ZEE FIGHTING CRUNCHY FROGS.
Posted on 09/11/2002 9:08:50 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
France conceded on Tuesday that it might eventually join a US-led military assault on Iraq but remained adamant that it would do so only if the attack was approved by the UN Security Council. "At the moment, there is no question of France committing itself in Iraq," said Michèle Alliot-Marie, defence minister. "Having said that, it is clear that the French armed forces are always ready. The aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is undergoing routine maintenance but can leave again at any time." Asked if France had limited room for manoeuvre because of the number of its troops abroad, she said France had withdrawn a fifth of its soldiers in Bosnia, and would reduce its forces in Kosovo by a quarter. French pilots based in Kyrgyzstan for operations in Afghanistan are due to return home in October. Ms Alliot-Marie's comments, in an interview in La Croix newspaper, are the closest the French government has come to acknowledging that it might become involved in a war on Iraq in spite of public opposition to the idea. Unlike Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor who has flatly rejected a German role in an Iraqi war, French President Jacques Chirac has not ruled out French participation. But Mr Chirac says any attack should be preceded by two UN resolutions - one demanding the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq and a second to decide what to do if the inspectors are prevented by Baghdad from completing their work. Ms Alliot-Marie repeated this point on Tuesday. "At present, the French armed forces need not prepare for an intervention in Iraq, because any operation - as the president has said - can only be launched in accord with the decisions of the UN Security Council. "So far the Council hasn't been asked." The recently re-elected Mr Chirac, although keen to portray himself to US President George W. Bush as a sympathetic ally, is acutely aware that French voters are hostile to a new Gulf war and more uneasy than ever about American influence in the world. According to a Sofres opinion poll published today for the Franco-American Foundation, Le Monde and Business Week, the French have become more suspicious of the US in the past two years in spite of the September 11 tragedy. Sixteen per cent of those questioned felt antipathy towards the US, six percentage points more than in 2000, while 39 per cent felt sympathy, down two points. A total of 44 per cent were neutral, and 1 per cent undecided. French officials say Mr Bush has not proved any link between Iraq and al-Qaeda's terrorist network, nor demonstrated that President Saddam Hussein's weapons programmes represent an imminent threat to the west. However, Mr Chirac and his rightwing government say they fully support the war on terror and have stepped up investigations of suspects. Nicolas Sarkozy, interior minister, said on Tuesday that the government would expel convicted foreign terrorists and cancel their citizenship if they were French. He also said he had been refusing entry to Muslim fundamentalist preachers. "Each week, I end up refusing entry to a certain number of preachers or imams who don't speak a word of French and who want to fuel mosques and places of worship with ideas contrary to the values of the republic," Mr Sarkozy said.
BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Apparantlee, zere was a cheeze n' snails shortage in zee cafeteeria...eet haz naow been restocked, along wiz ze requesteed 3,400 Jeree Lewees films. VIVE LE FONDUE!
ZEE FIGHTING CRUNCHY FROGS.
NOTE: France does not deny Iraq has a (nuclear/chemical/biological) weapons program. France does not disagree that these weapons COULD threaten the West. Their only argument is WILL Iraq threaten the West with these weapons.
Naw. Their sandwiches are real small and have snails on 'em!
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