http://sg.news.yahoo.com/030314/1/38z2c.html
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said she would travel to the Gulf region on Saturday and Sunday to hand over a message from President Jacques Chirac to three regional leaders.
Alliot-Marie is to go to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
She said she would take Chirac's personal message "to the highest authorities of these countries to express our solidarity in these difficult times and our intention to implement defense agreements (that exist between France and the three countries) if they have any concerns and wish to do so."
More at link.
The US/UK defends Qatar and the UAE because they're scared of their big neighbors Saudi and Iran. You think the French are offering to substitute themselves? I can only imagine the Arabs would laugh at them.
The French do not have a big enough economy to duplicate the defense we have constructed in the Gulf for those countries. They will stay with us.
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said she would travel to the Gulf region on Saturday and Sunday to hand over a message from President Jacques Chirac to three regional leaders. Her message is that France knows the longitude and latitude of the locations of the leaders of theses 3 countries, and that the long range missles Iraq DOESN'T have that are powered by rocket fuel that the French DIDN'T secure for Iraq will be programmed with said coordinates if these countries do not back France's position.