France calls for American 'reason'

Telegraph (UK) ^ | 09/14/2001 | Harry de Quetteville and Toby Helm

[dighton]

POLITICAL leaders in France and Germany urged President Bush yesterday to avoid a belligerent response, as fears grew in Europe of the consequences of swift and ruthless military reaction to the terrorist attacks.

Lionel Jospin, the French Prime Minister, said the Americans should be "reasonable" in their response. Alain Richard, his defence minister, said the attacks were "not acts of war".

The comments, echoed by senior German ministers if not by the Chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, contradicted statements by President Bush and his Secretary of State Colin Powell.

M Jospin said: "We must vigorously condemn and combat terrorism. But we must not allow ourselves to be led into considerations of a conflict between the western world and the Islamic world, where we have many friends and partners."

The remarks from the Socialist prime minister were aimed at reassuring both the France's political Left and its Muslim population, which numbers six million. But they will be seen as further evidence of disagreements between France and America on big foreign policy issues.

The comments by M Richard will also undermine American confidence in France's commitment to joint reprisals as outlined by Nato members on Wednesday. He said: "I think that this was a terrorist attack of particular gravity.

"American democracy is clearly endangered by such action, but in my opinion a war is something else entirely." France disagrees with US policy on missile defence, the bombing of Iraq and what it sees as American cultural imperialism.

Rudolf Scharping, the German defence minister, also cautioned against launching swift military strikes. "I hope we all remain calm and do not now speak of a state of alarm. We do not face a war.

"We face the question of what is an appropriate response," he told German television. "Not in the sense of revenge and retribution, but in order to be able to fight and break international terror."

France's maverick health minister, Bernard Kouchner, went as far yesterday as to put the attacks down to a "series of errors" by America. "America's made a real mistake in Afghanistan and Pakistan, which was to train the Taliban," M Kouchner said.

"To think now that there is some kind of consensus of 'honourable' nations against the 'bad' terrorists, is simply not true."

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2001.</font color>

[Petronski]

Alain Richard, his defence minister, said the attacks were "not acts of war".

Mangez moi, M. Richard.

[Lazamataz]

Well you teach me, you are so skilled with burning down synagogues.

And you excel at spitting on American flags, you traitorous scum.

[DouglasKC]

Bush had better act fast...people are getting cold feet.

[Jim Noble]

Europe will be inundated with refugees from the nuclear deserts of the Middle East.

Bummer, dudes.

[waterstraat]

Our ally will be Israel but she won't last long after the chaos starts.

Got news for ya, Isreal will remain until the end of the world. The United States will disappear before Isreal does.

[A+Bert (Outta here)]

At least I ain't no taitorous dual citzen who loves Israel moew than the US. Go over there and fight for your country you cowardly scumbag. Burn that Temple Mount to the ground. A little Arab Lightning.

[Puck from Michigan]

The French.....Just like our liberals.....want to dialogue with people who could give a rat's a** about talking. Let them dialogue with our liberals while we take care of business.

[Lazamataz]

Go cheer for your Palestinian heros, traitor. You are the worst America has to offer -- someone who hates his country and loves its foes.

[Faraday]

Monsieur Jospin, I fart in your general direction.

[A+Bert (Outta here)]

Cold feet or thinking about what is the best plan. Sharon is really pissing up a storm. I see Powell called him and Perez and even Arafat. Equals among equals and told em to get peace going. OR ELSE. This is why the Israeli lobby on FR is so insistent on dragging the US into quick irrational action and a no win situation.

[dfwgator]

Thank God we now have Poland and the Czech Republic in NATO, we can count on them unlike the French.

[Faraday]

The surprise of this war will be that Russia will be an important ally. Why? They will benefit greatly by fighting with the American military. They will receive capital to develop their gas and oil reserves. They will end with a sphere of influence containing Afghanistan. They won't be hassled about Chechnya. The Serbs will get Kosovo back.

[A+Bert (Outta here)]

What capital. It is all paper money and will be worthless when our economy comes to a screetching halt without oil. What is this so called threat against an American nuclear facility? We are in a new type war and trying to fight it with the jawbones of asses. A few on this thread for instance.