Cablegate: Media Reaction Report - Paris Riots President Bush To

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 007577

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; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE.

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Paris Riots President Bush to
Latin America Iraq - Saddam Trial - Oil For Food
PARIS - Monday, November 07, 2005

(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT:

Paris Riots
President Bush to Latin America
Iraq - Saddam Trial - Oil For Food

B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE:

Once again the spreading suburban violence makes every front
page today, including in the regional press, with such titles
as "The Worrisome Spread" (Le Figaro) or "How Long Is This
Going to Last?" (Le Parisien). Sunday's Le Journal du Dimanche
headlines: "How to Stop the Violence." But several headlines
are devoted to President Chirac's short press conference
yesterday evening after a special ministerial meeting on
security. While La Tribune states: "Chirac Takes Over" many
question his "empty words" and lack of concrete measures:
"Chirac Asks for Order, And Then What?" headlines France Soir.
Liberation comments on its front page: "the government appears
to be impotent." Catholic La Croix devotes its lead to
"Religions and the Suburbs." The Figaro editorial concentrates
on the foreign media's perspective with special emphasis on
the U.S. media "which compares Paris to Baghdad." This morning
France 2 television gave a media review of European cover
stories devoted to the riots with commentaries on "the
possibility of riots spreading to other European cities after
having ignited regional French areas." (See Part C) PM
Villepin is scheduled to speak this evening on TF1 television
during the prime time 8 PM news broadcast.
Interior Minister Sarkozy pens an op-ed in Le Monde where he
asserts that "the nation's strategy is the right one. The
police's role is to re-establish order. If it didn't do its
job, what would happen? Extremism and various mafias would
take over." Saturday's Le Figaro carries an op-ed by Georges
Fenech of the National Assembly praising "New York's zero
tolerance" for delinquents.

International stories concentrate on President Bush's Latin
American tour. For Le Figaro "Bush Fails to Charm Latin
America." (See Part C)

Le Figaro carries an op-ed by Adrien Jaulmes titled "In an
Iraq in Disarray, Saddam Trial Fails" while Le Monde devotes a
full page to the French companies implicated in the `Oil for
Food' scandal, a story also reported in Liberation and La
Croix. (See Part C)

La Croix carries an op-ed on cultural diversity which asks:
"Between the WTO and UNESCO, which institution and which
preoccupations, cultural or economic, will prevail?"

(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES:

Paris Riots

"France Accused"
Yves Threard in right-of-center Le Figaro (11/07): "Is Paris
Burning? The U.S. press does not hesitate to compare Paris to
Baghdad and its suburbs to the Gaza strip. Either the concern
is sincere and we should be grateful, or the opportunity was
too good to be missed to criticize the country of human rights
always eager to give lessons. While there is probably a little
bit of both, the second guess is most certainly the right one.
France is paying today for its arrogance. The Americans will
never forget the less than flattering words used to qualify
America and its society at the start of the war in Iraq and
after Katrina. But the fact is that France has failed its
forty-year old immigration policy."

"A Waste"
Jean-Michel Helvig in left-of-center Liberation (11/07): "If
it became apparent that the state could not ensure public
order, individual solutions could spread. While Sarkozy has
made things worse through his choice of words, it would be a
vain victory to use him as scapegoat. What is becoming obvious
with each day that passes is the incredible waste of a
domestic security policy which is the hostage of electoral
demagogy. What this country needs is continuity in its
domestic security policy. Why is it impossible to have on a
domestic level what we already have at the national level?"
"An Affair of State"
Francois-Xavier Pietri in centrist La Tribune (11/07):
"Suburban unrest has become an affair of state. By calling a
cabinet meeting on security, President Chirac is taking over
an affair that may turn out to be the most serious crisis of
his presidency. During the past eleven days, PM Villepin has
given the impression of always being one step behind, caught
in his rivalry with Sarkozy, but also never offering concrete
solutions. The political class is as always unable to deal
with the social and economic reality of the suburbs. And this
is what the foreign media has been picking up. When faced with
these shadow warriors, each of our successive governments has
indeed given up. What used to be contained in closed areas has
now exploded, with possible collateral damage for France's
domestic policy as well as its image abroad."

"Choosing Between Modesty and Ambition"
Left-of-center Le Monde in its editorial (11/07): "The
explosion of suburban violence and its causes are so complex
that all theories have a little bit of truth in them. The
brutal intrusion of reality in the presidential pre-campaign
with its more than twenty potential candidates is turning our
political life into a vaudeville . If we want to avoid what
happened in 2002 with Le Pen in the runoff, it is high time
our politicians turn their backs on politics as a spectacle
and begin to think about concrete solutions for France's
society."

President Bush to Latin America

"Bush Fails to Charm Latin America"
Lamia Oualalou in right-of-center Le Figaro (11/07):
"President Bush's welcome in Brazil was glacial. This has
become a habit for the President. But the situation was all
the more difficult to swallow because President Bush left the
Summit of the America's practically empty handed. The stakes
were high for a President whose popularity ratings are at
their lowest.

Iraq - Saddam Trial - Oil For Food

"Iraq in Disarray, Saddam Trial A Failure"
Adrien Jaulmes in right-of-center Le Figaro (11/07): "The
crimes retained against Saddam have not convinced Iraqi public
opinion, nor the Arab world in general. Saddam's televised
appearance did not elicit the disgust expected. The
organization of the trial is perceived by Iraqi public opinion
as a permanent reminder of the U.S. presence and the Iraqi
government's weakness. Finally the special tribunal satisfies
no one: not the Shiites, the Sunnis or the Kurds."

"Privileges and Corruption"
Philippe Bolopion in left-of-center Le Monde (11/07): "French
companies are not the only ones implicated by the Volker
report. But France, considered to be `a friend' of the Iraqi
regime, enjoyed certain privileges. After Russia and Egypt,
France's companies were the biggest beneficiaries of the `oil
for food' program. Still, out of the 440 French companies that
participated in the program, only 180 are being accused of
having paid bribes. Among those, several are foreign companies
with branches in France and taking advantage of the `special
French relationship' with the Iraqi regime." STAPLETON

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