MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Lebanon - Israeli Attack on Cana -

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 005163 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. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Lebanon - Israeli Attack on Cana - Iraq PARIS - Monday, July 31 2006 (A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: Lebanon - Israeli Attack on Cana - Iraq B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: Lebanon and the NATO mission in Afghanistan are the top international stories. Right-of-center Le Figaro headlines "Cana Marks a Turning Point" in the conflict, and notes that "children made up the majority" of the victims. A front page report also announces Secretary Rice's decision to cancel her visit to Beirut, as well as FM Douste-Blazy's own visit to the Lebanese capital today. In an interview the French FM says "France is ready to take part in a multinational force..." FM Douste-Blazy is calling for a cease fire and a political agreement. Asked about the lack of support from the U.S. and Great Britain for a cease fire he says: "the solution to the conflict does not reside in a purely military solution. There must be a political solution." Most headlines focus the horror of the Cana attack: "Cana: The Horror and the Indignation" (Catholic La Croix) "Cana: One Carnage Too Many." (Left-of-center Liberation) Liberation's editorial, titled "Impasse," contends that "the Israelis have managed to destroy everything in Lebanon except Hezbollah..." (See Part C) Le Parisien interviews Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations: "the raid on Cana marks a psychological turning point at which the international community will pressure Israel for a cease-fire... The international community, and France especially, risks the perception of complicity in civilian deaths if it does not push for a cease-fire." Meanwhile Le Journal du Dimanche's editorial is entitled "And Iraq?" and reports on the latest "bad news" from Baghdad: "six thousand dead in two months and systematic use of torture by the Americans... The Israeli-Lebanese conflict cannot hide the truth about Iraq: the patent and spectacular failure of the U.S. there." (See Part C) "A Risky Mission for NATO in Southern Afghanistan" claims Le Figaro, about NATO's takeover from the American forces in Afghanistan. Le Figaro notes that "NATO now controls close to two thirds of Afghanistan." Quoting a member of the Alliance who says "we are here for years..." the report indicates that the NATO mission, "desired by the U.S. and imposed on the EU remains the riskiest for the Alliance since the end of the war." The report adds: "Despite its good intentions, the Alliance, which hoped that the Taliban would make a difference between its forces and the Americans, is being targeted like a force of occupation." Le Parisien reports Defense Minister Alliot-Marie's visit with French troops in Afghanistan, and calls the state of affairs there "a deteriorated situation." According to the article, the reaction to the Mohammad caricatures and the May 29 riots showed "the situation is fragile, even in Kabul." Despite this, soldiers depend on the "French style" of patrolling on foot, observing local customs, and giving token gifts to children to avoid being perceived as occupiers (C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: Lebanon - Israeli Attack on Cana "Impasse" Gerard Dupuy in left-of-center Liberation (07/31): "The Israelis have managed to destroy everything in Lebanon except Hezbollah... They have ignored the calls for 'restraint' sent out by everyone, including their American allies... Having followed their strategy, they are now at an impasse. The Israeli 'borderline' strikes have also reached a turning point. The sort of tolerance which Israel has enjoyed from the international community is reaching an end... However autistic the Israelis might be, there comes a time when they must take stock of international opinion, at least that of Washington. And here the wind seems to have shifted... The border between collateral damage and a war crime is never pre-defined. And while the Israelis are not targeting civilians the way Hezbollah is doing, it is also true that they are killing more civilians than Hezbollah... After the attack on the UN peacekeepers, President Bush felt he had to ask his Secretary of State to return to diplomacy. But as she returns to Washington, with Cana's casualties in the background, indispensable interlocutors such as the Lebanese PM are turning their backs on the U.S. President... Israel's main goal, to weaken Hezbollah before embarking on a diplomatic solution, has failed. And whatever the diplomatic solution may be, Hezbollah is in a position to greatly influence that solution." "A Lost Battle" Frangois Ernenwein in Catholic La Croix (07/31): "Israel has a right to self defense... but the high civilian casualties necessitate a change of methods... Even the Americans, who have become experts in mired issues, notably in Iraq, are showing their impatience with Israel and warming up to the notion of a cease-fire... When 'collateral damage' becomes the center of the debate, the battle begins to be lost and with it, as often, the cause it pretends to be serving." "Paris and Washington Disagree on How to End Fighting" Renaud Girard in right-of-center Le Figaro (07/31): "While the attack on Cana seemed to have shaken Secretary Rice, it has strengthened France's position... Rice is expected back in Washington today to work on a U.S. draft resolution which will be much different from the French one, which sets a ceasefire as a preamble... Israel's blunder has unintentionally reinforced, in the eyes of international opinion, the French position." Iraq "And Iraq?" Jacques Esperandieu in right-of-center Le Journal du Dimanche (07/31): "Six thousand dead in two months and systematic use of torture by the Americans... This is the bad news from Baghdad. The Israeli-Lebanese conflict cannot hide the truth about Iraq: the patent and spectacular failure of the U.S. there. Past optimism seems to have been forgotten... It is just as well, because what has been developing is a real civil war... This is a terrible reversal for an army which came, at the outset, to 'establish peace and democracy.' As a consequence, the need continues be to inject dollars and troops into Iraq, despite a recalcitrant Congress, and the need for the Americans to take over once more Baghdad's security which was imprudently handed over to the Iraqi forces... And now that the Iraqi PM has also condemned the Israeli actions in Lebanon, the White House's cup has indeed run over..." STAPLETON