Chirac on Iraq: What friends are for

Toronto Sun ^ | March 14, 2003 | PETER WORTHINGTON

[TheMole]

Want to know why French President Jacques Chirac is so hostile to America going to war against Saddam Hussein without UN Security Council approval? And why, if the UN gives approval, he says he'll cast a veto preventing UN support of war?

(Some hope Chirac does veto any action, which would be welcomed by those who think the UN creates more mischief than it solves in international affairs, like Libya chairing human rights and Iraq disarmament.)

Even a cursory scanning of the Internet gives an answer for Chirac's reluctance to undermine Saddam - a personal relationship has existed between the two that extends back beyond 25 years and transcends national interests into personal friendship.

Part of the opposition to war that is being led by France and Germany is motivated by their rivalry to be the dominant powers of the European Union.

Chirac even went so far as to tell the smaller European countries that favoured America and Britain to "shut up," and threatened East European countries that are fans of American freedom, that if they weren't careful they might not be admitted to the EU.

And they call America arrogant and a bully!

The Israelis well know the curious and mysterious relationship between Chirac and Saddam, which may explain the hostility the French have toward Israel, which is dictated by more than mere concern not to provoke the five million Arabs living in metropolitan France.

France's attitude toward Israel was aptly and accurately summed up by the French ambassador to Britain at a dinner party, where he blurted out that Israel was a "shitty little country." All hell broke out at that bit of undiplomatic candour, but that's more or less France's assessment of Israel.

The Chirac/Saddam relationship goes back to the mid-1970s when Chirac was France's premier and travelled to Baghdad to meet the No. 2 man in the Iraqi government, vice president Saddam Hussein.

The pair got on exceedingly well, and among other things, by the end of his visit Chirac agreed to sell Iraq nuclear reactors.

Saddam came to Paris in 1975. Chirac was his host and personally gave him a guided tour of a French nuclear plant. Chirac offered to sell two reactors to Iraq.

WEAPONS-GRADE URANIUM

Included in the deal was enriched, weapons-grade uranium (93%), and France also agreed to train hundreds of Iraqi nuclear technicians and scientists who, today, comprise the basis of Iraq's nuclear know-how.

Chirac called Saddam "a friend," and later agreed to sell Iraq the latest Mirage fighter planes, a modern air defence system that the Americans zapped in the 1991 war, as well as surface-to-air missiles and electronic systems.

Saddam, in return, pledged to sell France all the oil it was likely to need.

It was the French-installed Osirak nuclear reactor that the Israelis bombed into oblivion in 1981 - and were condemned for its destruction. Israelis called it the "O-Chirac" reactor. Few at the time wondered why oil-rich Iraq needed nuclear reactors for power. We've since learned it intended to produce nuclear weapons.

French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing wasn't happy about the nuclear deal and later said it wasn't his doing, even though he must have known about it.

D'Estaing was angry that enriched weapons-grade uranium had been sold to Saddam, and tried to change the deal to 3%, uranium which was sufficient for Iraq's non-weapons needs. Saddam said no way, a deal was a deal.

When Chirac lost the French premier's job and ran for mayor of Paris in 1977, rumours abounded that Saddam helped fund his mayoralty run.

IRANIANS ANGERED

When Saddam seized control of Iraq and went to war against what he thought was a dispirited and weakened Iran, which had fallen to the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranians felt Chirac was against them and scathingly referred to him as "Shah-Iraq."

In 1986, The New York Times quoted Chirac saying he was a "personal friend" of Saddam, and in 1987 The Manchester Guardian quoted Chirac saying he was "truly fascinated" by Saddam.

After the Israelis bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, Chirac denied he had anything to do with it, and blamed the sale on the French Industry minister who he said was close to d'Estaing. Chirac reversed earlier praise for the sale.

In 1987, the French satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine published excerpts of a letter by Chirac to "my dear friend" Saddam that mentioned vague, future projects. Chirac confirmed the letter was genuine.

How much his past friendship with Saddam Hussein influences President Chirac's policies today is unknown, but the intensity of the relationship has lasted years.

It alarms the Israelis; it offends some European countries, especially in Eastern Europe; and we all know the outrage in America over what is seen as France's betrayal, but which may really be loyalty to Saddam.

Anyway, much of this can be found on the Internet, and answers a lot of the questions raised about France.

Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@sunpub.com.

Read the transcript from our recent chat with Peter Worthington.

[headsonpikes]

Here's an opportunity to relieve some of that 'pig-ignorance', as you style it.