left-of-center Liberation (06/07): "The EU 
Council report on the CIA's anti-terrorism war contains an 
astounding array of information which is difficult to prove, but the 
report is of symbolic importance. In the name of that war, many 
serious breaches of human rights have been tolerated since 9/11, the 
most serious being Guantanamo and the renditions of suspects, by way 
of a sophisticated and clandestine system of kidnappings, special 
flights and 'outsourced' prisons... Many European nations have 
colluded in the system and may be held accountable for torture. The 
fact that Europe is finally reacting officially to such abuses is a 
strong signal being sent to the U.S. government and the Americans. 
While the American population appears to be concerned by the Iraqi 
conflict because every day it is counting its dead, it seems to be 
oblivious to the consequences of the war on terror where human 
rights are concerned. But a certain awareness is beginning to take 
hold in the U.S. and with it an opposition to the Iraq war. The 
Marty report is also forcing the fingered EU nations to explain 
themselves and the entire continent to denounce tacitly accepted CIA 
practices. These are the stakes: does the war on terror justify the 
violation of the foundations of the rule of law? The Council of 
Europe says 'no.' This is a healthy warning." 
 
"New Accusations of CIA Renditions in Europe" 
Arnaud de la Grange in right-of-center Le Figaro (06/08): "It is 
supposedly a huge 'spider web' spun by the CIA around the world to 
catch, transfer and detain presumed terrorists. So says the European 
Council report. A web that spread throughout large parts of 
Europe... The most serious accusations are directed at Romania and 
Poland... but refuted by their governments... The U.S. for its part 
considers the report to be 'full of allegations but few facts...' 
The report's drafter, Dick Marty is urging the nations fingered to 
open fully transparent investigations: the war against terrorism, he 
says 'cannot be left to the arbitrariness of intelligence 
services...' According to Gordon Thomas, 'the CIA continues to 
transfer presumed members of Al-Qaeda towards detention centers 
which lie outside U.S. jurisdiction and where torture is routine.' 
This despite Washington's denials." 
 
Afghanistan - NATO 
 
"NATO Ready to Double its Troops in Afghanistan" 
Alexandrine Bouihlet in right-of-center Le Figaro (06/08): "For the 
first time since its deployment in Afghanistan, NATO is going to 
travel south to the more dangerous parts of Afghanistan which have 
been manned by U.S. special forces. 'This is a test for the 
Alliance, its means and its will,' says Brussels... The U.S. is 
encouraging this new mission as a way to compensate for its missteps 
in Iraq... This deployment will allow the U.S. to pull troops from 
its Enduring Freedom mission... But the warning from the Afghan 
Defense Minister is clear: 'The troops must be irreproachable in 
their approach. The Afghans are hostile to all foreign presence. 
They make no distinction between the Americans and the Europeans...' 
This transfer between the coalition and NATO has elicited new 
tension in the Taliban and Afghan drug lords, with a surge in 
violent attacks." 
U.S. Policy - Principle of Intervention - Realpolitik 
 
"The Desperate Agony of the Principle of Intervention" 
Bertrand Badie in Catholic La Croix (06/08): "The exercise in 
tempered self-criticism by President Bush and Tony Blair some three 
years after the intervention in Iraq is joined by the growing 
criticism which observers of the Afghan situation are expressing. It 
is similarly impossible not to think about France's mired 
involvement in Cote d'Ivoire or America's failure in Somalia during 
Clinton's first term... One of the paradoxes of interventionism is 
that military interventions throw into war those who claim to be 
soldiers of peace... Prevention is better than military action: but 
is this still possible when the mediator is all at once gladiator, 
as is the case with the U.S. in the Middle East and Iran? Faced with 
the uncertainties of intervention, multilateral debate could reduce 
the dangers... But is this option still possible when bypassing the 
UN is proportional to the gravity of the issue at hand? Intervention 
was a noble cause, which is slowly sinking in the moving sands of 
confusion and thoughtlessness. Time and again we see the mighty 
arrive instead of the just, NATO instead of the expected UN, 
manipulation when we expect regulation. There is a great risk of 
seeing intervention lead to tragedy, from Kabul to Abidjan..." 
 
"Hanoi, America Returns" 
Jacques Amalric in left-of-center Liberation (06/08): "In 
Washington, the time has come to take into account certain 
international realities, leaving the neo-cons with a bitter taste in 
their mouth. They have been kindly asked to swallow one bitter pill 
after another. The most bitter has been the Iranian pill: the U.S. 
administration's return to diplomacy under pressure from Secretary 
Rice is at the least a failure for the proponents of a military 
solution... Other bitter if less visible pills have been swallowed: 
renewed ties with Libya... despite the lack of democratic 
progress... Another concession made to realpolitik is the 
rapprochement with Hanoi - despite the humiliation inflicted on the 
U.S. - signaled by Rumsfeld's recent visit, the military agreements 
signed..., and the coming Presidential visit... Like the 
rapprochement with Libya, this one with Hanoi is contrary to the 
neo-cons' policy which calls for democratization of oppressive 
regimes instead of their acceptance." STAPLETON