Chirac's vendetta

Would you be surprised to learn Chirac is again trying to block any perspective of providing peace to Iraq?

After opposing sending NATO troops to Afghanistan to secure elections, France is now opposing sending troops to train Iraqi forces. Their offer? Sending "fact-finding" inspectors.

NATO, urged on by the United States, hopes to finalize plans this week for alliance training of Iraqi security forces.

But NATO member France wants to slow things down, arguing for the dispatch of another alliance fact-finding mission, diplomats said Monday.

Of course Chirac, who is prone to advise everyone but does not tolerate any kind of remark, is now not only directly and overtly acting as an official supporter of John Kerry, he is also acting again like NATO's commander-in-chief.

. . . diplomats said France, keen not to be rushed into a risky mission in Iraq for the sake of what it sees as the U.S. political calendar, would seek to slow things down . . .

However, France wants NATO's Belgium-based military headquarters to act as a clearing house for training, and it is opposed to putting the mission under the operational command of the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq . . .

Diplomats said France, which joined hands with Germany in opposition to last year's U.S.-led war on Baghdad, does not want to hand President Bush a show of international support for his Iraq policy ahead of the November U.S. election.

It has never been so clear and official that France is ready to sacrifice Iraq and Afghanistan (and make no mistake, to sacrifice us all in the process), for the sake of blocking the U.S. and regaining a so-called grandeur long lost.

This is the kind of attitude Chirac persists in calling that of a "friend and ally" of America.

During his Bastille Day TV intervention (and no, I won't link to the Elysée's website), when asked whether he was supporting a Kerry victory, Chirac answered briefly, before quickly changing subjects:

I will certainly refrain from saying it or even thinking about it. I have no intention to interfere in US domestic affairs, the US being an important "friend and ally."

What Jack won't tell you is that while the US is certainly, even now, a friend and ally to France, the other way around isn't quite true.