Free Republic

France has been accused of agreeing to a crackdown on exiled opponents of Iran in return for lucrative commercial contracts. Lawyers for France's human rights league, speaking on the anniversary of a huge police raid on the National Council of Resistance of Iran near Paris, pointed out "troubling coincidences" in the timing of the operation and a series of deals with Teheran. In March last year, the regime signed a large contract with the French telecommunications group Alcatel for a telephone network. In April last year Teheran offered the petrol giant TotalFina a £660 million gas fields contract. At the...

<p>HOWARD Leach, President Bush's ambassador to France, says the friction between America and its erstwhile ally are "in the past and now part of history." When an ambassador is so out of synch with the people he's supposed to represent, maybe it's time for him to come home. Leach needs to familiarize himself with the depth and intensity of anti-French feeling in the United States.</p>

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin met with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on Monday. "We welcome Israel's acceptance of the road map, but the reservations raise question marks," Arafat told reporters after the meeting. He added that the objections eviscerate the plan, rendering it unacceptable to the PA. Arafat called on the Quartet the US, EU, UN, and Russia to continue working toward implementing the road map quickly and without any changes. He welcomed a planned meeting between Abbas and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, saying Israel should stop its "policy of...

French Believed Iraq Victory Possible The Moscow Times runs a column by Pavel Felgenhauer about Ramjaz, a group of anonymous, former Russian intelligence operatives who briefly filed stories on the Iraqi war. Apparently, like others, Ramjaz proved to be unduly optimistic about Iraqi military prospects. Felgenhauer notes in passing: This week, with the fray over, another official connected to the intelligence services (not retired) told me: "Our leadership never had any illusions about an ultimate American victory. It was the French that genuinely believed a miracle Saddam victory was possible and scolded us for being 'fatalistic.'

France is Not a Western Country Anymore - Growing Islamic Weekend News TodayLead: Faith Source: Front Page Magazine Fri Apr 11,2003 -- French-bashing is everywhere in the American media. I am French, and I must say if Americans knew completely what's happening in France, the French-bashing would be far harsher. Jacques Chirac has been a friend of Saddam Hussein for more than 30 years. He allowed the sale of nuclear facilities to Iraq that were destroyed just in time by Israël. He sold Iraq the planes that were been used to gas thousands of Kurds. And Saddam is not the...

Apr. 13, 2003 France, Lebanon agree on need for U.N. role in Iraq By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIRUT, Lebanon The United Nations has a role to play in restoring security in Iraq and in the political, economic and humanitarian development of the country, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said Sunday. "It is not logical or acceptable for the role of the United Nations (in Iraq) to be confined to humanitarian aspects because in the coming stage, which will witness the reconstruction of Iraq, it will not be possible to separate between the political and military reality and the humanitarian reality," Lahoud...