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Lucia A Keegan  08/02/2006 03:06:18 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Lebanon - Israeli Attack on Cana - 
Iraq 
PARIS - Monday, July 31 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Lebanon - Israeli Attack on Cana - 
Iraq 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
Lebanon and the NATO mission in Afghanistan are the top 
international stories. 
 
Right-of-center Le Figaro headlines "Cana Marks a Turning Point" in 
the conflict, and notes that "children made up the majority" of the 
victims. A front page report also announces Secretary Rice's 
decision to cancel her visit to Beirut, as well as FM Douste-Blazy's 
own visit to the Lebanese capital today. In an interview the French 
FM says "France is ready to take part in a multinational force..." 
FM Douste-Blazy is calling for a cease fire and a political 
agreement. Asked about the lack of support from the U.S. and Great 
Britain for a cease fire he says: "the solution to the conflict does 
not reside in a purely military solution. There must be a political 
solution." 
 
Most headlines focus the horror of the Cana attack: "Cana: The 
Horror and the Indignation" (Catholic La Croix) "Cana: One Carnage 
Too Many." (Left-of-center Liberation) Liberation's editorial, 
titled "Impasse," contends that "the Israelis have managed to 
destroy everything in Lebanon except Hezbollah..." (See Part C) 
 
Le Parisien interviews Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute of 
International and Strategic Relations: "the raid on Cana marks a 
psychological turning point at which the international community 
will pressure Israel for a cease-fire... The international 
community, and France especially, risks the perception of complicity 
in civilian deaths if it does not push for a cease-fire." 
 
Meanwhile Le Journal du Dimanche's editorial is entitled "And Iraq?" 
and reports on the latest "bad news" from Baghdad: "six thousand 
dead in two months and systematic use of torture by the Americans... 
The Israeli-Lebanese conflict cannot hide the truth about Iraq: the 
patent and spectacular failure of the U.S. there." (See Part C) 
 
"A Risky Mission for NATO in Southern Afghanistan" claims Le Figaro, 
about NATO's takeover from the American forces in Afghanistan. Le 
Figaro notes that "NATO now controls close to two thirds of 
Afghanistan." Quoting a member of the Alliance who says "we are here 
for years..." the report indicates that the NATO mission, "desired 
by the U.S. and imposed on the EU remains the riskiest for the 
Alliance since the end of the war." The report adds: "Despite its 
good intentions, the Alliance, which hoped that the Taliban would 
make a difference between its forces and the Americans, is being 
targeted like a force of occupation." 
 
Le Parisien reports Defense Minister Alliot-Marie's visit with 
French troops in Afghanistan, and calls the state of affairs there 
"a deteriorated situation." According to the article, the reaction 
to the Mohammad caricatures and the May 29 riots showed "the 
situation is fragile, even in Kabul." Despite this, soldiers depend 
on the "French style" of patrolling on foot, observing local 
customs, and giving token gifts to children to avoid being perceived 
as occupiers 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Lebanon - Israeli Attack on Cana 
 
"Impasse" 
Gerard Dupuy in left-of-center Liberation (07/31): "The Israelis 
have managed to destroy everything in Lebanon except Hezbollah... 
They have ignored the calls for 'restraint' sent out by everyone, 
including their American allies... Having followed their strategy, 
they are now at an impasse. The Israeli 'borderline' strikes have 
also reached a turning point. The sort of tolerance which Israel has 
enjoyed from the international community is reaching an end... 
However autistic the Israelis might be, there comes a time when they 
must take stock of international opinion, at least that of 
Washington. And here the wind seems to have shifted... The border 
between collateral damage and a war crime is never pre-defined. And 
while the Israelis are not targeting civilians the way Hezbollah is 
doing, it is also true that they are killing more civilians than 
Hezbollah... After the attack on the UN peacekeepers, President Bush 
felt he had to ask his Secretary of State to return to diplomacy. 
But as she returns to Washington, with Cana's casualties in the 
background, indispensable interlocutors such as the Lebanese PM are 
turning their backs on the U.S. President... Israel's main goal, to 
weaken Hezbollah before embarking on a diplomatic solution, has 
failed. And whatever the diplomatic solution may be, Hezbollah is in 
a position to greatly influence that solution." 
 
"A Lost Battle" 
Frangois Ernenwein in Catholic La Croix (07/31): "Israel has a right 
to self defense... but the high civilian casualties necessitate a 
change of methods... Even the Americans, who have become experts in 
mired issues, notably in Iraq, are showing their impatience with 
Israel and warming up to the notion of a cease-fire... When 
'collateral damage' becomes the center of the debate, the battle 
begins to be lost and with it, as often, the cause it pretends to be 
serving." 
 
"Paris and Washington Disagree on How to End Fighting" 
Renaud Girard in right-of-center Le Figaro (07/31): "While the 
attack on Cana seemed to have shaken Secretary Rice, it has 
strengthened France's position... Rice is expected back in 
Washington today to work on a U.S. draft resolution which will be 
much different from the French one, which sets a ceasefire as a 
preamble... Israel's blunder has unintentionally reinforced, in the 
eyes of international opinion, the French position." 
 
Iraq 
 
"And Iraq?" 
Jacques Esperandieu in right-of-center Le Journal du Dimanche 
(07/31): "Six thousand dead in two months and systematic use of 
torture by the Americans... This is the bad news from Baghdad. The 
Israeli-Lebanese conflict cannot hide the truth about Iraq: the 
patent and spectacular failure of the U.S. there. Past optimism 
seems to have been forgotten... It is just as well, because what has 
been developing is a real civil war... This is a terrible reversal 
for an army which came, at the outset, to 'establish peace and 
democracy.' As a consequence, the need continues be  to inject 
dollars and troops into Iraq, despite a recalcitrant Congress, and 
the need for the Americans to take over once more Baghdad's security 
which was imprudently handed over to the Iraqi forces... And now 
that the Iraqi PM has also condemned the Israeli actions in Lebanon, 
the White House's cup has indeed run over..." STAPLETON