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It is in the breaking news sidebar!
Posted on 04/10/2003 2:11:14 PM PDT by knighthawk
Papers in France, Germany and Russia - the three UN Security Council members which tried to block the war on Iraq - react in their Thursday editions to the dramatic events in Baghdad.
Whilst welcoming the developments, many of them sound a warning note about Iraq's future.
"Baghdad has fallen" is the front page headline in the Paris daily Le Figaro.
It chooses to illustrate the story with a photo of a US soldier covering the face of a statue of the ousted Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, with an American flag.
France's left-leaning Liberation says there were no regrets when the statue fell.
"But this lightning victory has not dispelled all doubts about the motives for the 'liberation of Iraq': we are still waiting for the arsenal of weapons of mass destruction which was invoked to justify the conflict."
'Unanswered questions'
The regional daily Ouest-France says the "victory proclaimed by the United States in Baghdad leaves several unanswered questions".
"How can one avoid the country collapsing into chaos? What role will there be tomorrow for the UN? And, from a more French point of view, what will be the role of the governments who fought the ferocious dictator not through military means but diplomatically?"
The German tabloid Bild compares the destruction of Saddam's statue to similar treatment meted out to Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Milosevic.
"But we Germans know", it says, "that a war is only finished, when freedom and order unite again."
'Bitter after-taste'
The left-wing Tageszeitung admits the quick campaign was good for Iraqi citizens, but also detects a "bitter after-taste".
"Washington has really tasted blood through this apparently easy victory."
Berlin's centre-right Die Welt says all eyes are now on the post-Saddam period.
The paper is certain about one thing - Washington will hardly allow France, Russia and Germany to have an equal say in shaping the new Iraq.
The paper calls Putin, Schroeder and Chirac the "coalition of the war losers" and sees their forthcoming meeting on Friday in St Petersburg as "an attempt to save face".
The Frankfurter Rundschau daily headlines its commentary "From war to chaos", and warns of the difficulties the post-war period will bring.
"A power vacuum and escalating anarchy in the 'liberated' areas are perhaps a greater danger for the conquerors than the last few soldiers in Saddam's army."
Pre-emptive war
Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung is ambivalent over whether the victory justifies the conflict.
"Military success does not answer the question whether the regime could not have been eliminated by some other means", it says.
"If the issue of the justification of a pre-emptive war is pushed to one side, it could raise its head again soon at another flashpoint."
Russian papers also take a sober view of events.
The Izvestiya daily publishes an article by Fedor Burlatsky of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
"We supported the USA in the war against Taleban in Afghanistan", he writes. "But our public opinion is not ready to support the USA in the war against Saddam."
The official Russian Government paper Rossiyskaya Gazeta acknowledges that the firepower of the US military has silenced many of its critics.
The world has actually gone quiet. Protest demonstrations have all but disappeared in the West... If this is not fear, it is clearly a recognition of power."
Further bloodshed
The broadsheet Nezavisimaya Gazeta worries about further bloodshed.
"The Iraqi army still cannot give the order to put down weapons and to raise white flags," its says.
"This is because it is probably easier for them to get killed on the battlefield than to be killed by the agents of Saddam's security services when attempting to surrender."
BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
figaro
\Fi`ga`ro"\, n. [From the name of the barber in Beaumarchais' ``Barber of Seville.''] An adroit and unscrupulous intriguer.
So this is the new French approach...they fought Saddam diplomatically whilst building him nuclear reactors and selling him weapons. The French remind me of the rude, bumbling waiter in the corner bistro who hovers over you while you're siigning your credit card slip reminding you of the great service you got. In that case, the best thing to do is tip him a quarter. Period.
No waaaay... Well, if they are going to be honest that the Coalition is indeed allowing the people to loot the government, then somebody needs to get the memo out to the rest of the Left that it is indeed not dangerous for the Troops.
I really hope the UN pushes for that. I'm not kidding. That will go over with such anger in the US. This is precisely the reason we American's are totally against an permanent International Court. That work might start an organized pushed to physically move it to Geneva. Otherwise known as the "Capitol of Irrelevancy."
Man, you could take over that country with a butter knife.
Did they also type up "U.N. accuses the United States and Britain of war crimes committed against the Geneva Convention for shooting Iraqi looters"? They just had to pick which one to issue today.
Yeah, you Germans ought to know, after all, it was the US who guided you through that chaos and built your country into one of the strongest economic powers in europe. Of course, lately you've done everything in your power to screw that up. When given the opportunity to do it yourselves with your east German brothers, you've mucked around until all of you are suffering.
I'm certain that this will make someone saddened, deeply saddened.
Shouldn't they at least have to pay their parking tickets first before they are allowed to complain about us.
Well, there were other alternatives. We could have used our military forces to throw them out of countries they'd attacked - oh, wait, we did. Well, we might have tried working through the auspices of the UN - oh, wait, we did that too. Well, we could have tried international sanctions. Oh, yeah, we did that too. Well, perhaps a few warning bombings on strictly military targets when they obviously broke their word. Oh, we did that too?
Uh...I have to admit I'm fresh out of "other means." Perhaps the French genius quoted here might be able to suggest a few?
I'm certain that this will make someone saddened, deeply saddened.
I think it's safe to say that Teensy Weensy Tiny Tom D'Asshole, deeply, deeply saddened and troubled, is also one of the "coalition of war losers".
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