French reaction: French President Jacques Chirac denounced Washington's war ultimatum to Iraq as unjustified yesterday and warned it put world stability and the future of the Middle East at stake.
France's ambassador to the United States, Mr Jean-David Levitte, said Paris could yet join US-led action if Iraq used biological and chemical weapons, saying such a move would "change the situation completely and immediately".
Mr Chirac, the strongest Western anti-war voice, made no mention of such an option in his televised address, insisting world opinion was against war and arguing the United States' unilateral approach could exacerbate future crises.
"Whether it concerns the necessary disarmament of Iraq or the desirable change of the regime in this country, there is no justification for a unilateral decision to resort to force," Mr Chirac said in a short address.
"No matter how events evolve now, this ultimatum challenges our view of international relations. It puts the future of a people, the future of a region and world stability at stake," he said in his first reaction to Mr Bush's ultimatum.
The Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin, joined his salvo against pending military action, stressing that while Paris remained a staunch ally of Washington, it viewed war as the wrong response to the September 11th attacks and the global fight against terror.
"For us, this war is not the right response to the attacks of September 11th, over which we shared the sense of repulsion and united in solidarity," Mr Raffarin told parliament, adding that France remained an ally of Washington despite the disagreement.
"It is dangerous to engage unilaterally these days . . . What is needed is the unity of the international community," he said.
While both Mr Chirac and Mr Raffarin reaffirmed that Paris did not see Iraq as an immediate threat justifying the use of force, their ambassador to the United States told CNN that this could change if Baghdad went ahead with a biological or chemical strike.
"If Saddam Hussein were to use chemical and biological weapons, this would change the situation completely and immediately for the French government," said Mr Levitte.
"We have equipment to fight in these circumstances," he said, not giving details on the possible shape of any French role.
Despite the likelihood of war, a spokesman for the Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, said he would still probably fly to New York to attend a scheduled UN Security Council discussion today on disarming Iraq.
The imminence of action was underlined when witnesses said French diplomatic workers left Baghdad on Tuesday in a car convoy headed for the Jordanian capital, Amman.
Throughout the Iraq crisis, France has consistently argued it opposed Washington's war plans not out of anti-Americanism but from a conviction that the United Nations was the only body authorised to order an attack on a sovereign country.
Now that its veto threat has blocked a Security Council vote, France can be expected to stress the central role it sees for UN humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts. - (Reuters)