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Lucia A Keegan  08/11/2006 09:58:27 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Lucia A Keegan

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SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Lebanon - Paris and Washington at 
Odds 
PARIS - Thursday, August 10, 2006 
 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Lebanon - Paris and Washington at Odds 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
The Israeli offensive, negotiations at the UN to amend the 
Franco-American resolution and President Chirac's "possible 
intention to present his own UN resolution" as announced by Le 
Figaro are today's lead stories. According to Le Figaro "President 
Chirac is beginning to distance himself from Washington." The 
editorial, entitled "Chirac's Lebanese Score" commends Chirac for 
"clarifying" the situation: "If Washington does not amend the 
present draft resolution, he will offer his own, calling for a cease 
fire." Liberation titles its report "Between Washington and Paris, a 
Tug-of-war at the UN." La Croix's editorial by Dominique Quinio, 
borrowing from Chirac's description of lost time in the conflict, is 
entitled "Immoral." Les Echos, commenting on President Chirac's 
remarks about "Washington's reservations" focuses on the fact that 
"Paris is now willing to put pressure on Washington." But in 
regional Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace, Jean-Claude Kiefer 
concludes: "The U.S. will decide on the ceasefire when it decides it 
is time." (See Part C) 
 
Liberation and Le Figaro quote President Chirac in his Toulon press 
conference yesterday: "To abandon the idea of an immediate cease 
fire is the most immoral of solutions... I cannot imagine that 
either the Americans or anyone else would accept this..." Both 
reports emphasize Chirac's demand that "hostilities end immediately" 
and that the mission of an international force "should be clarified, 
with a fair distribution between the various participants." Le 
Figaro reports that "for the time being the U.S. refuses to make an 
Israeli pull out a prerequisite, and quotes Chirac: "The Americans 
appear somewhat reserved on this issue." Le Figaro also reports on 
President Chirac's defense of France's stance towards Iran, "an 
important regional nation which should be consulted," and towards 
Syria and al-Assad, "who I do not completely trust." 
 
La Croix examines the role that historic French-Lebanese ties play 
in the conflict in an article titled "Lebanon Remains a Favorite 
Child of the Elyse." The article hints that these two countries are 
closer in opinion than France and the U.S.: "The discord between 
Washington and Paris is deep, despite appearances and the official 
speeches given since the beginning of the crisis." While La Croix 
grants both countries share the goal of neutralizing Hezbollah, the 
disagreement lies in the strategy; it especially emphasizes U.S. 
aversion to an immediate ceasefire. "Israel knows that it has carte 
blanche to continue its strikes against Hezbollah, which, for the 
American administration, dominated by the neoconservatives, is a 
terrorist organization of the same order as Hamas in Palestinian 
territories." Alluding to a paralysis of French diplomacy, the 
article concludes: "Even if Jacques Chirac's willingness to try to 
end the conflict is sincere, he does not have a solution to oppose 
the Israeli-American determination." 
 
In Le Monde, Parliamentarian Pierre Lellouche pens a harsh op-ed 
against the U.S. and its lost battle against terrorism and calls on 
France and Europe to take the lead in resolving the situation in 
Lebanon. (See Part C) 
 
FR2-TV, Radio France Info and wires announced this morning that 
London has pushed up it terrorist alert to high alert after 
dismantling a terrorist plot to put explosives in hand luggage on a 
British Airways flight from London to the U.S. 
 
La Croix carries an op-ed by Luc Guyau, president of the Permanent 
Assembly of Agriculture Chambers, about the Doha stalemate at the 
WTO. Guyau refutes economists' theoretical claims that multilateral 
trade liberalization brings price down. According to Guyau, 
liberalization brings almost no gain for medium developed countries. 
As for Europeans, Guyau says: "We are not ready to sacrifice our 
agriculture under the pretext that other countries can produce 
cheaper!" 
 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
"President Chirac's Lebanese Score" 
Yves Threard in right-of-center Le Figaro (08/10): "President Chirac 
had no choice but to intervene, because France was increasingly 
stretching its position in order to satisfy Washington... and 
Lebanon, a country with which France enjoys privileged relations. 
The President's stance is now clear... a stance which brings to mind 
Chirac's distancing from Washington during the second Gulf war... 
France wants to retain its role of mediator and moderator between 
Washington and Tel Aviv's stance to do away with Hezbollah on the 
one hand, and the different demands of Middle East nations... France 
is the only European country to offer an alternative for a 
resolution to the conflict, maybe because of Chirac's 'emotional' 
involvement with Lebanon... Indeed his remarks about Syria, which he 
holds responsible for Hariri's assassination, have never harsher." 
 
"America's 'Reservations'" 
Jean-Claude Kiefer in regional Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace 
(08/10): "Although President Chirac has acknowledged America's 
'reservations' at the UN, he still wants to believe in a possible 
ceasefire soon. When things do not move as one would want them to, 
heralding optimism is diplomacy's last weapon... America's 
'reservations,' which are officially based on the Lebanese army's 
ability to take over control... is in fact Washington's way to hold 
things up. Washington wants to give Israel the time it needs... to 
'rid' Southern Lebanon of Hezbollah... As long as the U.S. continues 
to play for time, Israel will have the green light it needs... This 
is the interpretation we must give to Israel's extension of its 
ground offensive... This policy is full of dangers, which both 
Olmert and Bush must be aware of. But according to Washington, 
without whom nothing is decided in Jerusalem, the stakes are worth 
the risk. The 9/11 rhetoric is still going strong in the U.S. In the 
name of this logic, the war against Hezbollah goes well beyond the 
Lebanese battlefields. Seen from the U.S., this is a battle against 
Islamic terrorism and its various ingredients: Iran, Syria, the 
Iraqi Shia movement and the new Taliban... In the face of such 
determination, the diplomatic pas-de-deux at the UN, more or less 
orchestrated by France, is secondary. The U.S. will decide on the 
ceasefire when it decides it is time." 
 
"Immoral" 
Dominique Quinio in Catholic La Croix (08/10): "Yesterday, the 
prospect of reaching an agreement at the UN on an immediate 
cessation of hostilities seemed to be very far indeed... President 
Chirac in fact explained that the U.S. was reluctant to accept a 
text that took into account the Lebanese demand of an Israeli pull 
out. Is this Washington's way of playing for time to allow Israel 
the means to fatally wound Hezbollah and destroy its arsenal, which 
has proven to be more lethal than expected? For the French President 
this wasting of time is 'immoral.' He has asked for an immediate 
cessation of hostilities, then a negotiated ceasefire and the 
presence of an international force, in which France is ready to 
participate, despite past painful experiences... In announcing that 
France might be inclined to present its own draft resolution, the 
French President is emphasizing France's isolation and the 
difficulty in finding a consensual European diplomatic position. Yet 
Europe has the moral, military and economic strength to play a 
mediating role in the region. Its impotence is indeed immoral." 
 
"The Ingredients For A World Crisis Converge" 
Parliamentarian Pierre Lellouche in right-of-center Le Monde 
(08/10): "The ingredients for a world crisis have converged... North 
Korea, Kashmir and the Middle East represent a powder keg requiring 
immediate action... America has embarked on a war against terror, a 
solitary war. This unilateral war, without allies, without political 
strategy and which is founded on an illusory technological 
superiority has already failed in Iraq, is compromised in 
Afghanistan and increasingly criticized inside the U.S.  It also 
fans the fires of anti-American hatred and leads allies to take 
their distance. Upon leaving Iraq, this attitude could turn America 
inward, more isolated than ever from other democracies because of 
its 'international boots on the ground' approach... In the present 
conflict, there are only three paths: either Lebanon can disarm 
Hezbollah alone, which is impossible; Israel is left to do it in its 
place thus destroying Lebanon, which is the worst possible solution, 
or the international community takes over. France and Europe must 
take the political and military lead of the international community 
in the Lebanese conflict to avoid a repeat of the scenario which 
developed between the two world wars." STAPLETON