[news] European press review

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European press review

 

European papers analyse Lord Butler's criticism of British intelligence before the Iraq war, and several are reluctant to let Prime Minister Tony Blair off the hook.

 

In France, personality issues appear to cloud news of a future EU referendum, while a fictional racist attack leads to an apology.

 

What Butler saw

 

Following Lord Butler's conclusion that the intelligence used by the British government to justify invading Iraq was seriously flawed, several German papers assess the implications of his report for Prime Minister Tony Blair.

 

Berliner Zeitung wonders why Mr Blair will not finally admit it was wrong to attack Iraq.
Blair's credibility lies in tatters... his stubborn insistence that the Iraq war was right is merely an act of desperation
Berliner Zeitung  

 

Instead, it says, having been cleared of manipulating the intelligence, he "brazenly demanded in the House of Commons that the debate about his integrity finally stop".

 

But why should it? the paper asks.

 

"Even if Blair was in some ways absolved by Lord Butler, the prime minister's credibility lies in tatters."

 

The British public would quite rightly be sceptical if Mr Blair warned of new dangers in the future, the paper adds.

 

"Blair may sense this, and his stubborn insistence that the Iraq war was right is merely an act of desperation," it believes.

 

The report's criticism of the UK's intelligence services has, according to Die Welt , "deeply shaken confidence in the prime minister's judgement".

 

Despite the faulty basis of his decision to go to war, the paper says, Mr Blair still holds that the invasion was justified.
Even those who don't call into question the prime minister's honesty will at least have to think about his ability to lead the country
Sueddeutsche Zeitung  

 

"That is a point in his favour", but "his critics will not be satisfied".

 

"The debate goes on. And just as in the US, the secret services are in deep disgrace," it concludes.

 

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung agrees that while the report may have exonerated Mr Blair, it has not stopped his continuing loss of standing.

 

"In view of the pillars of the establishment making up the Butler commission, and in view of its soft investigating brief, a stronger verdict was not to be expected," it says.

 

But the not-guilty verdict will not convince the British, the paper warns.

 

"Even those who don't call into question the prime minister's honesty will at least have to think about his ability to lead the country."

 

Blame and accountability

 

Similarly, the Frankfurter Rundschau says the report's exoneration of Mr Blair will not draw a line under the British government's role in the invasion of Iraq.

 

While not accusing Mr Blair of deceiving the public, Lord Butler hinted that he "tried to carry along the nation on the path to war without much consideration for balance or facts".

 

While Mr Blair need not fear any more investigations on Iraq, it adds: "Several questions remain open... The public is still waiting for an answer and this is not the end of it."

 

Elsewhere in Europe newspapers consider other aspects of the Butler report.
Whatever the final details of the report on the CIA and MI6, the failure of British intelligence is obvious
Nepszabadsag  

 

The Madrid daily El Pais is baffled by what it sees as contradictions in the report's recommendations.

 

It recalls the blame recently attached to the CIA over pre-war intelligence but says Lord Butler accuses no individuals and even advises that John Scarlett's appointment as head of the British overseas intelligence agency, known as MI6, be upheld.

 

"It is not easy to understand the consistency of all these observations," the paper remarks.

 

"It is stressed that there was no culpable negligence... but the secret services' ability is seriously called into question when it comes to compiling data and conducting analysis," it notes.

 

The paper also contrasts Mr Blair's admission that weapons of mass destruction may never be found in Iraq with his assertion that the world is now a safer place.

 

Hungary's Nepszabadsag focuses on what it sees as deficiencies in the secret services.

 

"Whatever the final details of the report on the CIA and MI6, the total failure of British intelligence is obvious."

 

"It could neither detect nor digest the data... and instead presented to Bush and Blair the versions that Saddam wanted presented and were used by the two to justify the war," it adds.

 

The paper says the spies it dubs "Bond and his mates" - referring to the fictional James Bond "007" secret agent - have made mistakes before, but warns that the problem could be greater if trust in them is lost for ever.

 

"It will really be a weapon of mass destruction if the credibility of the data provided by the double-0 agents is reduced to zero."

 

Mr Chirac's worry

 

For the Paris daily Liberation , President Chirac's announcement that France will hold a referendum on the European constitution was overshadowed by his "total war" with Economy Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
Jacques Chirac was only incisive and eloquent about the alternative given to Nicolas Sarkozy: shut up or get out
Liberation  

 

As well as saying in his Bastille Day interview that the ballot will probably be held next year, Mr Chirac gave a pointed reminder that Mr Sarkozy was only there to execute his decisions.

 

The paper recalls that Mr Sarkozy openly backed a referendum in the face of Mr Chirac's reluctance and himself harbours ambitions to lead the country.

 

"Vague and verbose on matters of economic and social orientation... Jacques Chirac was only incisive and eloquent about the alternative given to Nicolas Sarkozy: shut up or get out," it says.

 

The man the paper describes as "an acting president obsessed by the virtual president challenging him" will have a tough time championing Europe when he is worried about his own survival, it concludes.

 

'The story sounded too true'

 

The French daily Le Monde soberly revisits the disturbing story of an anti-Semitic attack on a young mother in Paris, in the light of her admission that she had invented it.

 

President Chirac was among many who expressed horror over her claim that six youths of north African origin had drawn swastikas on her belly and knocked her baby over, thinking she was Jewish.

 

"The story sounded too true," the paper admits retrospectively. "Like the embodiment of an era marked by... a rise in racist and anti-Semitic attacks, in violence and fear."

 

The paper notes the credulity of politicians but also formally apologises to its own readers and to ethnic minority youths who were "wrongly stigmatised" by the original reports.

 

"The history of the media is littered with these mistakes," it laments, adding that today's news society moves at a pace incompatible with the slow workings of justice.

 

"The challenge is to find a happy medium between the dictatorship of emotion and the empire of indifference."

 

The European press review is compiled by BBC Monitoring from internet editions of the main European newspapers and some early printed editions.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3895541.stm

 

Published: 2004/07/15 06:50:59 GMT

 

© BBC MMIV

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/click/rss/0.91/public/-/2/hi/europe/3895541.stm

European papers analyse Lord Butler's criticism of British intelligence before the Iraq war.

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