Saddam Saddam o' pal o' mine!
Posted on 02/27/2003 5:28:53 AM PST by kattracks
PARIS, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Hailed only last week as a "peace warrior", President Jacques Chirac is now arousing some concern in Paris that his determined drive against war in Iraq could trap France in an uncomfortable anti-American corner.
The rumbling started earlier this week when some deputies in his centre-right ranks, preparing for a placid parliamentary debate on Iraq on Wednesday, began asking what the longer-term effects of France's campaign would be.
The French press took up the call on Thursday, with comments shifting from the satisfaction of recent weeks to questioning whether Chirac is not seriously damaging relations with his U.S. and European allies over a war he cannot prevent.
"What's got into him?" the conservative weekly Le Point asked on its latest cover. The left-leaning daily Liberation wondered: "What is Chirac seeking in Iraq?"
Even the pro-Chirac daily Le Figaro aired grave doubts about the audacious strategy that won Chirac and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin the name "peace warriors" on the glossy cover of the weekly Paris-Match last week.
"The Achilles heel of the French position is that France can only emerge from this crisis a winner if the least probable outcome happens, that is, that Saddam Hussein turns himself into a zealous servant of the U.N.'s orders," it wrote.
Concern about France's insistence on United Nations arms inspections for months to come rose after Washington decided last week to call Paris's bluff and demand a vote on a second U.N. Security Council resolution to authorise war in Iraq.
If Washington can rally nine votes behind its proposal, France will have to decide whether to use its veto and risk serious damage to relations with the United States or abstain and face scorn and isolation.
HIGH TIME TO ASSESS POTENTIAL DAMAGE
"It's high time we weighed up the damage of an Atlantic rupture," Le Point wrote, adding it would be "wiser to save the United Nations and NATO from ruin".
The magazine noted Chirac, reinvigorated after his landslide re-election in May, had charged ahead on several fronts, including berating east Europeans for backing U.S. President George Bush and resuming France's active role in African affairs.
"He is sticking to his conviction that he's not a little mosquito biting the American elephant but that a majority of world public opinion and governments is with him," it wrote.
Le Figaro said Chirac wanted to keep his options open to the end, which is why the National Assembly was not asked to vote on the Iraq issue even after the Wednesday session where support for his anti-war stand was strong across the board.
Speaking for Chirac's UMP party, former prime minister Alain Juppe said France was wise not to tip its hand on using its U.N. veto, a step the left-wing opposition clamoured for.
But, Le Figaro noted, Paris will be in a serious bind if Washington rounds up the needed votes in the Security Council and a resolution can only be stopped by a French veto.
"Renouncing its veto and fleeing into abstention would not only weaken positions defended by Jacques Chirac for the past six months, it would also make obsolete one of the essential levers of French foreign policy," it wrote. "But using it would spark a serious crisis with the United States and its allies."
NO INFLUENCE
Guillaume Parmentier, head of the French Center on the United States, said France did not start out as anti-American in the Iraq crisis but had gradually moved that way.
He stressed, however, that Paris has always said it would back force if arms inspectors say they cannot work any more.
The argument that France would lose influence if it did not swing behind the war effort holds no water, he added, because Paris is convinced it will have no influence anyway with the United States after an Iraq war, or win any contracts there.
"The French are quite reconciled to the fact that they will have no influence," he said. "But they might have more influence over the other people in the region if they take a principled stand than if they don't." ((Reporting by Tom Heneghan;
Saddam Saddam o' pal o' mine!
That's easy. Let us borrow a phrase from some of our homegrown morons: "It's like all about the oil, man."
kats, I noticed a typo in the header.
Should read: French press asks what drives Chiraq on Iraq
Hmmm. Maybe the French aren't as stoopid as I thought ...
It's way too late for the froggies on that score. The damage is already done and we're already relishing how we might respond to french squeals for assistance next time some tinpot tyrant decides to kick their butts.
Uhhhhh. They just figured it out? They've gotta have liberal brains. There's no other explaination for their densness.
Really.
Honestly.
Seriesly.
They have no idea how much French wine and cheese is floating through American sewers?
Hello? Helllllloooooo?
That is a point that some of us have been making for months. Chirac has painted himself into a corner, and since Hussein won't bail him out, the only possible damage control for the frenchlings is to now wholeheartedly endorse the American position.
I don't see that happening, either.
Honesty is his policy. When he's bought, he stays bought.
One effect: The occupation forces will have instructions to go over the wreck of Saddam's WMD machinery with an electron microscope to find all the "FABRIQUE EN FRANCE" labels.
This sounds like he's talking to his left wing voters . A section where the voting population is dense - from the neck up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.