FRANCE: The French Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin, yesterday stated categorically that France would not vote for the draft Security Council resolution to be discussed today in New York.
"The proposal made on February 24th by the English, the Americans and the Spanish is phrased in general terms, but is in reality an authorisation for the use of force," Mr Raffarin told deputies during a National Assembly debate on the Iraq crisis.
"France . . . rejects the automatic recourse to a second resolution. That is why we cannot support this initiative."
Earlier, in a meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, President Jacques Chirac said he was "opposed" to the resolution, which Mr Aznar described as "opportune".
Yet France's rejection of the new resolution does not mean it is likely to veto the text, which should be voted on within two weeks. In recent days, deputies from Mr Chirac's UMP party have expressed concern that a French veto would damage Paris's relations with Washington, and give the impression that France was protecting the Iraqi dictator.
"The Americans are not our enemies, and Saddam Hussein is not a pacifist but a tyrant," the UMP deputy, Mr Claude Goasguen, said earlier this week. "We're not going to destroy the UN and Europe to save a tyrant."
On Tuesday, the UMP's parliamentary group devoted its weekly session to discussing a veto, and the party's president, Mr Alain Juppé, reportedly said he would prefer if France did not have to use its veto. Mr Juppé is considered Mr Chirac's political heir.
Not once in his half-hour speech did Mr Raffarin use the word "veto". The same speech was read by the Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, in the Senate.
In an address replete with satisfaction over France's "success" in delaying war, Mr Juppé said that since last autumn, "French diplomacy has avoided the clumsiness that some tried to force upon us, which would have isolated us: brandishing the veto at the wrong time."
On the contrary, Mr Juppé said, Messers Chirac and de Villepin "have always acted in close consultation with all our foreign partners, to bring the international community together".
The socialist, communist and green parliamentary groups persisted in demanding that France use her veto. "France must assume her responsibility to the end," Mr Francois Hollande, the socialist leader, said.
Yet, after six months of tension, the atmosphere in the debating chamber was one of weariness, summed up by a doorman who asked: "Do you really think this is going to prevent the war?" Most of the deputies drifted away long before the session ended.
French politicians reiterated the arguments without enthusiasm: France is defending international law; only the UN has the right to decide on the use of force; there is no proof that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction or links with al-Qaeda; weapons inspections are making progress and must continue; war will be perceived as an assault by the West on Islam and will increase terrorist attacks.
Two new arguments were made yesterday. The deployment of Turkish troops in Iraqi Kurdistan risks worsening the conflict between Ankara and the Kurds. And war could provide cover for the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, to expel hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.
One speech was delivered with passion. "We have but a few weeks, perhaps only days, to prevent this war which would be a spiritual and moral destruction for humanity," green deputy Mr Noel Mamère said.
But by the time Mr Mamère made his plea, the Assembly was almost empty.
