VZCZCXRO1259
RR RUEHIK RUEHYG
DE RUEHFR #0917/01 0681432
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091432Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5493
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUEHMRE/AMCONSUL MARSEILLE 1576
RUEHSR/AMCONSUL STRASBOURG 0355

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 000917 
 
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:  AIRBUS MANEUVERING; IRAQ WAR--TAKING 
CARE OF SOLDIERS, THE LIBBY VERDICT, BAGHDAD CONFERENCE; PRESIDENT 
BUSH'S TRIP TO LATIN AMERICA.  MARCH 9,  2007. 
 
 
PARIS 00000917  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) Domestic issues dominated headlines this week, focused on 
Airbus's plans to restructure, anticipated job cuts and the 
presidential candidates' support for the ailing company.  "Airbus 
caught in campaign turbulence" and "Airbus trapped in the campaign" 
were the headlines of economic daily Les Echos and right-of-center 
Le Figaro on March 5.  In U.S.-related news on March 5, 
right-of-center Le Figaro's New York correspondent penned an article 
on conditions at Walter Reed and the commission appointed by 
President Bush to look into the situation.  Left-of-center Le 
Monde's front page noted that Defense Secretary Gates also is 
denouncing the conditions at Walter Reed.  State-run France 2's 
morning news program on March 7, as well as the front page of 
right-of-center Le Figaro, reported the guilty verdict in the 
perjury case against Lewis "Scooter" Libby.  International stories 
included the upcoming conference in Baghdad, missile defense and 
President Bush's trip to Latin America.  End Summary. 
 
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AIRBUS 
------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) On March 5, in regional Le Republicain Lorrain, Pierre 
Frehel wrote that "The crisis at Airbus has unleashed France's old 
tendencies of nationalism and protectionism."  In regional La 
Liberte de l'Est, Gerard Noel suggested that "they must be getting a 
good laugh at Boeing.  Silly Europeans, incapable of rising above 
their own national chauvinism... and plunging one of their icons, 
Airbus, into the abyss...  A depressing state of affairs for the 
countries that had once been reputed to be the motors of the EU." 
 
¶3. (SBU) On March 6, right-of-center Le Figaro's headline noted that 
"the Right and Left are butting heads on the government's role" in 
trying to help Airbus out of its current crisis, with two full pages 
of coverage, including articles on Socialist candidate Segolene 
Royal's meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as well as 
Prime Minister Villepin's comments that "the state must play its 
role."  (Note:  UMP candidate Sarkozy also subsequently came out in 
favor of an increased national stake in the company.  End Note.) 
The daily carried an investigation of the German regional issues at 
stake, and an article covering the role of the unions in the current 
disagreements.  Economic daily Les Echos' article on "Airbus: 
Sarkozy and Villepin in Favor of an Increase in Capital" noted that 
the "Airbus 'Power 8' plan was announced in the middle of the 
election campaign...and you can tell." 
 
¶4. (SBU) The March 7 editorial in right-of-center Le Figaro by 
Stephanie Marchand said that "France is slowing Germany down...  The 
Franco-German couple is doing poorly.  And the painful restructuring 
of Airbus serves to highlight this even more...  In terms of 
economic policy, it is as if the countries on either side of the 
Rhine are not living in this century." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Left-of-center Le Monde on March 8 featured an interview 
with EADS co-president Louis Gallois.  Gallois confirmed that "no 
part of the A350 will be contracted outside of France as certain 
rumors would have had one believe...  It is the delays in the A380 
that led to the Power 8 Plan.  But one of the real problems that the 
company faces is coping with the weak dollar (which makes Airbus 
uncompetitive on the market).  When the dollar drops 10 cents it 
costs the company one billion euros." 
 
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CONDITIONS AT WALTER REED, LIBBY VERDICT 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Left-wing Liberation's Washington correspondent Philippe 
Grangereau on March 5 wrote: "When George W. Bush is filmed at 
Walter Reed hospital shaking hands with wounded soldiers, it is 
always in the ultra-modern wing set aside for amputees.  The rest of 
Walter Reed, which is for the most part off-limits to journalists, 
is infested with mice, cockroaches and mildew...  There a great 
number of soldiers languish for months, sometimes years."  For 
left-of-center Le Monde on March 5, Defense Secretary Robert Gates 
is imposing "his method... but the Walter Reed story is only just 
beginning" according to correspondent Corine Lesnes. 
 
¶7. (SBU) On March 7, Washington correspondent for right-of-center Le 
Figaro, Philippe Gelie, noted about the Libby verdict that "for VP 
Cheney's former right-hand man, the blow is a hard one... and leaves 
a dark cloud hanging over the VP and the Bush Administration as well 
 
PARIS 00000917  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
as adding to the fiasco that is the American intervention in Iraq." 
Left-wing Liberation's Washington correspondent Philippe Grangereau 
wrote March 8 on the "Vices of the Vice President."  "The White 
House's lies going into Iraq... are catching up to the 
highest-ranking officials in the Bush Administration.  In 
particular, to Dick Cheney, who is strongly suspected of having 
orchestrated the whole affair...  The White House has not said if it 
intends to grant a presidential pardon to Lewis Libby at the end of 
the president's term in office.  The trial of a high-level official 
is unprecedented since the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s and has 
shed light on the vindictive practices of Dick Cheney, who went so 
far as to declassify certain reports or leak information to the 
press in order to embarrass his political opponents.  Rarely has a 
vice president had so much power in the history of the U.S.  His 
office is a sort of citadel of secrecy with a staff far larger than 
any of his predecessors.'"  Agnes Rotivel, in Catholic La Croix 
(March 8), suggested that "It became clear over the course of the 
trial that Lewis Libby was simply the scapegoat used to protect 
those who are truly guilty." 
 
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BAGHDAD CONFERENCE 
------------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) Karine Lajon in Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche 
(March 4) commented on the Baghdad Conference, saying "The idea 
comes from Baghdad, but France likes it.  Next Saturday, an 
international conference will take place in the Iraqi capital... 
The official aim of this meeting is to move the political process 
forward...  The unofficial purpose is to break the ice between the 
U.S., Iran and Syria...  France is seeing this as a softening of the 
American position...  Paris will be represented by the French 
Ambassador to Iraq...  For Syria and Iran, this conference provides 
them with an opportunity to position themselves as essential 
regional powers."  On March 7, left-of-center Le Monde's Daniel 
Vernet noted that the "new diplomatic front opened by the U.S. took 
everyone by surprise...  It is true that George Bush had already 
agreed to compromise with North Korea in spite of the fact that, 
like Iran, it is part of the "Axis of Evil."  Apparently the 
American president has decided to implement some of the 
recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton Report." 
 
-------------- 
MISSILE SHIELD 
-------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) March 7, left-of-center Le Monde's Nathalie Nougayrede 
wrote that "the American anti-missile shield plans have divided 
Europeans...  France, for its part, is keeping a low profile while 
Germany has expressed its marked reticence...  Paris is underscoring 
that the project is strictly American and a bilateral matter between 
the U.S. and the various countries that have been approached as 
candidates for new bases....  France's position is significantly 
different from 1999, when Jacques Chirac clearly stated his 
opposition to the anti-missile defense project...  Moreover, the 
French consider that Russia received fair warning by the U.S. about 
the American missile defense project." 
 
------------------------------- 
PRESIDENT BUSH IN LATIN AMERICA 
------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The editorial by Stephane Marchand in right-of-center Le 
Figaro (March 8) notes that "As far as energy is concerned, the U.S. 
is like every other country, dependent and vulnerable.  This frailty 
will be especially tangible during President Bush's trip to Latin 
America ...  The American president is arriving in a region that has 
been awash in virulent anti-Americanism for years...  During the 
course of the last six years during which the region had the 
impression that it had been forgotten by the Bush Administration 
that was entirely turned towards the war on terrorism, Chavez's 
campaign against the U.S. has taken on proportions that are 
reminiscent of Fidel Castro's Cuba... with the added leverage of the 
petro-dollars that give him, if not a position in the world, at 
least an audience...  The situation is worrisome but George W. Bush 
thinks that he has a plan.  For the U.S. to be able to do without 
Chavez' oil, it needs to set up the possibility of making ethanol 
continent-wide...  George Bush and his Brazilian counterpart will 
sign an agreement today...  The U.S. and Brazil account for 72 
percent of the world production of ethanol...  If this agreement is 
implemented and the Democratic Congress gets on board, the White 
House will once again have a foothold in the Latin American energy 
arena." 
 
¶11. (SBU) Washington correspondent for left-of-center Le Monde, 
Corine Lesnes, noted (March 8) that "Left by the wayside following 
 
PARIS 00000917  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
the September 11, 2001 attacks, Latin America is now coming back 
onto the front of the stage as far as American foreign policy is 
concerned... President Bush is going to present a set of initiatives 
that will vie with other regional assistance programs, namely from 
countries such as Venezuela or Cuba. 
 
----------------------------- 
RADIO FRANCE PERSONNEL CHANGE 
----------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Left-wing Liberation noted that "France Info's Head Fired 
for Lack of Audience," commenting that Michel Polacco was dismissed 
March 8.  According to most of the press, Michel Polacco is paying 
for the continuing drop in audience that France Info has been 
suffering for several years.  The results of a study, commissioned 
by Radio France CEO Jean-Paul Cluzel, to analyze the reasons for 
France Info's decline in listenership are expected soon.  Polacco, 
who is going to serve as an advisor to CEO Cluzel, will be replaced 
by Patrick Roger, currently chief editor and presenter for the 8 
o'clock morning news on France Inter. 
STAPLETON