France: The French President tried to ease premonitions of another bruising encounter in the UN when he said France will not brandish its veto, writes Lara Marlowe, in Paris
President Jacques Chirac will take his battle against "American hegemony" and for a "multi-polar world" ruled by international law to New York today when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly and meets privately with President George W. Bush.
Franco-American relations reached historic lows when Mr Chirac threatened to veto a UN Security Council resolution that would have authorised the US invasion of Iraq. Antagonism flared again this month when the US proposed a draft resolution that would enable countries like India, Pakistan and Turkey to send troops to Iraq under a UN mandate.
The French denounced the resolution as "burden sharing without power sharing" and instead call for an immediate transfer of sovereignty to the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council - a demand dismissed as "totally unrealistic" by the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell. Mr Chirac tried to ease premonitions of another bruising encounter in the UN when he assured the New York Times that France will not brandish its veto.
"We have no intention to oppose [the US resolution]," he said in the 11-page transcript of the interview published on the Élysée's website.
"That is not my state of mind. . . But for us to vote yes, there has to be a clear, long-range political vision and a key role for the UN."
With France abstaining, Mr Bush is expected to obtain his resolution, but experts say it will be so watered down that it may not attract the desired troop commitments.
"The current confrontation will drag on, and it will end up in the Security Council again," predicted Prof Pascal Boniface, the director of the French Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) and the author of a new book entitled France Against the Empire. Mr Chirac began his visit to New York on Sunday by visiting Ground Zero.
He was to dine last night with the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, whose views on Iraq are similar to his own. French officials noted with pleasure that "90 heads of state and government are rushing to attend this General Assembly, compared to about 30 normally".
Mr Chirac will perform a balancing act in New York. He will play to opinion in France, where 86 per cent of those polled say France was right to oppose the Iraq war. But he will also try to dissipate the intensely anti-French mood in the US.
On September 18th, the influential New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote an article entitled "Our War With France" in which he said, "France is not just our annoying ally. It is not just our jealous rival. France is becoming our enemy . . . France wants America to fail in Iraq".
Mr Chirac says it is urgent that a US "governor" ceases to rule Iraq.
He admitted that the Iraqi Governing Council does not "have the means to do everything and to do it right away," so responsibility had to be shifted gradually.
"For me, that means, I don't know, six months, nine months, something along those lines."
Mr Chirac conceded that security could be "managed" by the US under UN responsibility, "as the US is making the largest contribution in terms of troops."
The basic steps proposed by France are rapid recognition of a sovereign government, the drafting of a constitution, the holding of a constitutional convention and free elections.
It was not a mistake to overthrow Saddam Hussein, Mr Chirac said, but said he did not approve of the way it was done.
"I believe he could have been overthrown without a war. I believe that political pressure would have led to the disappearance of Saddam."
"History will show who's right," Mr Chirac said.
He insisted that he is not opposing Washington for the sake of causing trouble.
"What I want you to understand is that I'm not saying black because the Americans are saying white. I'm simply stating my assessment of the facts . . . The current system, which is - let's be clear - a system of occupation, will not permit an exit. It will generate more and more reactions against the system."
Prof Boniface said the low point in Franco-American relations is not entirely due to the power of neo-conservative ideologues in Washington. Unilateral bombardment of Iraq began before Mr Bush was elected, he noted. So did US rejection of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the International Criminal Court and a treaty against anti-personnel mines. It was the former US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, who said the deaths of half-a-million Iraqi children were "worth it" to destabilise Saddam's regime.
Now Foreign Affairs magazine has published an article by Ms Albright, in which she worries about anti-American feeling throughout the world.
"If the Democrats were in power, they would be more courteous, more polite, but US policy would not fundamentally change," Prof Boniface said.
"It would be a benevolent hegemony, but hegemony all the same."