MEDIA REACTION REPORT - President Bush to India

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001306 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 - President Bush to India Pakistan Afghanistan Iraq CIA Secret Prisons PARIS - Thursday, March 02, 2006 (A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: President Bush to India Pakistan Afghanistan Iraq CIA Secret Prisons B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: Domestic social issues dominate today's front pages, including PM Villepin's difficulties with unemployment and the health related crises of dealing with avian flu and the chikungunia epidemic in Reunion. A day of protest has been announced for next Tuesday, with possible strikes in the SNCF rail system and the bus and metro system. International stories of interest look at President Bush's trip to India. President Bush's "surprise" stopover in Kabul, "Ben Laden's Turf," is Le Figaro's lead story, which goes on to quote extensively from the President's "tribute to Afghanistan as a source of inspiration." Left-of-center Le Monde devotes its editorial to Iraq "caught in a trap." (See Part C) Liberation devotes two pages to "Said," a follower of al- Zarqaoui, who left his home in Lebanon to fight and die in Iraq for Jihad. He says he left because "Jihad, it's the highest principle of Muslims. It's what is written in the Koran. When any power tries to do harm to Muslims, it is necessary to fight." It recounts his experiences and quotes him: "We are only trying to find the same level of terror that is exercised by the Americans. To slit someone's throat is easier than pushing a button. And that doesn't kill hundreds of innocents like American missiles do. In Arab culture, it is better to slit the throat of a prisoner than to lead him with a chain like the Americans did in Abou Ghraib." Said only stayed three weeks in Iraq but claims "it was a good experience." He has now returned to Lebanon where he teaches civic education. US-related news is dominated by a renewed focus on alleged CIA rendition flights. Regional Les Dernieres Nouvelles D'Alsace titles its report: "Prisons, Airplanes and the Three Monkeys." (See Part C) The free daily 20 Minutes carries an article announced on the front page entitled: "The Free Circulation of Secret Agents." The daily underscores the Council of Europe's SIPDIS assessment that Europe is an ideal "hunting ground" for foreign secret services. The report presented yesterday by Secretary General Terry Davis denounces the failures related SIPDIS to controlling the activities of foreign agents in Europe. The document also deplores a European sky that is "too open." 20 Minutes adds that because the Council of Europe is a consultative body it has no means of implementing its decisions relative to these finding and its only recourse is "media pressure." Le Figaro calls Iran's stance with Moscow and the international community "The Nuclear Waiting Game" and signals that the advances made last week are still on hold, Tehran having reiterated "progress still needs to be made" to which the State Department responded "with skepticism." Le Figaro interviews Jack Straw on the Iranian nuclear issue and says that international sanctions can still be avoided, but that the consensus against Tehran is everyday a little bit stronger. Asked about which influence was strongest in Iraq, of the U.S. or Iran, Straw said "The Iraqis." (C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: President Bush to India Pakistan Afghanistan "Bush In India to Mark History" Yves Threard in right-of-center Le Figaro (03/02): "The President's visits to India Pakistan and Afghanistan are more than just diplomatic visits. They are meant to dispel the feeling in the U.S. that these are lands of terrorism. Bush is traveling abroad because this is where his ambitions lie: he wants to establish a new international world order. Imposing democracy in Afghanistan and Pakistan are Herculean tasks, but bringing Pakistan into Washington's fold is not an unreachable goal. President Bush knows that his desire to change the world necessarily includes India and its billion inhabitants." Iraq "Iraq Caught in a Trap" Left-of-center Le Monde (03/02): "The Iraqis have yet to figure out that, as President Bush has said, `the time for making a choice has come.' They do not know whether the recent violence is going to plunge their country in a civil war, a civil war that is already in gestation. They also do not know whether this civil war could trigger, as John Negroponte seems to feel, a general destabilization of the Middle East. This is not the problem, not yet. The problem is that every day that passes plunges Iraq into more violence, political, military, religious. The causes are well known: they are named `occupation' by the U.S. and international Jihadism led by Al- Qaeda and its leader, Al-Zarkaoui. While it is impossible to make a parallel between these two roots of violence. the truth is that they feed one on the other. The U.S. is set on a logic of long-lasting occupation while a majority of Iraqis, happy with the toppling of the Saddam regime, were ready for Iraqi sovereignty to be restored. Meanwhile the Iraqi guerrilla, enrolled by the Jihadists, is killing more Iraqis than Americans. The Iraqis are caught in a trap and see no out to this battle between the Americans and the Jihadists on their soil. Al-Qaeda, three years after the invasion of Iraq, has scored more points than Washington. Washington must break with its logic of occupation and return Iraq to the Iraqis. Yet, the worst solution would be, after a brutal occupation, a total pullout. It is impossible to abandon Iraq to Al-Qaeda and its allies. Washington must find an equilibrium between the end of the occupation and accompanying the country towards a better future. There must be an end to the occupation without giving the impression that the terrorists have won the war, so that Iraq will cease being the center of a war no one wants." CIA Secret Prisons "France Investigates on CIA Aircraft" Eric Decoutry in right-of-center Le Figaro (03/02): "The investigation will have to determine whether this mysterious jet was used by the CIA to transport detainees suspected of terrorist acts to the U.S. detention camp of Guantanamo, and whether the French authorities knew about this stopover in France." "The Prisons, the Airplanes and the Three Little Monkeys" Anne-Camille Beckelynck in regional Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace (03/02): "The Council of Europe's conclusion is that `Europe is the perfect hunting ground for foreign secret service agents.' The story is far from over, and while we all knew the individual states would not obediently answer the questions asked, they now will have to fill out a new questionnaire. And Secretary General Terry Davis hopes they will prove to be more clairvoyant and show more independence in their answers. Because although cooperation with the U.S. in fighting terrorism is necessary, `European governments should have enough self confidence to act as equals and not as the proverbial three little monkeys who see nothing, hear nothing and say nothing.' The European Council has determined that the European skies are not sufficiently monitored, while the Secretary General is asking its members not to be blinded by diplomatic immunity issues. because forced kidnappings could be characterized as crimes against humanity. Let's hope that after the first two monkeys have started seeing and hearing, the third will speak up." STAPLETON