[Marxism] FW: [snow-news] French comments on the capture of Saddam Hussein

[David McDonald <dbmcdonald@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks to Tacoma's Mark Jensen for the translations.

----------
From: Mark Jensen <jensenmk@xxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2003 11:50:42 -0800
To: snow-news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [snow-news] French comments on the capture of Saddam Hussein

[Translated from *Le Nouvel Observateur*.  Fifteen French
editorialists without exception judge the capture of Saddam
Hussein to be an enormous boost for George W. Bush.  These
editorials also dispell the notion that the French are eager
to see the US fail in Iraq.  Most are, of course, very
skeptical about the true aims of the administration, and
they have not forgotten that the war was undertaken with no
international mandate and that the chief *casus belli*
alleged by the administration has so far been unverified.
--  Next to each title I've indicated the paper's average
circulation (the French term is *diffusion*, defined as the
average sum of copies sold, subscriptions, and ongoing free
distribution), rounded to the nearest thousand.  Figures are
from the year 2000.  --Mark]

PRESS REVIEW

** Quite a few dailies are commenting this Monday, December
15, on the capture of Saddam, the former Iraqi president **

Le Nouvel Observateur
December 15, 2003

http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/etranger/20031215.OBS1256.html

LIBÉRATION [171,000]
Patrick Sabatier

Saddam Hussein is finished, but not the question of Iraq.
The capture of the bloody dictator, responsible for
thirty-five years of terror and misfortune, was greeted with
relief everywhere in the world, and with satisfaction by
most Iraqis.  For George W. Bush's part, he couldn't dream
of finer Christmas present . . . . But Iraqis' opposition to
the extension of a humiliating occupation and the
frustrations born of the slow pace of reconstruction and to
ethnic and religious divisions have not gone away. . . .
Bush did not commit the error of prematurely declaring
victory.  He should not draw the conclusion from this that
his policy has been validated and give free rein to
revenge.  The only satisfactory way out of the crisis will
be the emergence in Iraq of a regime founded on the rule of
law, one more democratic and freer than Saddam Hussein's.

LE FIGARO [374,000]
Michel Schifres

Saddam Hussein in custody and the world is breathing
easier.  Even if this arrest had to come sooner or later
given American power, as a symbol it brings, in the short
run, a triple certainty:  the Iraqi dictatorship belongs
definitively to the past; the armed support for the tyrant
of Baghdad has lost one of its chief reasons to fight; and
Iraqi citizens, who are still hesitant, can now feel
psychologically liberated.  If only from seeing the images
of the dictator, henceforth in chains:  he is no longer a
triumphant tyrant who appears on television, but a man
thoroughly banal, like all despots stripped of their
tinsel.  The importance of emblematic events is thus to
transform the scene and "redraw the lines." . . . But even
so, not everything is settled.  Not on the ground, where
it's not Saddam's partisans who are conducting the attacks
against the coalition.  Not for the country, where rivalries
between Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds will not magically
disappear.  And not in the region, where Bush's democratic
crusade seems just as difficult to lead as before.

L'HUMANITÉ [55,000]
Michel Guilloux

Hussein in jail does not resolve the question of the
illegitimate character of the invasion of the country by a
coalition led by the star-spangled banner in violation of UN
Resolution 1442. . . . Nor does it resolve how the butcher
of Baghdad should be tried.  If it's to be in his own
country, this should be in the hands not of Americans but of
Iraqis with legitimate power in their hands at last.  We are
obliged to recognize that this is not going to the case in
the near future.  With respect to the crimes against
humanity that he has committed and with respect to the
actual situation, only the UN's international criminal court
has such legitimacy.  What will George Bush, who is a
constant critic of this court, choose to do?  It would be to
yield to something on the order of ignoble relief to imagine
that this arrest will resolve these problems all by itself.
Even as the arrest took place, an attack west of Baghdad
killed 18 people and wounded 29 others.  That Baathists
loyal to Saddam now feel they have been hit in the heart
and, like a wounded boar, commit such acts before being
entirely put out of commission, is in the realm of
possibility.  But to reduce the Iraqi resistance to a single
contributing group would be making a mistake.

FRANCE-SOIR [138,000]
André Bercoff

Now, and only now, has the Gulf War come to an end. . . .
Those who know how heavily symbols weigh on the popular
imagination and on Middle Eastern minds in particular will
be able to judge to what extent the images of the puffy,
hairy, bearded ex-dictator having his teeth examined will
signify, for every Iraqi, the veritable end of an era. . . .
What's more, the raïs didn't go down fighting with guns
blazing, he didn't kill himself and thus attain to martyrdom
and glory, but was simply surprised while sleeping.  If he
does not meet the fate of Kennedy's presumed assassin by
getting himself killed at point blank range, he risks a
Milosevic-style trial before Iraqis who won't give him much
room for maneuver. . . . Once again, America is acting,
Europe is watching, France is taking notes.  It's time for
us to get up out of our armchairs.  The morality of the
couch potato has never been associated with the greatness of
nations.

LA CROIX [90,000]
François Ernenvein

The least questionable aim of the Iraq war has now been
realized.  A dictator has been captured and his murderous
shadow will no longer loom over the possibilities for
peace.  George Bush Jr. figured out, and was able to follow
through to its logical conclusion the logic inaugurated by
his father during the Gulf War. . . . The fear of Saddam
Hussein's return that was still paralyzing many Iraqis will
logically disappear and no doubt facilitate the political
transition that the United States wishes to speed up.  This
is desirable for Iraq, and it's necessary for peace in that
part of the world.  But this success may also lead American
leaders to return to the role of lone cowboy that they began
to play in Iraq, marginalizing the UN and, a fortiori, the
countries that were against armed intervention.  Poorly
begun because of the ambiguity of war aims, the battle in
Iraq is now going to continue over reconstruction. . . . The
main task is finished, and yet, a lot still remains to be
done.

LES ÉCHOS [154,000]
Françoise Crouïgneau

This should be the consecration of Berlusconi.  The
launching in Rome, mythic city of the birth of the Community
of Six, of a Europe of Twenty-Five on constitutional bases
that were "unhoped-for," as Valéry Giscard d'Estaing put it,
if not sufficient.  It would have been the consecration of
Tony Blair, whose European and Atlantist convictions, long
severely strained by the preventive war in Iraq, have found
a justification -- albeit an "unhoped-for" one -- in Saddam
Hussein's arrest.  It is rare that the shock of history
makes use of irony and warning with such force.  Irony,
because it's over the Iraqi question that the Europe of
Fifteen, summoned to enlarge toward the East, discovered to
what an extent it differs on the question of its future.
Even apart from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, which was
denounced by everyone, the divorce quickly emerged over the
question of the Union's role in the world.

L'ALSACE [119,000]
André Schlecht

The first merit of Saddam's arrest is, we should hope, the
removal of the pretext for attacks that are so obsessive
that they become criminal.  The second merit of the arrest
is to pull into the realm of law an autocrat responsible for
domestic oppressin, the invasion of two neighboring
countries, chemical warfare against an ethnic group
belonging to his own people, and firing missiles at the
civilian population of a non-belligerent state.  There is an
at least reasonable possibility that Saddam will be get a
trial worthy of the name. . . . In any case, it is important
that the struggle against the head of a lawless regime
itself remain respectful of law.  This dramatic event is
uncontestably a setback for the armed groups that are
committing attacks and assassinations agains the coalition
forces and the Iraqis considered traitors to the old regime.
. . . But having expressed these sources of satisfaction and
hope, we are obliged to recognize as well that the capture
of Saddam Hussein will inevitably appear to the American
administration as a validation of its muscular uniltateral
approach to foreign affairs.  The law of strongest will
continue to be a solid point of reference in international
law.

LE JOURNAL DU CENTRE [72,000]
Dominique Jouanin

"We got him!"  Relief on the part of the international
political class, scenes of popular joy among the Shiites and
the Kurds, satisfaction in the Anglo-American coalition,
after a hunt that's lasted more than eight months.  If Bush
gains, without a doubt, needed points in the polls, the
capture of Saddam Hussein reminds us that Iraq -- the second
largest petroleum reserve in the world -- is, above all, the
most coveted country in the world because of its fabulous
resources of black gold.  So observers are inclined to think
that this spectacular blow against a fallen dictator is
going to allow the petroleum sector to recover quite
rapidly, a decline in acts of sabotage against pipelines now
being foreseen.  From 2.5 million barrels a day and a
partially destroyed infrastructure, production may, in the
short term, rise above three million barrels, according to
the Americans.  No one now should be able to prevent the
pumps from turning at top speed.

LE DAUPHINÉ LIBÉRÉ [264,000]
Gilles Debernardi

The time has past when, by merely knitting his brows, the
dictator could force crowds to bow down.  Defeated, in
flight, he found no more outstretched hands.  Too much blood
stained his own.  Homeless in his own kingdom, he found a
precarious refuge on a farm near Tikrit.  In Corsica, it
would have been a sheepstall. . . . His haggard look at the
moment of capture was certainly not that of an active leader
at the head of an organized network of fighters.  The new
'Saladin' is in a bad way.

NICE-MATIN [148,000]
Marc Chevanche

Is the Iraq war over?  Since it was, for the United States,
twice, presented and intensely experienced as a single
combat with Saddam Hussein, the dictator, the answer is
yes.  As a family story, it will be said that George Bush
Sr. having started it, it would fall to George Bush Jr. to
finish it.  But, more broadly, this conclusion, which seemed
to be slipping away, as in Afghanistan and Pakistan bin
Laden and mullah Omar are evading capture, will be played up
by the Americans for maximum effect. . . . Above all, there
is the problem of the domestic situation in Iraq. . . . And
then there's the question of the fate that the Americans
hold in store for Saddam Hussein. . . . And nevertheless
it's still necessary that a judicial power worthy of the
name -- that is, attached to a legitimate national political
authority -- be set up soon.

L'ÉCLAIR DES PYRENÉES [10,000]
Patrice Carmouze

Remember:  another dictator with bloody hands who also
imposed for years a cult of personality as terrible as his
reign was ridiculous after his fall.  Yes, Ceaucescu.  Who
doesn't remember his arrest, his trial, his execution?  Here
are the same mixed emotions:  relief, first of all.  What is
happening is the best thing possible for the Iraqi people,
for peace, for the world.

OUEST-FRANCE [788,000]
Joseph Limagne

The end of the hunt for Saddam Hussein is of course good
news for the occupant of the White House.  On several
scores.  It puts an end to twelve years of stand-offs
between the former master of Baghdad and the two presidents
Bush.  The son's war finishes the father's, who had not
stripped the Iraqi raïs of his power.  Nothing better could
happen to Bush Jr. than this early Christmas present to
exhausted soldiers, who were beginning to wonder what they
were doing in the Mesopotamian quagmire.  Less than a year
away from the presidential election, being bogged down in
Iraq -- with daily losses -- was becoming the Achilles' heel
for the candidate seeking reelection.  And, lastly, this is
good news for justice.  At least we hope so.  Taken alive,
without bloodshed, the fallen dictator will have to answer
for the crimes committed during his three-decade-long reign
of terror.  From the gassing of the inhabitants of Halabja
to the massacre of tens of thousands of Kurds and Shiites
after the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein has a lot of blood on his
hands.

LES DERNIÈRES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE [207,000]
Jean-Claude Kiefer

The capture of the United States's public enemy 'number two'
(after bin Laden, who is still on the loose) may have
unforeseen consequences.  It sends the Iraqi crisis into a
new dimension that will be difficult to manage, since it is
essentially psychological. . . . It has long been possible
to present as plausible the attribution of the attacks
against the coalition, against the UN, the Red Cross, and
leading Shiites, to fanatics from the Baath Party and
al-Qaeda.  But tomorrow, how will it be possible at the
height of the electoral campaign to explain to Americans why
the guerilla war is continuing?  Against whom and in the
name of what? . . . The coalition should be in a hurry to
profit from yesterday's success and establish a new deal, so
as to involve the UN more in Iraq in the name of
international legitimacy, and, above all, to turn power over
to the Iraqis. . . . To 'disengage' themselves, while also
keeping a few privileges in the form of juicy contracts, is
henceforth the main concern of the Americans.  They know
that to 'stay' will lead to 'Vietnamization' by committing
them to one camp or another.  A trap to avoid.

LA RÉPUBLIQUE DU CENTRE [57,000]
Jacques Camus

There's always something pathetic about these pictures of
captured tyrants who, after having made the world tremble,
appear before us in a state of unimaginable destitution and
pitiful submission.  Remember Ceaucescu and Milosevic.  Now
it's the same with Saddam Hussein, a fallen despot, whom a
video shows to us submissively enduring a humiliating
medical examination.  For identification purposes.  As one
handled a branded animal. . . . In the absence of weapons of
mass destruction, the American president has seized 'the
mass exterminator.'  What he has just done at last is to
give meaning to his action.  What remains is to know who
will judge Saddam Hussein.  It's essential that what
succeeds a 'unilateral' war not be an inequitable form of
justice.  It's not that we feel any pity for Saddam Hussein,
but the aim should not be vengenace.  We wish that Europe
had made itself heard.  But after the sad spectacle that it
has just given this weekend in Brussels, the timing is
rather bad.

LE RÉPUBLICAIN LORRAIN [153,000]
Michel Bitzer

The capture of Saddam Hussein is a godsend for George W.
Bush and Tony Blair.  At least a year away from a
presidential election that will see him seek a new mandate
at the head of the world's leading power, George Bush adds
an important achievement to a record that was beginning
seriously to cloud his political horizon. . . . As for Tony
Blair, he too has something to feel satisfied about when he
sees the ex-dictator's sheepish expression.  Accused of
being a lapdog for having endorsed the American choice
without a murmur, facing opposition even in his own party
from detractors who have hardly appreciated the
manipulations of the file on the weapons of mass destruction
supposedly held by Saddam Hussein, the English prime
minister can now expect to improve his public image, which
has been in a free fall since last summer.  All the while
knowing that he will remain a notch ahead of his European
partners when the time comes to deal the cards again between
the Tigris and the Euphrates.

--
Translated by Mark K. Jensen
Associate Professor of French
Chair, Department of Languages and Literatures
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447-0003
Phone: 253-535-7219
Web page: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/
E-mail: jensenmk@xxxxxxx





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