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 004724 
 
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 - GWOT - Death of Chechen Rebellion 
Leader - Iraq - Sectarian Violence 
PARIS - Tuesday, July 11, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
GWOT - Death of Chechen Rebellion Leader 
Iraq - Sectarian Violence 
 
(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
The French national soccer team's return to Paris yesterday and the 
"Zidane Affair" (a seemingly inexplicable head butt inflicted by the 
team captain on an Italian player in the World Cup final) again 
captures headlines and commentaries. Left-of-center Le Monde's front 
page finds "Civil War Worsening the Chaos in Iraq," and focuses on 
how Shiite militias assassinate Sunni civilians on the basis of 
their identity papers.  Right -of-center Le Figaro finds "Putin 
Reinforcing His Russian Empire" with five days left until the 
opening of the G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg. 
 
Right-of-center Le Figaro notes that North Korea has "succeeded in 
dividing Asia" between the Japanese who are in favor of sanctions 
and the Chinese who are against. "The tensions that already exist in 
North East Asia are weighing in the North Korean missile crisis... 
Following the missile tests, Japan adopted an unprecedented hard 
line position pushing for sanctions against Pyongyang... which 
sparked strong reticence on the part of China... American diplomacy, 
incarnated by Condoleezza Rice, is much more attentive to the 
diverging views of the international community on the subject even 
if the credo with regard to North Korea calls more for a firm stand 
and rapid reaction than unity. France, however, puts the accent on 
the latter to 'get all parties on board to vote the resolution.'" 
 
Right-of-center Le Figaro's front page reports the targeted killing 
of the head of the Chechen rebellion Chamil Bassaiev. The inside 
article says: "Moscow's public enemy number one killed just days 
before the meeting with George Bush, champion of the international 
war on terrorism... Vladimir Putin could not have dreamed of 
anything better." The editorial by Pierre Rousselin highlights the 
"new Russia." A separate piece notes that he Kremlin is hunting down 
anti-globalization militants before the opening of the Summit." On 
privately-run RTL radio, foreign affairs commentator Isabelle Dath 
said that "Bassaiev is to Putin what Bin Laden is to Bush".  She 
added that: "Putin's brutal politics have created generations of 
extremists." (See Part C) 
 
Le Monde's headline announces that "Civil War is Worsening Chaos in 
Iraq." The daily's correspondent in Baghdad writes: "The scent of 
civil war has been hovering over Iraq since the day after the 
American invasion and the fall of the Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein. 
The attacks aimed against the Shiite community have never ceased 
since the assassination of the Ayatollah al-Hakim in Nadjaf in 
2003." (See Part C) 
 
 (C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
GWOT - Death of Chechen Rebellion Leader 
 
"A New Russia" 
Pierre Rousselin in right-of-center Le Figaro (07/11): "The 
elimination of the Chechen terrorist Chamil Bassaiev is perfectly 
timed for Vladimir Putin with the G8 Summit coming up... This death 
is for the Kremlin what the death of al Zarkawi was for the White 
House last month with one marked difference. Even in the northern 
part of the Caucasus is unstable, Russia can boast having 
practically quashed the Chechen insurrection while America seems 
powerless to prevent Iraq from plunging into civil war... The 
emergence of a new Russia, more sure of itself and more determined 
to defend its interests means that the other members of the G8 need 
to redefine their relationship with Moscow. And for Russia this 
means a better assessment of its relationship with the West... The 
West will have to remain firm in its insistence that the values of 
freedom, democracy and competition without appearing to give 
lessons." 
 
Iraq - Sectarian Violence 
 
"The Mask of God" 
The editorial in communist l'Humanite by Maurice Ulrich (07/11): "In 
what way would keeping American troops in Iraq ensure security for 
Iraqis...? The members of the G8 will need to collectively respond 
to this question. The future of Iraq cannot be left up to the 
Americans." 
 
"Anarchy, Insurrection and Civil War: The Three Circles of Hell in 
Iraq." 
The analysis in right-of-center Le Figaro by Renaud Girard (07/11): 
"The neoconservatives at the Pentagon thought that it was enough to 
topple the Baathist regime to bring about an improvement in the 
political, social and economic situation in the region of the Tigris 
and the Euphrates. For these worshippers of democracy nothing could 
be worse or more terrible than the very real dictatorship of Saddam 
Hussein. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy 
Paul Wolfowitz, thought therefore that it was superfluous to prepare 
Iraq for the post-war period. They thought that things would sort 
themselves out and that these things would necessarily be good since 
they were the fruit of democracy. These two ideologues, who at the 
time compared the fall of Baghdad to the liberation of Paris in 1944 
have since learned that there could be much worse than a political 
dictatorship: there could be anarchy, or worse than anarchy: 
insurrection and even worse than insurrection: civil war... In order 
to break free from the circles of hell in Iraq, the Americans are 
going to have to give up their dream of being able to withdraw their 
troops any time soon because the entire country needs to be rebuilt, 
brick by brick and Washington will have to devote itself 
quantitatively and qualitatively much more to the task than it has 
until now." STAPLETON