Chirac questions US-led Iraq war
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4018325.stm

French President Jacques Chirac says he is "not at all sure" the world has become safer with the removal from power of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

In a BBC interview Mr Chirac suggests the situation in Iraq has helped to prompt an increase in terrorism.

The interview, to be aired on BBC Two's Newsnight programme on Wednesday, comes ahead of his visit to the UK this week.

President Chirac also maintains that any intervention in Iraq should have been through the United Nations.

"To a certain extent Saddam Hussein's departure was a positive thing, " Mr Chirac says when asked if the world is safer now, as US President George W Bush has repeatedly stated.

"But it also provoked reactions, such as the mobilisation in a number of countries, of men and women of Islam, which has made the world more dangerous," Mr Chirac says.

"There's no doubt that there has been an increase in terrorism and one of the origins of that has been the situation in Iraq.

"I'm not at all sure that one can say that the world is safer," Mr Chirac says.

Return favours

He also signals that he believes Britain's support for the US-led war has brought few dividends.

In an earlier interview with British journalists, Mr Chirac said Prime Minister Tony Blair had received nothing in return for backing the Bush administration.

"I'm not sure it is in the nature of our American friends at the moment to return favours systematically," he said.


Blair has called for Europe and the US to bury differences over Iraq

"I am not sure, with America as it is these days, that it would be easy for someone, even the British, to be an honest broker."

Mr Chirac said he had urged Mr Blair last year to press President Bush to restart the Middle East peace process in return for British support for the US-led war in Iraq.

Speaking in Washington on Monday, Mr Blair called for Europe and the US to bury their differences over Iraq.

"It is not a sensible or intelligent response for us in Europe to ridicule American arguments and parody their political leadership," he said.

The signs are that Mr Chirac and Mr Blair will again at best agree to disagree on the Iraq war when they meet on Thursday, says BBC World Affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge.

not that i'm a huge supporter of the french,
but i totally agree

quote:

Originally posted by TheVrk not that i'm a huge supporter of the french, but i totally agree

People like to bash Chirac. But he was the first foreign leader to visit the site of the WTC shortly after it happened.

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Chirac questions the war because it cut off a huge source of kickbacks for French officials. The Oil-For-Food scandal hit the fan today with the start of American Congressional investigations. Even the Democrats on the committee ripped the French a new one.

Here's the relevant part to the French. If BNP Paribas is involved, you know the French government is. There are official and unofficial links between the two, and BNP is the defacto private bank of France.

Henry Hyde, Nov. 17, 2004:

quote:

When we speak of the transaction of funds, we must not omit from our examination the Banque Nationale de Paris, or BNP. This was the bank which held the proceeds from Iraq’s oil sales from the Oil-for-Food program. In the process of examining the bank's role in the Oil-for-Food program, we looked at the bank's performance in verifying the identity of its customers as called for under U.S. law and through the U.N. Oil-for-Food program. There are indications that the bank may have been noncompliant in administering the Oil-for-Food program. If true, these possible banking lapses may have facilitated Saddam Hussein’s manipulation and corruption of the program. Evidence seems to indicate that in some cases, payments in the Oil-for-Food program were made by BNP at times with a lack of full proof of delivery for goods and other necessary documents contracted for in the Oil-for-Food program. At other times, payments may have been authorized by BNP to third parties, separate from the originally intended recipient of the Letter of Credit. These are issues which I am looking forward to having our witnesses from BNP address. We should be concerned that BNP might well have facilitated improper payments to companies that were shipping illegal goods to Iraq. With the bank administering thousands of contracts, we need to know if this occurred and, if so, how many times. Moreover, as we understand, BNP received millions of dollars in fees over the life of the Oil-for-Food program. This is a lot of money, and it is reasonable to ask if BNP adequately supervised its compliance programs overseeing the administration of the Oil-for-Food program, especially in light of the widespread reports in the press of corruption within the program. Because of the importance of these issues, I will refer the details of what we have found about BNP to the Financial Services Committee under the able direction of Chairman Mike Oxley. Questions related to the Federal Reserve’s oversight, while peripheral to our jurisdiction, may be important in the process of untangling this web. Chairman Oxley and I have talked, and we agree on the need to review BNP's performance in its capacity as the bank used by the U.N. for purposes of the Oil-for-Food program.

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FLUSHED THE JOHNS!

quote:

Originally posted by jonSun People like to bash Chirac. But he was the first foreign leader to visit the site of the WTC shortly after it happened.

maybe thats because they wouldn't let him fly out of the country suspecting perhaps he had some invovlement in it?

com'on Mister_Opus to I hear a hell yea?

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quote:

Originally posted by imokruok Chirac questions the war because it cut off a huge source of kickbacks for French officials. The Oil-For-Food scandal hit the fan today with the start of American Congressional investigations. Even the Democrats on the committee ripped the French a new one. Here's the relevant part to the French. If BNP Paribas is involved, you know the French government is. There are official and unofficial links between the two, and BNP is the defacto private bank of France. Henry Hyde, Nov. 17, 2004:

it doesnt really matter for me whatever reasons was behind it, i still support his stance on the iraq war.

as stated above, i dont really like french policies in general either but i give him this one.

quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew it doesnt really matter for me whatever reasons was behind it, i still support his stance on the iraq war.

how does that saying go?

...

oh yea, "an enemy of my enemy is my friend"... how could i forget that one

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The French are notorious cowards like Chirac. Like the fact the thinnest book in the library is the one entitled "French War Heroes". Sorry, after their last act of cowardice, we will now have American Fries for the next 20 years. God help the poor French bastard who comes here on a tourist visa and hopes to mingle with a few "homies" down here in the heartland. LOl!!!


[[[smoke]]]

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Well, he is not on the ball is he? The war ended over a year ago and the occupation has been underway. Insurgents are being put out.

Another point is that his opinion is important but it does not matter. He is not dictating policy in Iraq; the United States, United Kingdom and other allies are.

EDIT: I do like the fact that he says the United States and other countries must understand each other insted of calling George W. Bush and the American people idiots. (Like we do on this board)

quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew it doesnt really matter for me whatever reasons was behind it, i still support his stance on the iraq war. as stated above, i dont really like french policies in general either but i give him this one.

I agree with him to an extend too, but I think that it is reckless of a head of state to make comments like these in an interview. Especially the one about honest brokers.

quote:

Originally posted by imokruok Chirac questions the war because it cut off a huge source of kickbacks for French officials. The Oil-For-Food scandal hit the fan today with the start of American Congressional investigations. Even the Democrats on the committee ripped the French a new one. Here's the relevant part to the French. If BNP Paribas is involved, you know the French government is. There are official and unofficial links between the two, and BNP is the defacto private bank of France.

My father works for BNP... Still no connection between the govt. and BNP's dealings with the loan they gave. BNP was really hands off on the issue. They were just providing financing for the project. I actually know the guy who is testifying infront of congress regarding this matter.

I would be very careful making those sorts of insinuations. Stop reading the NY Post.

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