Chirac lobbies the Turks to deny US bases and overflight rights

Fred Barnes on Fox News | Me

[Dog]

Fred Barnes while on the panel tonight on Special Report just stated Chirac is urging the Turks not to allow us bases and overflight rights.

[Damagro]

Maybe we need to poke Russia in the eye and get the cold war started again to remind these players what it is they are facing in reality?
____________________________________________________________
That's not only a funny line but a good idea. At least during the cold war they kept a handle on their nukes.

[Dec31,1999]

It's like Armstrong's (and Gerald Flurry's) prophesy. He claimed that in the end times, there will be America, the Brits and the commonwealth, and Israel against the rest of the world. I just can't believe the current situation is approximising that prophesy, but it is.

Key of David.com

If this prophesy is to come to pass, we are in for quite a ride.

[Defiant]

Even the French aren't that crazy. They may have helped the terrorists by selling prescribed goods, but I find it hard to imagine that they would be the driving force in a planned terrorist attack on the US. They could sell a small nuke if they wanted to play that game. They've been arresting terrorists and sharing intelligence, and if they'd been on the other side, they wouldn't be doing that for fear of what would turn up.

So, I doubt their involvement in 9-11, but at this point I think Chirac wishes he had thought of it.

[kabar]

France Calls for Lifting of Sanctions Against Iraq Xinhua News Agency August 1, 2000

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said on Tuesday that the economic sanctions against Iraq imposed 10 years ago should be lifted and the U.S.-British should stop bombing the country.

In an interview with the Arabic daily Al-Hayat published in London, Vedrine said that the continuation of the bombings against Iraq is "useless and not understandable," and that the sanctions against Iraq have become "cruel, inefficient and dangerous."

"Cruel because they punish exclusively the Iraqi population and the weakest of them. Inefficient because they don't touch the regime which is not pushed to cooperate. Dangerous because they nourish the resentment of "the embargo generation," this generation of the young people who only know war and hardship," he said.

These sanctions also risk to destroy the social cohesion of Iraq and in the mid-term threaten the stability of the region, he said.

"The necessary regional security should be ensured by other means than embargo," said the foreign minister. He said that France is counting on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1284 to have U.N. arms control re-established and sanctions lifted. The resolution was adopted in December 1999 to renew the cooperation between the U.N. and Iraq over arms inspection while promising to suspend the sanctions in case Iraq cooperates.

None of this should surprise us. The French, Russians, and Germans have been trying for years to lift the sanctions and welcome back Saddam to the world community. Why we expected them to change their behaviour is a mystery to me. Bringing the matter to the UN was a colossal diplomatic miscalculation.

[Defiant]

Then we disagree.

[singsong]

No, we need to get friends with Russia. They are far better than our present friends at this time. It won't be that hard.

[BnBlFlag]

Re: Your post #144. AMEN!!!

[cookcounty]

"Why the meeting between USA, Britain and Spain this weekend?"

The Azores meeting is not a meeting about "a resolution," it is a war council. Probably a council to discuss post-war Iraq.

[kabar]

Major U.N. powers divided on lifting Iraq sanctions
September 20, 1999
Web posted at: 11:53 p.m. EDT (0353 GMT)

NEW YORK -- On the opening day of the annual U.N. General Assembly session, senior officials of the Big Five U.N. powers met Monday, seeking consensus on easing sanctions against Iraq in return for its cooperation with a new disarmament system.

The subject of sanctions and renewed inspections of suspected Iraqi weapons sites is expected to be a major controversy over the next two weeks as the United Nations grapples with what to do next in light of the Security Council deadlock.

Among the five permanent, veto-wielding Security Council members, Russia, China and France have been sympathetic to an immediate lifting of the sanctions imposed shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990.

[montag813]

Has it been made official that France is an Enemy of the United States?

Everyone seems to know this except our President. We would get the 9 votes we want in an instant if Bush simply said that "due to its economic conflicts of interest with Iraq, and its illegal arming of Iraqi forces, a French veto of the resolution will be ignored...It will be considered as approved." Think about the power that statement would have, especially coupled with a few choice Senators calling for France to be replaced with India or Japan on the Council.

[RS]

The more I read the more it looks as if Saddam has written an "Open after I'm dead" letter spilling the dirt on Chirac.
He seems 'way too desperate.

[sushiman]

You have to admit that the Nazis were the best dressed . Check out those hats !

[montag813]

It's about time to lob a few cruise missles on Paris

Apparently it was CIA intelligence which warned the French of the planned attack on the Eiffel Tower in 2002. I humbly suggest that we withhold all such intelligence from both France and Germany in the future.

[RS]

"In order to really make the French suffer, the State Department should label the French government a 'State Sponsor of Terrorism', pull our embassy and all others out of France, kick their diplomats out, and then freeze all of their assets inside the US."

I'd hold off a bit - It looks to me as if Chirac is persoanally afraid of what will come out of post-Saddam Iraq. When Chirac's gone, we may find ourselves in the position of having liberated France yet again !

[kabar]

"A new Iraqi government should not honor any of these contracts, signed against the interests of the Iraqi people. The new Iraqi government should respect those who stood by us, and not those who stood beside the dictator," added Salih, who is prime minister in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan government that controls Iraq's eastern Kurdish area.

Russian and French oil corporations have each signed draft contracts with Iraq, to come into force only when the United Nations sanctions are lifted, for exploration, development and exploitation of the country's energy resources -- which geologists believe may be the world's second largest after Saudi Arabia. The value of the draft contracts, if fully taken up, is estimated to have a potential of more than $20 billion.

[Starrgaizr]

If Chirac is this desperate, it is almost surprising that he doesn't send troops to defend Iraq, and dare us to kill Frenchmen.

[Starrgaizr]

"Something is driving this"

Think "Scott Ritter"

Saddam has something on Chirac

[Spruce]

As is your right as a free man. I have stated my opinion. Perhaps you could help me understand yours.

[Damagro]

It's hard to imagine a scenario where that would occur. What makes you think we will be at war with France?

I can foresee a lot of friction, and diplomatic battles, but an actual shooting war? I'd dismiss the idea outright except for the fact that I never saw I'd see France get to this point. Something is up. Whether it ends with conquest in Iraq, I don't know yet.
____________________________________________________________
It wouldn't be a shooting war. It would be against international law to shoot at people with white flags waving

[11B3]

I don't know. There's the ring of truth to the ideas posted by others here that there is something MAJOR going on with the actions of France, Germany, Russia, and China. Something extremely sinister.

OTOH, France may indeed be trying to keep us out of a nuclear ambush by our old commie enemies. Having this large a concentration of US forces in such a small area violates all rules of a tactical rear area. You never have a squad close enough to each other that a single hand grenade will get you all, so why place divisions so close that a single nuke could get them all? Who knows. I pray I'm wrong - for my brother in Kuwait especially, but for all of our soldiers as well as allied troops.

Let's Roll and get the nervous waiting game over with. Just like being sick, knowing you have to puke - but you do everything you can to avoid it. Finally, you decide to put your finger down your throat and get it over with. Same thing here with the war.