Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05PARIS4756
2005-07-07 16:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Paris
Cable title:  

FRENCH INITIAL REACTION TO TERRORIST ATTACKS IN

Tags:  PGOV ASEC EU FR PINR SOCI ECON 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004756 

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ASEC EU FR PINR SOCI ECON
SUBJECT: FRENCH INITIAL REACTION TO TERRORIST ATTACKS IN
LONDON


SUMMARY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004756

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT ALSO FOR DRL/IL, EUR/WE, EUR/ERA, EUR/PPD, INR/EUC AND
EB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ASEC EU FR PINR SOCI ECON
SUBJECT: FRENCH INITIAL REACTION TO TERRORIST ATTACKS IN
LONDON


SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) Shared outrage and shock, and a renewed awareness
of their own vulnerability, characterized French reaction to
the terrorist bombings in the London transport system. Prime
Minister Villepin wrote to Prime Minister Blair within an
hour of the attacks to express France's solidarity with
Britain and commitment to helping track down "the authors of
these crimes." Villepin raised France's terrorism alert
level. He met with Interior Minister Sarkozy, Defense
Minister Alliot-Marie, Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy and the
heads of France's intelligence services to discuss
reinforcing anti-terrorism measures. Authorities stepped up
security procedures at airports, and increased identity
checks of passengers bound for London by rail. Prime
Minister Blair's statement at the Gleneagles Summit (during
which he was flanked by the G-8 leaders with Presidents Bush
and Chirac immediately behind him) is receiving wide media
play in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. The
sentiments expressed by Prime Minister Blair -- determination
to prevail in a struggle that must be fought together -- is
receiving wide and approving media commentary. End Summary.

OPERATIONAL REACTION
--------------

2. (SBU) Prime Minister Villepin, informed of the London
attack while he was defending a proposed law on the Senate
floor, left immediately for an emergency meeting with
Interior Minister Sarkozy, Defense Minister Alliot Marie,
Foreign Minister Douste-Blazy and the heads of France's
intelligence services. Villepin raised France's terrorism
alert level from ORANGE to red (France's four-color scale
runs yellow/ORANGE/red/scarlet). The raising of the alert
level increases security personnel (including military
personnel) at transportation hubs and other public sites. It
also provides more leeway for conducting identity checks of
air, rail, and road travelers. Patrols increased in Paris'
subway system. The transportation ministry established a
special monitoring and operations center and ordered
reinforced passenger checks at airports and on trains bound
for the UK.

RHETORICAL REACTION
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3. (SBU) Villepin, within an hour of the attacks, wrote to
Blair to express the "horror and profound sadness at these
odious crimes" felt by the French people. In his letter to
Blair, as in a televised statement, Villepin underlined
France's commitment to continuous and full collaboration in
searching for the perpetrators of these crimes. Villepin, in
his televised statement, stated that he directed the Minister
of the Interior (political rival Nicolas Sarkozy) to prepare
options for such reinforcement of security as circumstances
might warrant. Though Sarkozy will be in the media spotlight
conducting inspections of police deployments and reporting to
the public on Interior Ministry operations, Villepin in his
statement clearly cast himself as personally in the lead
directing the measures taken in reaction to the attacks.


4. (SBU) President Chirac, in a statement from the
Gleneagles summit, declared his "horror" at the terrorist
attacks, calling the acts "unspeakable" and expressing the
"solidarity of all France." Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoe,
upon arrival from Singapore (where Paris lost out to London
as host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics) declared, "We are
all Londoners now." The President of the French Council of
the Muslim faith (CFCM) issued a statement strongly
condemning the attacks, which "can in no way be justified by
any connection to Islam or its values."

COMMENT
--------------

5. (SBU) Prime Minister Blair's statement from the
Gleneagles summit -- flanked by all the G-8 leaders and with
President Bush and President Chirac immediately behind him --
is regularly replayed in the French media's ongoing coverage
of the aftermath of the attacks. Comment so far has been
uniformly positive about Blair's framing of the issue as a
struggle in which we are all engaged and in which we can only
prevail together. The French public is keenly aware of the
near impossibility of defending a sprawling public
transportation system against terrorist attack. The public
is also keenly aware of France's large, and in some quarters
disaffected, Muslim population. Apprehension runs high that
such an attack could easily also happen in Paris, should a
terrorist cell go undetected through the weeks of planning
required. For the French public and government, the attacks
in London are sure to spur renewed commitment to
anti-terrorist vigilance and anti-terrorism cooperation. End
Comment.
STAPLETON