FRANCE: President Jacques Chirac yesterday confounded diplomats who interpreted French preparations for war with Iraq as a softening of resistance in Paris to war-mongering by the Bush administration.
In separate speeches to French military officers and the foreign diplomatic corps, Mr Chirac made it clear that French armed forces must be ready for war with Iraq, but that war could result only from a UN Security Council decision based on a report by weapons inspectors.
France, Mr Chirac said, "intends to maintain her freedom to judge for herself."
A few days before Christmas, Paris announced that the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would be available for deployment in the Persian Gulf at the end of this month. The move led to speculation that Mr Chirac had modified his stance on war with Iraq. But speaking yesterday at traditional New Year's receptions, Mr Chirac made it clear that willingness to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which sent weapons inspectors back to Iraq, in no way constituted eagerness or a compromise on the primacy of the UN in the decision-making process.
"The disarmament of Iraq is a necessity for the Middle East and for the world," Mr Chirac told foreign ambassadors. "So we must resolve it collectively. The framework for that is the United Nations. It is the only legitimate one in our eyes."
International action would be "discredited" if it took place outside the confines of "equity, democracy and law", Mr Chirac said in an allusion to President Bush's fall-back plan for a "coalition of the willing" to attack Iraq if he fails to obtain a UN mandate.
"The international community could have recourse to war only as a last resort, once all other options are exhausted," Mr Chirac continued. "The possible decision to use force must be explicit, and it must be taken by the United Nations Security Council on the basis of a report by the inspectors."
Mr Chirac stressed the importance of maintaining the unity that was finally reached on resolution 1441. "Let us resolutely reject the temptation for unilateral action," he said. "Let us avoid attitudes that would stain the legitimacy of our action. Let us continue to place our full confidence in the United Nations inspectors."
At the same time, Mr Chirac renewed warnings to the Iraqi leadership. "A last chance is offered to them to disarm in peace. They must understand that there is no other possible way out, other than to co-operate actively in every way with UN inspection teams . . . The Iraqis know that if not, they would expose themselves to a war with incalculable consequences."
Earlier in the day, Mr Chirac told military officers that "other theatres of operation" - in addition to the Balkans, Afghanistan and the Ivory Coast, where French forces are already present - could "open up" in the new year.
"To be ready for any eventuality is the heart of the profession that you have chosen as soldiers," he said. "In particular, we must pay attention to the way that Iraq complies with UN Security Council Resolution 1441."
The French president pleaded for the cessation of terrorism and violence in Israel and the occupied territories, withdrawal from those territories, and the dismantling of Israeli settlements.
"It is time for the international community to overcome its apprehensions, or its inhibitions, and assume its responsibilities," Mr Chirac said in implied criticism of US inaction.
"Not only must they tell the parties that they must sit around a table and negotiate; they must bring them to the table. Not only must they express their vision and the principles of a settlement; they must help the parties to carry them out."
