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| Europe | ||
| France faces isolation as strains show in anti-war axis | ||
| 2003-04-11 | ||
| Jacques Chirac faced a backlash from his peace campaigning yesterday after warnings from his own party that France had gone too far in opposing Britain and the US, and now faced international isolation. Time to pay the piper! The French president, described by the newspaper Libération as the "king of peace without a crown", was criticised by leaders of his UMP party for three weeks of silence since the invasion. Only yesterday, after the fall of Saddam Hussein, did Mr Chirac issue a comment. "France, like all democracies, rejoices," he said in a statement.
Say pleaz!! The president also asked the prime minister to raise the issue of French cooperation in Iraq with George Bush, whom the French president has not yet contacted. Chirac advisers said they were convinced the US would resist a "central role for the UN" which Mr Chirac has demanded. Hopes had now been placed on British influence with the US leader. Whatever? The UMP chairman, Alain Juppé, a former prime minister, has spoken privately on several occasions to Mr Chirac to warn that France risked international isolation by standing up to the Americans and refusing to support Britain's attempt to ensure a security council resolution legitimising the war. Yesterday it became clear that Mr Juppé's feelings were shared by other party managers, including the parliamentary leader, Jacques Barrot. He complained about Mr Chirac's lack of enthusiasm for the coalition victory and called on him "to show his public support for the courage of the Americans and British in bringing down a dictatorship". Another influential MP, the party's leader in the Paris city council, Claude Coasguen, said Mr Chirac had "to act swiftly to lessen the impact of violent anti-American remarks and rethink a number of provocative statements made without reflection". You mean he didn't think before he opened his mouth? Today's St Petersburg meeting was planned before the fall of Baghdad and was intended to seal an anti-war
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| Posted by:George |
| #18 TIME TO DO MY FRENCH EXERCISES--RAISE UP YOUR ARMS AND.... KEEP THEM THERE |
| Posted by: HULUGU 2003-04-12 02:24:11 |
| #17 Hey there, gendarme? How's that graves desecration investigation going? Still going hot and heavy on that? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-04-11 16:12:43 |
#16 Mr Schröder's setting out of conditions will also alarm German industrialists hoping for lucrative contracts in the aftermath of the conflict. We don't need you. We never did. The industrialists will vote you out, Herr Schroeder. Mssr. Chiraq has forgotten that the world is NOT France and has succeeded in revealing what a truly pompous ass he is. Putin is scared because he was too stupid to realize where this whole alliance was heading, and too weak to fend off the Commies who urged him on. None of them are worth the salt in the lowliest American criminal's sweat. Screw 'em. |
| Posted by: Celissa 2003-04-11 15:54:04 |
| #15 Juppe and Barrot way missed an excellent opportunity to remain silent on this one. |
| Posted by: (lowercase) matt 2003-04-11 14:08:38 |
| #14 from the NYT (via Sullivan) (author is John Burns of course, NYT's only good correspondent who can get through the Raines fog) "Among the attacks that had a strong political edge were those on the German Embassy and the French cultural center, both in east Baghdad. Few Iraqis were unaware, in the weeks preceding the war, that France and Germany were leading international efforts to force President Bush into accepting an extension of United Nations weapons inspections here, and to delay military action against Mr. Hussein. The French and German buildings were stripped of furniture, curtains, decorations, and anything else that could be carried away. At the French cultural center, where looters burst water pipes and flooded the ground floor, books were left floating in the reading rooms and corridors, and a photograph of Jacques Chirac, the French president, was smashed. French reporters said the French Embassy, also on the Tigris's east bank, appeared to have been spared because it remained under the protection of French military guards. The German Embassy was unprotected." |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-04-11 13:19:47 |
| #13 Ah, Joe, your scatalogical references to France's pride are in poor taste (Har Har) but true. A pox, a proletarian pox upon the French body politic..... |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-04-11 13:10:27 |
| #12 Damn, Joe, I was eating when I read about the "French national anus". Yecch! You ruined a perfectly good hamburger, buddy! ;) |
| Posted by: Former Russian Major 2003-04-11 12:20:43 |
| #11 The thing to do is hurt their pride, which is, like a hemmorhoid on the French national anus, swollen and sensitive. It's a damn good thing I'm not in charge because I'd have their embassy here in DC cleared out and all their shit sitting out on the curb right now. |
| Posted by: Joe 2003-04-11 12:11:15 |
| #10 What the hell are they smoking over there? Are the French going to start appeasing US for a change? A bit too late for that now, Jacques. |
| Posted by: Former Russian Major 2003-04-11 11:47:57 |
| #9 This whole episode just shows that FDR did make some mistakes - giving a defeated france a seat with the victors at the UN. france is joke trying for past glory - glory based on the blood of the weak. Bastards... |
| Posted by: Dan 2003-04-11 11:21:23 |
| #8 Chiraq, in waving the all-encompassing UNSC veto, left us no room for negotiation and accommodation. Since 9-11 President Bush has laid out his plan and has done what he says. The AOW has tried to sabotage everything we have done concerning Iraq. Mr Bush is a man of his word, and does not like to be stabbed in the back, especially when it comes to protecting our country (and Chiraq's own country, to boot). Bush said that the UN will have a vital role, which is a throw-away line. The UN will not be setting policy in Iraq's reconstruction---Bush's administration folks have made that clear. The game is over Chiraq, and the implications are very serious for you and your country and are becoming clearer as the days and weeks go by. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-04-11 10:39:59 |
| #7 There are consequences to behavior. Can't say that enough. Dr. Foster Cline, a family friend and child psychiatrist specializing in early childhood problems, kept beating that into our head when we worked with his group in Colorado in the 1970's, trying to modify destructive behavior in children with severe attachment disorders. We followed his methods to alter not only behavior, but behavior patterns, hopefully for life, so these kids could function in the real world. Looks like Jaques, Gerhard, and Vladimir need some of that kind of behavior modification therapy themselves. I'm sure that US foreign policy can be an adequate tool to achieve that objective. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-04-11 09:48:42 |
| #6 transfer all calls from Chiraq to the information officer at Arlington National Cemetary. He can plead his case there |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-04-11 09:35:05 |
| #5 "...with George Bush, whom the French president has not yet contacted." Yeah, I don't call people who won't return my calls either. Good luck, Worm, you rate somewhere way below telemarketers and used car salesmen. |
| Posted by: Tom 2003-04-11 08:13:26 |
| #4 Chiraq - isolated Chiraq - begging Blair to help him with Bush ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha |
| Posted by: anon1 2003-04-11 06:43:04 |
| #3 One more nail in the U.N. coffin.Why even bother to take anything to the U.N.? |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-04-11 06:26:06 |
| #2 "Gerhard Schröder announced yesterday that Germany would only take part in the reconstruction if the operation were carried out under UN auspices." "Mein Gott, Chancellor! It's now patently obvious we weren't defending anyone's interests except Saddam's and his thuggish cohort. We've got to do something to improve our image, and fast!" "I know, let's cynically withold humanitarian aid for political reasons." "What happens when the coalition don't accept our demands to hand over to the UN?" "Uh, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Better not include any perishables in that aid though, just in case." |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-04-11 06:25:28 |
| #1 Mr Chirac now has to depend on spontaneous reconciliation with Britain and the US if France is to have a role in postwar reconstruction. About as likely to occur as spontaneous generation... Another influential MP, the party's leader in the Paris city council, Claude Coasguen, said Mr Chirac had "to act swiftly to lessen the impact of violent anti-American remarks and rethink a number of provocative statements made without reflection". Looks like somebody missed a number of "good opportunities to keep quiet" then, eh? Gerhard Schröder announced yesterday that Germany would only take part in the reconstruction if the operation were carried out under UN auspices. That's OK Gerhard -- the coalition of the willing can handle it just fine without you. |
| Posted by: John Phares 2003-04-11 06:11:20 |