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TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Guantanamo Suicides Middle East - 
Israeli Strikes -Hamas Death of Zarkawi The U.S. and the UN 
PARIS - Monday, June 12, 2006 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Guantanamo Suicides 
Middle East - Israeli Strikes -Hamas 
Death of Zarkawi 
The U.S. and the UN 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Despite the French Open and World Cup results covering today's front 
pages, Le Figaro devotes one quarter of its front page to: 
"Guantanamo: Suicides Which Put Bush Under Pressure," adding: "The 
position of the U.S. is more and more difficult to defend after the 
death of three inmates." In his editorial entitled "Bush in the 
Guantanamo Trap" Yves Threard says the U.S. President "hardly had 
time to enjoy the elimination of Zarqawi..." and reiterates that 
Guantanamo is "outside the law: even if the prisoners do not elicit 
much compassion considering where they come from, the conditions of 
their detention does not enhance the image of the U.S." Threard 
contends that "while the fight against terrorism must show no mercy, 
the end does not justify the means..." Liberation announces on its 
front page: "In Guantanamo, Three Suicides Which Embarrass Bush." 
Inside Pascal Riche quotes several NGOs including Amnesty 
International: "These apparent suicides are the sad results of years 
of arbitrary and indefinite detention." (See Part C) 
 
TF1, FR2 and FR3 television carried reports on the suicides, showing 
excerpts of a phone interview with Admiral Harry Harris, 
Guantanamo's commanding officer: "Those three prisoners killed 
themselves to make people believe the Americans had murdered them." 
FR2's journalist was clearly negative, recalling there was a 
rebellion going on in Guantanamo, that 18 detainees were conducting 
a hunger strike and that 41 suicide attempts were counted last 
month. He spoke of Guanatanmo and the "legal monstrosity" it 
represents, adding that the camp is "being criticized by some of 
America's 'allies'." 
 
Israel's shelling in Gaza elicits several editorial commentaries. Le 
Monde writes about "unilateralisms: Olmert's and the Hamas's, 
neither of which would be tokens of either stability or peace." In 
Le Journal du Dimanche the editorial which is entitled "Abbas, Hamas 
and Israel" wonders: "If Israel had wanted to torpedo Abbas's 
attempts to resolve the crisis, it would not have acted any 
differently." For communist l'Humanite "Israel has Torpedoed the 
Palestinian Referendum." For La Croix "Abbas's Bet Is A Complicated 
One." In her editorial Dominique Quinio sees Abbas as "having his 
back against a wall" and trying "a last ditch attempt with a 
referendum whose results are far from certain." (See Part C) 
 
An op-ed in Liberation rebuts a previous op-ed in favor of "not 
boycotting Hamas." This one, entitled "The True Nature of Hamas" 
comments: "The two previous commentators refute the notion that 
humiliation and extreme poverty can result from an aggravated 
situation caused by leaders and corrupt Arab nations which have 
refused, except for Egypt and Jordan, to recognize the existence of 
Israel. They repeat Castro's contention that it is the U.S. embargo 
which has caused Cuba's poverty..." 
 
Le Monde devotes a full-page report to the use of images as a weapon 
in connection with the U.S. administration's "parading of Zarqawi's 
body in order to demoralize the enemy while attempting to regain 
some credibility." In his report, Patrice Claude recalls the 
pictures of Saddam Hussein in detention as well as Donald Rumsfeld's 
comments after Iraqi television interviewed three American soldiers: 
'The Geneva Convention does not allow war prisoners to be paraded in 
this manner.'" To which Claude says in closing his article: "Double 
Standards? One thing is sure, images serve as weapons and in times 
of war, every weapon is used." 
 
Saturday's Le Figaro carries an opinion column analyzing the U.S. 
'hollywoodization' of the war on terror. (See Part C) 
 
In Le Journal du Dimanche Gilles Delafon revisits last week's 
confrontation at the UN between Kofi Annan's deputy, Mark 
Malloch-Brown and John Bolton, in a column entitled "An Elephant at 
the UN." Very critical of Bolton, "who hates the UN and is 
emblematic of the impasse at the UN" Delafon also recognizes 
"Secretary Rice's talent in enhancing America's diplomacy." (See 
Part C) 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
Guantanamo Suicides 
 
"Bush in the Trap of Guantanamo" 
Yves Threard in right-of-center Le Figaro (06/12): "Criticized on 
the international scene, at the lowest in his ratings, President 
Bush was not even able to enjoy the elimination of Zarqawi. The 
three suicides in Guantanamo are going to fuel the controversy over 
the means used by President Bush in his war against terrorism... The 
conditions of detention and the existence itself of Guanatanamo do 
not enhance the image of the U.S. even if the detainees themselves 
do not elicit much compassion, considering where they come from... 
Guantanamo is an 'anomaly' as Blair said, a zone outside the law 
which violates every international convention... This is a godsend 
for anti-Americans 
who speak of a 'modern-day Gulag...' The Bush administration is 
aware it needs to put an end to the Guantanamo experience. But 
whatever the outcome, it will be difficult not to add arbitrary to 
the arbitrary. Of the 760 detainees, 300 have been released, but we 
know not for what reasons. While the detainees are most probably 
dangerous for the U.S., ... there is no proof... as the Moussaoui 
trial has showed... The legality and jurisdiction of Guantanamo are 
in question and the imminent decision of the Supreme Court could 
help Bush to make a decision... With months to go before the 
mid-term elections, President Bush must get out of the trap of 
Guantanamo. He cannot speak for democracy in the world and tolerate 
an outlaw system. While the fight against terrorism must show no 
mercy, the end does not justify the means." 
 
"The American Hell Hole" 
Bernard Guetta on government-run France Inter radio (06/12): "The 
expression 'asymmetrical war' used by Admiral Harris cannot be used 
here... despite what Colleen Graffy said in a BBC interview: 'A 
tactical, public relations operation serving the Jihadist 
movement...' No one will ever know, but these three men certainly 
had reason to kill themselves, including their lack of official 
status... These 'enemy combatants,' a term invented by Washington, 
have not been formally indicted... Guantanamo is an illegal 
detention center, which violates American and international laws, a 
scandal which Blair calls 'an anomaly.' Europe and every 
organization defending human rights have called for Guantanamo to be 
closed down. Without even talking of alleged torture, there is an 
obvious reason for committing suicide when detained in Guantanamo: 
despair caused by the lack of recourse nor the possibility of seeing 
the end of the tunnel." 
 
"The Side of Good In bad Shape" 
Marc Chevanche in regional Nice Matin (06/12): "The U.S. thought the 
elimination of Zarkawi could serve as a victory bulletin. The three 
suicides in Guantanamo can only serve as a bulletin for defeat. Both 
incidents illustrate the extreme difficulty which the U.S. is facing 
in finding the proper means to fight against Islamic terrorism... 
The question of the values being defended and the liberties taken 
with those same values is once again being raised. The side of Good, 
both militarily and morally, is in bad shape." 
 
Death of Zarkawi 
 
"America, Bush and the 'Hollywoodization' of Geopolitics" 
Renaud Girard in right-of-center Le Figaro (06/10): "One feels 
rather dizzy in witnessing the President of the United States, the 
most powerful nation of the world, designate a former petty 
criminal, re-converted to Islam, as his direct adversary... Zarkawi 
... was only the leader of a group profiting from the disintegration 
of Iraq... There's another reason for feeling ill at ease. The 
'ideology of terror' is a confusing notion ... There is no, and has 
never been in history, 'an ideology of terror.' There have been 
ideologies such as communism or nazism which used terror...The 
September 11 attackers were committed...in the name of a 
totalitarian ideology which is fast growing today: Islamicism.  It's 
an ideology with aims not only to organize political society but 
also to dictate the private life of people... If Ben Laden enjoys 
today, in the heart of masses politically frustrated in the 
Arab-Muslim world, the aura of a prophet, he owes it to the giant 
campaign that the American government and media have involuntarily 
offered him... The $25 million prize on the head of Zarkawi raised 
him to the level of Ben Laden... The term 'war on terrorism' is a 
hollow concept because terrorism... is only one of the multiple 
tactics of war... It is an idea copied from popular slogans of the 
type 'war against illiteracy.' It is dangerous to justify a war with 
imported semantics from the world of advertising or from Hollywood: 
this masks the true stakes from citizens. It is not by ignoring... 
the complexity of the political, social and religious stakes of the 
Arab-Muslim world that one can pacify it." 
 
Middle East - Israeli Strikes -Hamas 
 
"Unilateralisms" 
Left-of-center Le Monde in its editorial (06/12): "Israel's pull out 
from the occupied territories carries 'collateral damages' which are 
hardly acceptable... This pullout, the result of a constant 
harassment from Palestinian militia, was instrumental in the victory 
of Hamas... Abbas's attempt to recover some of his lost power 
through a referendum is a daring initiative... A general rebellion 
would reduce his hopes to ashes. Despite the West and Israel's 
calculations, the financial blockade imposed on the Islamists after 
their electoral victory has not deprived them of the Palestinians' 
support. They in fact have turned away from the Americans and the 
Europeans who are being accused of taking liberties with democratic 
principles when these do not fit with their aspirations. Mahboud 
Abbas's wager is therefore far from won. And this is a cause for 
concern because failure can open the way to two parallel 
unilateralisms in the region: Olmert's and Hamas's. These two 
unilaterlisms would not be tokens of either stability or peace." 
 
The U.S. and the UN 
 
"An Elephant at the UN" 
Gilles Delafon in right-of-center Le Journal du Dimanche (06/11): 
"The current atmosphere at the UN is appalling... The debate over UN 
reform has pitted Americans and developing countries against each 
other... The most violent anti-American criticism came last week 
from an American, (sic- British) Kofi Annan's deputy, Mark 
Malloch-Brown...  triggering a violent diatribe from the U.S. 
ambassador to the UN John Bolton... But he is in fact the 
incarnation of the impasse in which the UN finds itself today... His 
presence at the UN is an anomaly... His methods have ruffled 
feathers as high up as his boss, the very able Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice who has devoted herself, with a certain measure of 
success, to restoring credibility to her country's diplomacy... 
American diplomats can often be seen rolling their eyes at the mere 
mention of Bolton's name." STAPLETON