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France's fence-mending missionary
Dominique de Villepin stepped into the lion's den in London when he came to deliver a lecture to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a bastion of the British military-political establishment. The French Foreign Minister soothed the British with promises of mending friendships after the war, obligatory references to "shared values" and wartime alliances, even invoking the spirit of De Gaulle and Churchill. He looked ahead to a world in which the Security Council took decisions "by consensus" without saying what should happen if there was none. Presumably nothing. If something happened, it wouldn't be the UN, would it? One thing he did emphasise. The UN should take control of Iraq after the war. His words were: "The UN must be at the heart of the reconstruction and administration of Iraq. The legitimacy of our action depends on it. We must come together to build peace together." As Tonto was reputed to have said, "What you mean 'we', white man?" Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-04-01 |
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