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| Iraq | |
| Perle: France will veto UN resolution because of oil | |
| 2003-02-24 | |
| A top Pentagon official has launched a savage attack on French President Jacques Chirac's campaign to block a war with Iraq, saying it was merely the product of French commercial interests masquerading as a moral case for peace.In an interview with the Observer, Mr Richard Perle - a central figure in the circle of hawks around President George W. Bush - said he was rather 'pessimistic' that the United States will get French support for a second resolution authorising war on Iraq. 'I think they will exercise their veto, and in other ways obstruct unified action by the Security Council: they're lobbying furiously now,' said Mr Perle, who is the Pentagon's Defence Policy Board chief. Notice that the White House never rebutes Mr. Perle? Think he might have cleared his remarks with them? Maintaining that the five permanent members of the Security Council sought essentially to advance the respective interests of their countries, he said that when the French ambassador gets up and expresses the position of France, 'what you are 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.'It would be counter to French interests to destroy that cosy relationship, and replace it with a hostile one.' Chirac will be foaming at the mouth when he reads this one. In Mr Perle's view, the French position against regime change in Iraq is fatally undermined by its multibillion-dollar oil interests negotiated since the last Gulf war, the Observer said. 'There's certainly a large French commercial interest in Iraq, and there are contracts that a new government in Iraq may not choose to uphold, partly because they're so unfavourable to the people of Iraq.'Saddam has been prepared to do deals to keep himself in power at the expense of the people. 'My understanding of the largest of these deals, which is the French Total-Fina-Elf contract to develop certain oil properties in Iraq, is that it is both very large and very unfavourable to the Iraqis,' the Observer quoted Mr Perle as saying. He dismissed suggestions that America wished to topple Mr Saddam for the sake of its own oil interests and described it as 'bizarre'. Meanwhile, foreign policy watchers believe there could be a clash between the United States and France in the United Nations Security Council. The International Herald Tribune said this may well turn out to be a watershed marking the end of a period in which the two countries have been prickly but durable allies. The report, quoting diplomats and political analysts in both countries said that when the dust settles, both countries may think of each other in very different and significantly more hostile terms.
Of course he does, Clinton was all too eager to suck up to the French. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 Only if Chirac allows them in. This guy might grow fond of vetoing stuff. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2003-02-24 23:58:34 |
| #3 Oh, oh, does this mean Perle will be find 45K euros for insulting the froggies' pres? As to Nato/froggies - toss em overboard. The prof linked to an interesting site. It seems, while Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia don't have the financial power, they do have 56 votes in the euro parliament, conveniently, the same amount as frankenreich. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-02-24 21:44:02 |
| #2 So to the French, it's all about O-I-L. Funny, isn't that what the peaceniks say about us? |
| Posted by: Denny 2003-02-24 21:08:03 |
| #1 News says Saddam will say no to disarming missiles tonight in an exclusive interview with CBS evening news. Then he will ask for a 1-on-1 debate with George Bush. There goes the French peace plan. |
| Posted by: Jon 2003-02-24 14:49:18 |