| "See? See? We wuz right!" |
France on Friday backed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's description of the US-led war on Iraq as "illegal", with Foreign Minister Michel Barnier saying that long-held stance was why his country had opposed joining the conflict. ÂÂ
| That and the sweetheart oil exploration deals, the arms sales, the Oil-for-Palaces money, and a few other things we don't know about yet. |
| "Non, non! Reeeally! Nous wuz just bein'... how you say? Altruistic? (Sacred blue! There is no such word in Francais!)" |
"You well know that what explains our country's disagreement with the way the war was carried out was that it clearly did not at that time abide by international law and there was not a clear request from the United States to start that action," he said at a joint news conference with visiting New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff. ÂÂ
| How clear did we need to be? |
| I'm not sure what the exact wording of the resolution, but to paraphrase, "Sammy, do as you're told or we'll beat you up!" |
That was "traditionally" France's view from the start, he added.  "We have always considered that it's international law that constitutes the framework for any action, notably against terrorism or for stability in the world," he said. ÂÂ
| "And international law is just made to protect bloody-handed tin-hat dictators! Everybody knows that!" |
Barnier's comments added fuel to a debate over the legitimacy of the US-British invasion of Iraq that promises to loom large at the United Nations headquarters in New York next week when world leaders and ministers gather for the world body's 59th general session. Annan threw the spotlight back on the issue and tore the skin off old transatlantic wounds when he told BBC radio Wednesday that the United States had failed to seek a needed second resolution before launching the war in March 2003. "I've indicated that it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view, and from the charter point of view it was illegal," Annan said. ÂÂ
| Fortunately few people take you seriously, Kofi. |
| It is, of course, well within conformity with the UN charter to gas a few thousand people and bury their bodies using bulldozers... |
The US government hit back by claiming it considered that a previous UN resolution passed four months before the conflict gave it sufficient authority to wage its action because Saddam Hussein had refused to surrender suspected stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Danforth, said Thursday that the UN chief should have shut the hell up kept silent on the topic. ÂÂ
| "Kofi, what part about STFU don't you get?" |
The debate has re-ignited simmering animosity between the pro- and anti-war camps.  France -- a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council along with the United States -- was widely perceived as the leader of the latter camp because of highly publicised arguments made at the time by Barnier's predecessor, Dominique de Villepin, questioning the US justification for a pre-emptive invasion. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch supporter of the war, was particularly scathing of Annan's comment, saying he saw the United Nations as a "paralysed" body. ÂÂ
| I'da have phrased it as a "rotting carcass," myself. But they won't let me be PM of Australia, so I guess "paralysed body" will have to do... |
Goff, speaking at Barnier's side, emphasised that, unlike Australia, his country "was not a member of the coalition of the willing" and that it "has always regarded that as being critical in finding multilateral solutions to the world's problems".ÂÂ
| "And that list of multilateral solutions is a long and distinguished list! Why, there's... ummm... uhhh... well... y'see..." |
"Any shortcomings of the United Nations can't simply be blamed on the institution itself but rather on the readiness of international community members to work through that institution," he said, adding that "it would have been helpful to have had a second resolution to clarify" the legality of the Iraq war. ÂÂ
| "It would have been even more helpful to continue talking for the next 20 or 30 years, until Sammy eventually either died in office or Iraq turned to dust and blew away like Zim-bob-we's gonna do. That's the way we do things in the UN!" |
| And if certain countries aren't willing to work through the UN, then it will be part and parcel of the UN's shortcomings. France made the bed, now it can sleep in it. |
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