VZCZCXRO3412
RR RUEHIK RUEHYG
DE RUEHFR #0538/01 0401431
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091431Z FEB 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4850
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUEHMRE/AMCONSUL MARSEILLE 1526
RUEHSR/AMCONSUL STRASBOURG 0321
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 0492

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 000538 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/PPD, EUR/WE, INR, R 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC PREL KPAO FR
SUBJECT:  WEEKLY MEDIA WRAP-UP: MIDDLE EAST (IRAQ, PALESTINIAN 
CONFLICT); PARIS CONFERENCES ON CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT AND ON 
CONVENTION AGAINST ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES; MOHAMMED CARTOONS TRIAL. 
FEBRUARY 9, 2007. 
 
 
PARIS 00000538  001.4 OF 003 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) Following last week's major conferences on the environment, 
international conferences in Paris this week on child soldiers and 
on enforced disappearances offered new media opportunities for 
French officials to portray themselves in opposition to U.S. policy. 
 Moreover, U.S.-French differences on Iraq again grabbed headlines 
all week with the U.S. troop surge and PM DeVillepin's comment in 
his Financial Times interview that "the U.S. failed in Iraq... 
American and British soldiers must be out of Iraq within a year." 
Dailies across the political spectrum said that the troop surge 
masks the Administration's "lack of strategy" in Iraq.  Coming on 
the heels of the February 2 Quartet meeting in Washington, reports 
and commentary on Saudi Arabia's mediation in the Fatah-Hamas 
conflict focused on the Saudi counterpoint to Iran's growing 
influence in the Middle East.  The trial of the satirical French 
newspaper that reprinted the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed 
opened in Paris February 7, with editorials commenting on freedom of 
the press and whether humor and religion are compatible in a 
democratic society. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
IRAQ:  TROOP SURGE; PM VILLEPIN SPEAKS OUT 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) On February 7, right-of-center Le Figaro noted Villepin's 
comments about Iraq in the Financial Times interview, and said that 
"the White House reacted by rejecting the idea of a withdrawal 
calendar."  Popular right-of-center Le Parisien, also on February 7, 
claimed that FM Douste-Blazy shared PM Villepin's view of the 
situation in Iraq.  Asked about the PM's interview at a Quai press 
conference, the Foreign Minister was quoted as insisting "the only 
solution in Iraq was a withdrawal of all foreign troops." 
 
¶3. (SBU) On February 5, Arnaud de la Grange in right-of-center Le 
Figaro contended that the troop surge was in fact a diversion to 
hide the Administration's "lack of strategy."  "In these types of 
conflicts," de la Grange writes, "it is better to either get out 
quickly or to bring about stability fast.  In its war on terror, 
America has become too dispersed and, in Afghanistan as in Iraq, the 
American intervention is perceived as an occupation."  Left-wing 
Liberation's Pierre Haski's editorial followed the same line, 
underscoring that troop surge is "not the answer, and even the Bush 
Administration does not think so."  Haski notes the U.S.'s "lack of 
political strategy" and concludes that "sending more troops to Iraq 
is like political plastic surgery that hides a policy that is deeply 
marred."  The editorial in popular right-of-center France Soir, 
penned by Dominique Jamet asked: "How long will it take for [the 
U.S.] to realize that war is not the best way to stop war." 
 
¶4. (SBU) FM Douste-Blazy on Europe 1 radio (February 5) was asked to 
comment on the troop surge in Iraq:  "There cannot be a military 
solution for Iraq.  How can we stop President Bush from making such 
an error?  Only a political solution can bring the different 
factions together." 
 
¶5. (SBU) On the morning of February 7, state-run  France Inter 
radio's foreign affairs commentator Bernard Guetta told listeners: 
"It would be a mistake to only remember the 'I told you so' on Iraq 
from the long interview of Dominique de Villepin that the Financial 
Times will publish tomorrow... Contrary to many Americans, Villepin 
was not calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops, but rather a 
calendar that would set out the sine qua non condition for a 
political settlement to the problem...  He says that we would no 
longer be able to stand by and watch the U.S. sink into the 
quicksand of Iraq... Villepin urges the Iraqis to implement national 
reconciliation... and calls on the neighboring countries to realize 
that they have more to gain from the stabilization of Iraq...  It is 
true that it is hard to see anything but the electroshock of a fixed 
date for troop withdrawal being able to prompt negotiations, 
compromises, realism and a new order in the region...  What Villepin 
is calling for is multipolarity and doing away with the notion that 
a great power could alone govern over the five continents..." 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
MIDDLE EAST:  QUARTET MEETING; SAUDI MEDIATION 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶6. (SBU) Left-of-center Le Monde (February 5) reported that "the 
Quartet, which met in Washington, remains divided on the attitude to 
 
PARIS 00000538  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
take towards Hamas and Syria."  Le Monde's Washington correspondent 
Corine Lesnes comments:  "Those who were seeking a sign to determine 
whether the U.S. was really ready to re-commit in the peace process 
in the Middle East will have to wait a bit longer."  She contends 
that the meeting in Washington gave only a hint of a "cautious move 
towards the next step, the meeting between Secretary Rice, PM Olmert 
and Mahmoud Abbas." 
 
¶7. (SBU) On Monday, February 5, left-wing Liberation reported that 
"Saudi Arabia is playing the role of mediator in Gaza.  Saudi 
Arabia, close to both to the U.S. and to Hamas, decided to take on 
the role of mediator to prevent the Palestinians from falling into 
Iran's hands."  Dominique Bromberger on state-run France Inter radio 
(February 6) opined that "Usually the Saudi leadership does not like 
to be in the limelight.  It prefers using checkbook diplomacy behind 
the scenes... But since the American invasion in Iraq, Saudi Arabia 
is particularly worried about the emergence of the Shiites... and it 
is the Saudi authority that is at stake...  This brimming energy 
with regard to diplomacy is not by choice but by necessity due to 
events."  On February 7, Bromberger continued:  "Saudi Arabia is, 
for the first time breaking with its usual complacency...  Also 
because the major Western powers, with Angela Merkel for Europe and 
Condoleezza Rice for the U.S., are supporting Saudi Arabia's 
efforts.  For the Europeans, Americans and Saudis alike, to allow 
the current situation to continue would be tantamount to playing 
into Iran's hands...  The American Administration appears to have 
acknowledged the fact that... it is crucial to put the Road Map back 
on track." 
 
¶8. (SBU) In "The Saudi Game," Pierre Rousselin's editorial in 
right-of-center Le Figaro (February 7) contends that by hosting 
"inter-Palestinian negotiations in Mecca, Saudi Arabia is placing 
itself at the center of gravity in a changing Middle East."  For 
Rousselin, "the Saudi Monarchy is on the front lines of a major 
conflict which is redesigning the region and where Iran is 
increasingly contesting Saudi Arabia's Sunni leadership."  "This is 
why Saudi diplomacy is being so pro-active, no longer working behind 
the scenes; today it is throwing caution to the wind."  Rousselin 
argues that "in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, 
Riyadh is worried about the rise to power of Tehran's allies, 
whether they are Iraqi Shiites, Hezbollah or Hamas.  Riyadh is 
getting involved diplomatically and financially on these three 
fronts to counter the Islamic Republic of Iran."  Rousselin notes 
that this must be done "carefully, so as not to appear to be helping 
U.S. interests."  Rousselin concludes that the Saudis were replacing 
the Egyptians in these negotiations.  "If these go well, it will be 
a signal that the center of gravity in the Middle East is moving 
from Cairo towards the Gulf's oil monarchies."  Rousselin closes by 
wondering whether success was possible, "even if violence serves no 
one." 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
PARIS CONFERENCES ON CHILDREN IN ARMED CONFLICT 
AND UN CONVENTION AGAINST ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Reporting on the Paris Conference against Child Soldiers, 
an editorial in left-wing Liberation on February 6 commented: 
"Children have always been enrolled to fight in Western armies." 
The editorial contends that "the West's tears for the children of 
the Third World are somewhat hypocritical."  Before accusing third 
world nations of enrolling children to be soldiers, it would be wise 
to look at practices in the West with the recent scandal over the 
fifteen British troops under the age of 18 that were "inadvertently" 
sent to fight in Iraq, violating a U.N. protocol on children's 
rights.  "If we look hard enough we can probably find in the 
American military or other self-righteous armies the same sort of 
practice." 
 
¶10. (U) On February 7, the unsigned editorial in Le Monde entitled 
"Human Rights" noted:  "For the first time an international measure, 
the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced 
Disappearance, provides victims with the means to ensure that their 
cases not be forgotten...  This convention indirectly calls into 
question the American CIA's 'secret prisons,' put in place by the 
Bush Administration in the fight against terrorism. Some of these 
prisons were alleged to be in Europe, which also points to the 
responsibility of the governments in question.  The world's great 
democracies would do well to serve as an example before trying to 
give lessons to others." 
 
----------------------- 
MOHAMMED CARTOONS TRIAL 
----------------------- 
 
PARIS 00000538  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) The unsigned editorial in the February 8 edition of 
left-of-center Le Monde called the trial against the satirical 
newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, "straight out of another era."  "In a 
secular state, no religion or ideology is above the law.  Where 
religion determines the law, totalitarianism sets in.  In a state of 
law, those who practice a religion should not be insulted or 
discriminated against on the basis of their beliefs...  Freedom of 
expression presupposes that different ethnic and religious 
communities within a single society can co-exist." 
WHITE