Posted on 02/07/2003 8:44:22 AM PST by RCW2001
Fri February 7, 2003 10:58 AM ET
By Tom Heneghan
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac insisted on Friday there was still an alternative to war in Iraq while a senior official hinted Paris might use its veto to block any U.N. resolution authorising a military intervention there.
Chirac reiterated his stand, already the most openly anti-war among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, one day after President Bush declared "the game is over" for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
In a further sign of tension, a presidential aide told the newspaper Le Monde that France was ready to veto any pro-war resolution submitted without clear evidence that the U.N. arms inspections had failed and Iraq presented a serious threat.
Russia, another veto-wielding Security Council member, joined France on Friday in rejecting any U.N. war resolution right now and permanent member China said it agreed with France that all efforts should be made to avoid war.
"We haven't gone to the end, far from it...there is still an alternative to war," Chirac said after meeting Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen in Paris.
"I've spoken to numerous foreign leaders and can see that this view is widely shared," added Chirac, who has been telephoning leaders of states on the 15-seat Security Council to sound out their stand on any vote.
"If there were to be any particular initiative taken, notably war, there would of course have to be a new debate by the Security Council," he said in a clear reference to the risk of unilateral action outside of the U.N. framework.
AIDE EVOKES DE GAULLE
An unnamed Chirac aide told Le Monde that France was ready to risk serious strains in its relations with pro-war powers United States and Britain to defend its view that only the United Nations has the right to declare a war on Iraq.
"If the question were put today, France would say no to a resolution authorising the use of force," said the aide, described by Le Monde as "an authorized commentator of presidential thinking."
France would maintain this position "as long as there is no patent failure of the inspection system and the inspectors do not say they have been hindered in their mission and an imminent danger is not demonstrated," he said.
"If we don't agree, well then, we won't agree," the aide added. "And that won't be the end of anything, just like de Gaulle's decision to pull out of NATO or his Phnom Penh speech did not mean the end of French-American relations. Those ties have a thick skin."
During a visit to Cambodia in 1966, de Gaulle delivered a speech criticizing the U.S. war in neighboring Vietnam.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin spoke out on Thursday against any Security Council resolution authorising war for the time being. The U.S. and Britain have said they would support a resolution authorising an attack.
NO PREPARATIONS FOR WAR
Earlier on Friday, Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie insisted NATO should not begin boosting Turkey's defenses in case of a war in Iraq and said France would not agree to do so when the alliance reconsiders the issue early next week.
On Thursday, NATO postponed until next week a decision on measures to protect Turkey but Secretary-General George Robertson expressed confidence that those blocking it -- France, Germany and Belgium -- would come around to support the plan.
Asked by Radio France Internationale if NATO could reach agreement on war preparations early next week, as Robertson had predicted, Alliot-Marie said: "That is not our view at all."
Wednesday's presentation by Secretary of State Colin Powell to the U.N. Security Council outlining Washington's case against Baghdad "only reinforced our view of the role of the U.N. inspectors. The inspectors must...do their work."
"For us, today, we are in the inspection phase. We are not in a phase of preparing for war," Alliot-Marie said.
Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, on a visit to India, told students in New Delhi that Iraq had to disarm quickly.
"Our approach is to ask Iraq to disarm quickly, to listen to all the pressure from around the world and take the necessary measures so that war can be avoided," he said.
No suggestions, but I bet when you read the part about their criticisms of the U.S. in Vietnam, beer will shoot out your nose.
Perhaps there are some French machines, and some French material, lying in wait in Iraq to destroy a certain "shitty little country"?
I think the genetic effects of the European War 1914-1945 were profound. Good point.
Regards, Ivan
"...par exemple, nous pourrions la reddition immobile, qui n'a pas été essayée encore ", Chirac continued. ("for example, we could still surrender, that has not been tried yet".)
It's entirely possible that a new alliance will have to be formed, leaving out France and Germany. What that would do to the EU is open to the imagination.
There is ALWAYS an alternative to war. It's never too late to surrender.
Hey, Tony, take a number and wait in line for your turn.
A game of "chicken", indeed....
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