Top Bush aide savages 'selfish' Chirac

The Observer ^ | February 23, 2003 | David Rose

[MadIvan]

Outstanding from Perle; however, just a bit of additional information:

France’s £150m deals ‘linked to Iraq arms’

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[skinkinthegrass]

Thanks, Good Read 8)

[Defender2]

France, aiding and abetting the enemy....

[VaBthang4]

Perle on point.

The Loserdopians/Liberals/Contrarians label him as a neocon. So be it, he is righter than rain on this one.

Am I supposed to believe the same CIA Middle East clique that botched 9/11?

[fightinJAG]

Outstanding! Perle struck just the right tone, I think, especially for his European audience.

The administration is laying the groundwork for marginalizing the coming French veto of the second resolution.

Just like ole Dubya, the "moron" who can't tie his shoes. Well, before this is over, he's going to have the UN and the Security Council tied up in knots. He is the first president who is not shaking in his cowboy boots at the thought of---gasp!---a divided Security Council! The world had become conditioned to thinking lack of unanimity was fatal and a shocking defeat.

Ha. Misunderestimation Alert.

[Cicero]

As you say, perhaps not new, but very refreshing.

"What you are hearing is the moral authority of Jacques Chirac, whatever that may mean."

[xzins]

Excellent by Perle.

He says that France is helping Cheat the Iraqi People.

FRANCE CHEATING THE IRAQI PEOPLE! Taking advantage of the Iraqis.

So clear.

[Canadian Outrage]

Great material Ivan. I wish Perle could be plastered all over the alphabet networks and Fox and just keep putting out his message. btw. His message is scathing against France et al because IT'S TRUE. Now, I see no reason why he should leave out the certified french idiot that runs this Country and is rapidy destroying it and selling it out. The party of snots called the Liberal Party in Canada are a daily embarassment to us, especially us in the West. The drums of Western separation keep getting louder. I would do it tomorrow. We do NOT need Central Canada. We have enough resources and are free market thinkers and could easily make a go of it. Alberta has plenty of oil, B.C. has loads of fish, timber, agriculture, mining, WATER, and on and on. I have always enjoyed listening to Richard Perle. He's great. Whenever he speaks I am always amening!!

[EternalVigilance]

Kudoes to Richard Perle! He is spot on, as usual.

All of this prognostication driven by the hateful agenda of the left is laughable at best.

Remember how well these seers foresaw how Afghanistan would play out? Why anyone would give them any credibility whatsoever is beyond me.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

France is extremely concerned about what they know to be true, specifically that "Product of France" labels will be found on a great deal of Iraqi contraband shortly after the dogs of war have returned to their leashes.

Les primates capitulards toujours en quete de fromage!

[Lessismore]

The Loserdopians/Liberals/Contrarians label him as a neocon.

The Arabs consider him to be Likud's key man in Washington.

[UncleSamUSA]

Great stuff from Perle. This message about French self-interest in the Iraqi situation needs to be dissemenated much more widely, particularly in Europe. It is far, far too late now to worry about ruffling some sensitive feathers among the Euro elites.

I think this is a message we are going to hear much more, from a wider variety of US players in the days to come. Perle was great in this interview and really made the case forcefully and directly.

In addition to frying the frelling French, he also weighed in on the battle between some of the neocons and those in the CIA over the role of the Iraqi opposition. I believe Rummy, Wolfie and the other right-thinkers in the highest levels think the CIA has totally screwed up by not believing in and supporting the Chalabi wing of the Iraqi opposition. The CIA is taking a beating even from Cheney and we may see some of this begin to play out in the near future.

Anyway, BRAVO PERLE!!

[NonValueAdded]

fightinJAG, I think you have it. France watched the race card played so often that it figured the "veto card" would work the same way.

My definition for misunderestimate goes like this:
mis erroneous
un·der·es·ti·mate To make too low an estimate of the quantity, degree, or worth of.
mis·un·der·es·ti·mate To underestimate at your immortal peril!

[George W. Bush]

Perle is strategizing here diplomaticly. They are trying to keep France from using its veto. If France does veto, we'll expose the extent to which they enrich themselves from the misery of the Iraqis and how Saddam got all that money to buy missiles.

The attack helps shore up Blair as well. Not as though it's hard to stir British suspicion of France anyway.

These remarks are especially effective when Chirac just kissed up to Mugabe.

I thought this would be coming from the Bush bunch. I expect more and escalating comments like this one.

[kimosabe31]

"'What you're hearing is what the French President perceives to be in the interests of France. And the French President has found his own way of dealing with Saddam Hussein."

Yeah...I think it's called "pick up the soap".

[Thud]

ping

[Stefan Stackhouse]

More saws now at work on that limb upon which Chirac has gotten himself.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

France is extremely concerned about what they know to be true, specifically that "Product of France" labels will be found on a great deal of Iraqi contraband shortly after the dogs of war have returned to their leashes.

IMHO, we do not need to go rummaging around Iraq to prove this; we have a reasonably good intelligence service, and they certainly have all the documentation anyone could need. There is a reason why this has not come out before now, and there is a reason why it is starting to come out now.

Because Bush & Blair on the one hand and Chirac and Schroder on the other have climbed so far out on their respective and opposite limbs, I see no possible way at this point to have a "win-win" outcome. Thus I also see no possible way that the French can cast their veto of the 2nd resolution and not be discredited and humiliated in public. Nor do I see any possible way that France, Germany, and Belgium can continue to be "allies" of the US & UK in any meaningful sense at all. The amazing thing will be if we even continue to have diplomatic relations with them after this is all over.

[SwinneySwitch]

It's French/Belgian/French, Total-Fina-Elf!

See why the Belgians put their 2 cents in with the French?