I think if Chirac lets it burn, his party is toast. My wife is in Paris and in a suburb just north this week (out of harms way, knock on wood) and every French citizen she's talked to wants the military engaged NOW. These muslims are given every French socialist treat and my wife says people are sick of them. That doesn't bode well for Chirac; what a dimwit.
"I think if Chirac lets it burn, his party is toast..."
I think you can use past tense on that one. On day three, the police were asking for help from the military, saying they were hopelessly outnumbered. Now it's day eleven, and still no military help. Thirty police shot at and wounded, two policewomen bashed.
Can you imagine that going on in the US?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1517009/posts
30 POLICE INJURED.