FRANCE: What is the French position on possible military conflict with Iraq? Lara Marlowe in Paris examines apparently contradictory comments by President Chirac
Was President Jacques Chirac backtracking when he insisted yesterday he does not want war with Iraq, or was he misunderstood earlier in the week, when he told the French armed forces to be "ready for any eventuality"?
The French leader's most recent comments were in harmony with opinion polls published yesterday by Le Parisien and Le Figaro. Two-thirds of those surveyed by Le Parisien and more than three-quarters of those questioned by Le Figaro said they oppose military intervention in Iraq.
"Recourse to force is always an admission of failure and the worst of solutions," Mr Chirac told journalists at a new year's reception. In the Iraq crisis, France has "from the beginning preferred a peaceful solution because we think that a military intervention, because of its human, strategic and political consequences, should only be envisaged if all other possibilities fail, and only by decision of the UN Security Council".
Earlier in the week, US and British media seized on Mr Chirac's statement that "other theatres of operation could, alas, open up" and his request to the military to be prepared, as a "strong signal" that France was now ready to fight Iraq. But they ignored his emphasis in another speech the same day on the importance of the Security Council and the weapons inspectors' report. In France, the opposition left accused Mr Chirac of being resigned to and accepting war.
If Washington was cheered by Mr Chirac's words, the pleasure was short-lived. On Wednesday, the French Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, addressed a letter to 14 other UN Security Council members, asking that "all information available be given immediately" to UN weapons inspectors to enable the council "to judge the reality of facts". If the US and Britain have evidence of Iraqi weapons programmes, Mr Villepin was in essence saying, they should produce it now.
Paris appears eager to use its month-long presidency of the council to ensure the UN moves cautiously. On Wednesday and Thursday, Mr Villepin visited Moscow and Beijing to consult Russian and Chinese leaders on the Iraq crisis. After speaking with the US Secretary of State on the telephone from Beijing, he said it was important "to give every chance to peace".
It would be tempting to think that Mr Chirac's dovish statements yesterday were inspired by the opinion polls showing overwhelming domestic opposition to war. But before the polls were published, the government spokesman, Mr Jean-Francois Copé, warned "there has been a real over-interpretation [of Mr Chirac's remarks to officers\] and the position of France is absolutely constant on this matter". Though Mr Chirac's we-don't-want-war-but-we'll-be- ready stance is not inherently contradictory, it has created a degree of confusion.
"I have the impression that Jacques Chirac is aligning himself with George Bush," Mr Jean-Marc Ayrault, the president of the socialist group in the National Assembly, told Le Parisien. "Blowing hot and cold, he is preparing public opinion for an inevitable war, and for French diplomatic and military support for it. That's the Chirac method: he takes a pose of firmness and independence, and ends up conforming and following along."