• Education - www.ohiou.edu/~Chastain/dh/franedu.htm
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• General Information & Map - www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/fr.html
• News - www.oneworld.net/themes/country/country_32_1.shtml
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                                                  NECESSARY MEASURES

                                                          January 18, 2004

Hardly being a lifelong fan of President Jacques Chirac, I nonetheless find myself agreeing with him on his strong support for the ban of headscarves in French schools.

Various groups all over France and the world have characterized this action as everything from ‘Islamophobia’ to being a denial of freedom of religion to Muslims within France. It is interesting that the vast majority of protests come from Muslims, even though the banning of headscarves is merely an extension on a ban on religious symbols in schools. In other words, Christians are also disallowed from wearing crosses, and Jews from wearing yarmulkes, but the vast outrage has come from Muslim bodies. There have been protests all over Europe from Muslims, and recently, there was even a violent threat against French interests within Europe, from some terrorist cell that is unhappy about the impending new law. It has been argued in certain quarters that although the ban affects all religions in theory, in practice it only affects Muslims, because Christians and Jews, unlike Muslims, do not have a religious obligation to wear Crosses and yarmulkes. That is an assertion that is debatable at best, but even if it was true, the French government still has a right to ban the wearing of religious symbols in exercise of the separation of Religion and State. The French Constitution in its first article, states that, “… It [France] shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion. It shall respect all beliefs.� Banning headscarves does not seem to be violating that article because it is applied equally to all religions. The fact that it might have allegedly different consequences or different nuances to the different religions does not factor into the legitimacy of the law. The government cannot be bound to carefully address the minute, religious nuances and implications of each religious symbol before passing laws. That would deny the government the right to address pressing social problems, because they are estopped by religious nuances that claim politically correct priority.

So the main question should be whether there are pressing social problems that the government is compelled to address. In this case, there clearly are. Those people who allege that this ban would violate the French constitution conveniently forget that the very first line of Article 1 of that constitution explicitly says: “France shall be an indivisible, SECULAR, democratic and social Republicâ€�. France, rather than violating the constitution, is fighting to uphold it by obeying the very first line of Article 1, and keeping its secular identity despite having the largest Muslim minority (5 million) in Europe. It is not a minority that appears willing or amenable to blending into French society, but rather appears bent on establishing itself as a vocal, discrete and mostly fundamentalist group. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer of January 5, 2004, a rise in attacks against Jews, the challenging of female public school teachers, and an epidemic of gang rapes in Muslim neighborhoods are among the symptoms of that problem, experts say. Particularly disturbing are reports that classes on the Holocaust have been disrupted and that Muslim men have demanded that only female doctors treat their wives. There is evidence that alienated and violent young Muslim men have been coercing women into wearing a head covering.  There is also evidence that hospitals and prisons face the same problems as schools in maintaining their secular atmospheres, the panel said. According to the report, some hospital corridors are used as prayer rooms and some men refuse to allow their wives to be treated by male doctors.

There are fears that headscarves signal inroads by Muslim fundamentalists in France's estimated 5 million-strong Muslim community -- up to 7 per cent of the population.

Headscarves are already forbidden for people working in the public sector, but even that rule is occasionally broken. A Muslim employee of the city of Paris was recently suspended for declining to remove her headscarf or shake men's hands.

These are all merely examples of the unfolding problem that France is facing, of maintaining its traditionally liberal, secular identity, while integrating its Muslim minority. And in a struggle such as this, it is not unreasonable to take unusual steps, as long as those steps are rationally connected to solving the problem, and do not trample too much on rights. Again, it is worth mentioning that addressing this problem is demanded by the French Constitution in Article 1, which mandates a secular country. There is nothing unfair about obliging French Muslims to obey the French constitution and follow the same laws as other Frenchmen and Frenchwomen. Indeed, the constitution seems to mandate that everyone, regardless of religion should be subject to the same laws. Immigrants have migrated to France and the West for several dozens of years, because presumably they wanted to be a part of French or western society. It seems anachronistic that those same people now want to essentially denature the essence of French society by standing above the laws that have created and governed the French system. The essence of Western democracy is openness, but that factor being a strength, also can be a huge weakness, being that it permits other less open, less democratic ideas foster within.

Consequently, it is critical for every society to find a way to balance its openness with its survival. Polls within France show that 75% of the population supports the government’s proposal to ban these headscarves. There is support for this ban, from groups as disparate as Mainstream politicians, women's groups and teachers’ unions.  Consequently, in line with the principles of democratic society, in the absence of clear and incontrovertible evidence that these headscarves violate the French constitution, and indeed evidence that the ban is necessary to uphold the constitution, there is no legal or moral basis for opposing the ban. Again it is worthwhile to note that no nation builds its laws according to the mores and values of external voices, however strident those voices may be, and whether the Vatican, the Anglican Church or Muslim groups around the world condemn the ban or not is irrelevant. The French have every right to fight to preserve their way of life, and if there is any criticism, it should be directed at those voices who have painted the proposed ban, with the broad but familiar brush of ‘discrimination.’  In fact it is the attempt by the French government to protect French society from the dangerous and discriminatory nature of radical Islam that has created this entire wave of protest. I am uncertain of why the Bush administration's ambassador for religious freedom, considers the wearing of head scarves "a basic right that should be protected", considering that the French constitution explicitly mandates a SECULAR nation, AND considering that Non-Muslims who live in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia are not permitted to dress however they like under the principle of ‘basic rights.’ They are confined to dressing in the manner that the laws of that NON-SECULAR country permit, and I am yet to hear either the Bush Administration or any other of the protesters, arguing that women should be permitted to wear mini-skirts and tank tops in Saudi Arabia, because it is a ‘basic right’.  It can be argued that Saudi Arabia is no bastion of democracy, but the critical point is that Saudi Arabia has chosen a way to govern itself. France is also entitled to chose a way to govern itself. It is easy to criticize the French actions perhaps because the U.S. is not trying to integrate an increasingly fundamentalist Muslim minority, which comprises 7 - 12% of the U.S. population, and which engages in questionable practices such as have been outlined in this article.

The irony of all this is that citizens from certain developing countries are more informed and understanding of the dangers the French are trying to address, because they have experienced the full brunt of radical Islam allowed to grow and overrun their countries. The problem the French are facing is a problem that several nations like the Philppines, Nigeria and Sudan have faced and buckled under, leading to near chaos. It is a problem that the U.S. would be wise to seriously study, using the wisdom acquired from the near-past, instead of joining in the chorus of politically correct but misplaced criticism of the French government.

Finally, it is worthwhile noting that this recommendation to ban headscarves did not come lightly. It was not made viscerally by a group of anti-Muslim French rednecks. It was made after six months of study and 120 hearings and it was geared towards finding ways of integrating the huge Muslim minority, as opposed to alienating them. September 11 taught us that we should not allow problems to fester without addressing them. The French government despite its well documented antipathy of the Bush administration is taking a page out of the pre-emptive book, addressing a problem that is worsening by the day. For this, they should be commended, not criticized.

3000 KILLED IN FRANCE DUE TO HEAT WAVE.

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STRATFOR’S MORNING INTELLIGENCE BRIEF

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Date Added: Monday, July 21st, 2003
Contributed by: RCN Administrator

SITUATION REPORTS - July 21, 2003 -- 1150 GMT – FRANCE: France has launched an investigation into the July 20
bomb attack on a tax office in Nice that injured 16 people. No one has
claimed responsibility for the attack, in which two bombs exploded. However,
Corsican separatists, who called off a cease-fire during the week of July
14, are suspects in a similar attack on the same office six months ago.

1145 GMT – SOLOMON ISLANDS: The first contingent of Australian soldiers
slated to go to the Solomon Islands left aboard the naval frigate HMAS
Manoora on July 21. Defense Minister Sen. Robert Hill said that no timetable
has been set for the soldiers' return from the island. The rest of the
2,000-member force is expected on the island on July 24. Australian Prime
Minister John Howard decided to send the troops in hopes of containing the
island and keeping it from degenerating into a "lawless haven for
terrorists, drug runners and money launderers."

1129 GMT – IRAN: Iran armed its elite Revolutionary Guard with the Shahab-3
missile during a military inauguration ceremony July 20 as Iran's supreme
leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei looked on, state-run Iranian television
reported. The Shahad-3 has a range of 810 miles and can strike targets in
Iraq, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, U.S.
intelligence agencies have said that although the missile is suspected of
having this ability, Iran has not yet developed a completely reliable
missile.

1127 GMT – VENEZUELA: Venezuelan army commander Gen. Jorge Luis Garcia
Carneiro told Caracas television station Globovision on July 20 that it's
not likely a presidential recall referendum can be held in 2003 because "the
new National Electoral Council (CNE) still has to be named, the required
signatures have to be collected, the Permanent Electoral Registry (of
voters) has to be purged, election material has to be printed and the
personnel that will participate in the electoral process has to be trained."

1122 GMT – RUSSIA: Six Russian servicemen and three rebels were killed and
eight were wounded overnight on July 20 in a firefight near the village of
Dyshne-Vedeno, Interfax reported, citing sources inside the headquarters of
the Combined Federal Force in the Northern Caucasus. The incident occurred
when Russian forces intercepted the rebels, who reportedly were planning to
take over the village.

1118 GMT – CHINA: British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in China on July
21 to meet with Chinese officials, including President Hu Jintao and former
President Jiang Zemin. Blair, accompanied by British businessmen, opened a
new British Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, as well as discussed North
Korea's nuclear ambitions, postwar Iraq and trade relations between Britain
and China. This is the third leg in Blair's Asia tour, with the first two
being in Japan and South Korea.

1115 GMT – IRAQ: One U.S soldier from the 1st Armored Division and an Iraqi
interpreter were killed July 21 after being ambushed with grenades and
small-arms fire just north of Baghdad, Cpl. Todd Pruden said. Pruden did not
elaborate on the incident. To date, 152 U.S. soldiers have died in combat
since the war in Iraq started March 20.

1110 GMT – LIBERIA: A 41-member contingent of U.S. Marines from the Fleet
Anti-Terrorism Team in Rota, Spain, is expected to arrive July 21 in
Monrovia, Liberia, European Command spokesman Maj. Bill Bigelow said. The
team is expected to reinforce security around the U.S Embassy. Currently,
there are 20 U.S. troops in the country -- sent to assess the situation and
the possible need for a U.S.-led peacekeeping force. The United States and
African leaders still are pressing Liberian President Charles Taylor to step
down and go into exile in hopes of ending the civil war.

1103 GMT – MEXICO: Mexican counterterrorism investigators found information
on how to manufacture chemical weapons and other militant-oriented
information in a safe house used by Spaniards and Mexicans suspected of
having ties with the Basque militant group ETA, Reuters reports. Six Spanish
citizens and three Mexicans were arrested across Mexico on July 18, and a
seventh Spaniard was arrested in northern Spain. Police forces
simultaneously raided suspected safe houses in the Pacific coast resort of
Puerto Escondido, Cancun on the Yucatan Peninsula, Monterrey in northern
Mexico, Puebla and Mexico City. All of the cities have easy and frequent
international air connections to multiple destinations in Europe and the
United States.

************************************************************************

Geopolitical Diary: Monday, July 21, 2003

Four U.S. soldiers were killed in action over the weekend -- including two
members of the 101st Airborne Division who were killed in an ambush west of
Mosul that left another soldier injured. Sunday's ambush occurred near Tall
Afar. The interesting thing about these attacks is that both took place
outside the "Sunni Triangle" north and west of Baghdad, where attacks have
been focused. The guerrillas appear to be expanding their operations
deliberately, trying to unnerve U.S. troops and force their commanders to
expand the combat arena -- and thereby stretch their resources even more.
What is unclear is whether these were special operations at long distances
by the Iraqis, or whether they indicated a sustained move into these
regions -- and the answers to these questions will be critical.

U.S. officials have decided to raise an Iraqi army, designated as an Iraqi
"civil defense corps." Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, said the
force "will be made up of Iraqis who will be under American military command
to help us basically with the armed part of the work we're doing." If they
do nothing but help interpret both language and culture to the American
troops, they will be beneficial. If they are not expected to engage in
combat operations on their own, they can be spun up fairly rapidly."

The corps poses two challenges. The first is finding anyone willing to serve
in it. There will be two classes of people volunteering: One class consists
of criminals and down-and-outers who see a chance to come out on top in the
new Iraqi order, with not much to lose if it fails; then there will be the
people that Bremer wants: people rooted in the community with families --
people who in addition to serving in the force can also influence their
communities. This is not an impossible idea by any means, but it does depend
on one thing: being able to protect their families. The men will be safer on
patrol with U.S. forces, but their families will not. If the United States
can't protect them, the whole project fails. And protecting the families of
troops always has been one of the nightmares of guerrilla warfare.

The second problem will be security. This force will be a treasure trove of
intelligence for the Baathists. If we were Baath commanders, our men would
be standing in line to join up. Getting close up and personal with U.S.
troops would provide tactical and operational intelligence. In Vietnam, the
Viet Cong made it a point to place people in the Army of Vietnam (ARVN)
slots where liaison with the Americans was heavy. It is unclear how you do a
background check in Iraq, and we'd love to see the polygraphs. Keeping the
force clean is going to be a nightmare -- that is, if Bremer plans to put up
recruitment posters all over the country to create a force that "looks like
Iraq," in former U.S. President Bill Clinton's old phrase. If, on the other
hand, the bulk of the forces are to be raised from the Shiite regions --
where deals are being made -- and from the Kurdish regions, the security
concerns might be less. Of course, the Kurds will engage in smuggling and
the Shiites will report to Tehran, but they will be motivated to stop the
Baath guerrillas, which is the item on the agenda.

If this is the case, then what is happening is that the United States will
recruit non-Sunni forces to share the burden of occupying the Sunni regions.
As we have argued in the past, this is the only way to do it. It does not
create a pro-American faction inside the Sunni regions, but it does increase
the force available to engage and defeat the Baathists. Both the Kurds and
Shiites have the interest to carry out the mission, but both will have to be
induced to do so with political arrangements. In the case of the Shiites,
those arrangements will be costly.

Since the idea of a general recruitment from the population strikes us as
self-defeating, we suspect that this proposal is the cover for the creation
of a combined U.S.-Shiite force for occupying Sunni areas. Whether we are
right in this will be visible when the recruitment starts. Pay no attention
to the first media reports on this, which will be staged carefully to show
the diversity and motivation of the force. After the cameras leave, we will
take a careful look at the force and see how many of their families live in
the "Sunni Triangle."

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IRAQ’S SHIITES

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Date Added: Saturday, April 12th, 2003
Contributed by: RCN Administrator

Tough Nuts to Crack -- The following article was written three hours before the assassination of the Iraqi Shiite cleric, Abd Al-Majid Khoei, whose father, the Grand Ayatollah Khoei, was persecuted by Saddam Hussein as the spiritual leader of "Iraq's 12 million Shiites." 

Abd Al-Majid returned to Iraq from exile under coalition protection to take up a key role in the future federal government in Baghdad. He died on Thursday, April 10, when a melee that broke out in the Imam Ali Mosque of the holy town of Najaf was exploited by Baath agents in the crowd to commit the murder. A second Shiite cleric died with him.

Chirac Challenges Bush through Iraq's Shiites

Directly after the assassination, the Shiite community of Iraq was pulled in another unexpected direction “this time the outcome of a challenge France had decided to mount against the United States through a Shiite group." 

Thursday night, April 10, a small Paris-based Shiite opposition faction published a call to Iraqi Shiites to rise up against the American occupation of Iraq with all their strength, including force of arms. DEBKA-Net-Weekly's Paris sources have found that this group, which is headed by Dr. Abd Rikabi, is sponsored directly by the French intelligence DGSE service. It has a sparse following in most of Iraq's Shiite centers. This group would never have taken so extreme an initiative without DGSE sanction, which would have required approval from the President, Jacques Chirac. The inference here is that Chirac, using the Shiites as proxies, has embarked on a course of military confrontation against the American presence in Iraq. This course was predicted by the Russian president Vladimir Putin in a warning to President George W. Bush - as revealed on March 14 by DEBKA-Net-Weekly Issue No. 101. 

Here Come the Warlords

Reporting on the battle for Basra, DEBKA-Net-Weekly's military experts judge it to have been much more than a fight for control of the southern city. It was all about securing the coalition's fragile eastern front, where Iran's influence is prevalent in a predominantly Shiite area likely to be fertile ground for the coming guerrilla war against the Americans in Iraq. Already, Iranian agents are pouring into the Faw Peninsula, Umm Qassar, Basra and al-Amara, bringing in weapons, money and fighters. 

Local tribal leaders watched from the sidelines as US armor rumbled towards Baghdad, leaving them free to take the opportunity of setting themselves up as warlords after American military might had gone by. Already, they are staking claims to patches of territory and establishing militias with Iranian largesse and encouragement. Lawlessness reminiscent of the Pakistani-Afghan border is swiftly taking over and could soon threaten Iraq's southern oil fields. 

The old British colonial power that once ruled Iraq is back but failed to take hold of the Faw Peninsula where Iraqi deserters are congregating and rearming for the next round of hostilities. 

Neither have the British 7th armored division (Desert Rats) and 16th assault brigade, deployed along a line east of the Shatt al-Arab, been able to prevent Iran from asserting control over the strategic waterway and threatening to turn it into the lawless militias' main logistical supply and communication channel. Like coalition forces elsewhere in Iraq, the British were only partially successful because they simply did not have enough forces on the ground to do any more. 

DEBKA-Net-Weekly's sources report that, along with the looting, militias are sprouting in all Iraq's main cities. The first turf wars are erupting over the control of urban districts. 

The militias are set up on religious and tribal lines, a contributing factor to the American nightmare of wholesale slaughter in the cities. Isolated "pockets of resistance" could turn in an instant to a volatile brew of Shiite and Sunni Muslim militias at each other's throats, a constant thorn in the side of US forces as they battle Saddam's "jihad" guerrilla bands.

Over the past week, the United States has gone to great lengths to win over the largely secular Shiite population of the big cities. Six out of 10 Iraqis are Shiite, according to US estimates. Iran puts the figure at 75 percent of Iraq's population of 22 million. 

The Americans are racing Iran and Saddam for Shiite hearts and minds. The United States made intense efforts this week to persuade Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the senior Shiite authority in Iraq, to publish a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Shiite believers to cooperate with coalition forces. US sources insisted that Sistani agreed in a secret meeting in Najaf with Colonel Chris Hughes of the US 101st Airborne Division and Shiite agents of the CIA to call on his people not to resist American troops.

Two days later, Sistani's office in London disavowed this call. 

Adding to US dismay, the next day Iraqi television broadcast what it said was the voice of a senior Shiite clergyman reading a fatwa issued by five religious leaders calling on the Shiites to fight US and British forces to the death. 

But the United States has another card up its sleeve “Abd Al-Majid Khoei, its main Shiite ally and leader of some 3,000 Shiite fighters funded by Washington and based in Kuwait. Khoei was in Basra at the beginning of the war some three weeks ago and informed US General Tommy Franks, the supreme coalition commander, the city had fallen. That was premature and the Americans hustled him out of Basra. He is now in Najaf where he has been trying unsuccessfully to be received by Sistani or the ayatollah's associates and request a favorable fatwa. 

Undeterred by Sistani's snub, Khoei made the rounds of Shiite adherents living in Najaf and Karbala, lobbying them for greater cooperation with the US military. He has met with only partial success, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly's sources in the area, but in Najaf managed to reopen Shiite shrines shut down by Saddam Hussein, including the Imam Ali central mosque. The Republican Guards had taken possession of the shrine and was preparing to use it as a firing position, when the local populace forced them to drop their plan. 

American officers in Najaf and Karbala have found the local populace deeply concerned with the situation of their fellow believers in Baghdad. They offered assurances that the Shiites in the capital should have no fear of being harmed any more than their coreligionists in Najaf and Karbala. 

Besides Khoei, the Americans are attempting to influence the population through two other prominent Shiite clerics Sayyad Bahar el-Olum and Ayatollah Hussein Sadr. They are also courting the Ayatollah Sheikh Mohammed Bshaq Bayat.

A secular Shiite, Ahmed Chalabi, the London-based leader of the opposition Iraqi National Congress, was also asked by Washington to help out. The United States flew him along with some 300 to 400 fighters and 250 people whom he believes will be part of a new Iraqi government from the northern city of Dohuk to Talil, the main US base of air operations in Iraq. From there, he moved to Nasiriyah in the south to spread word of the prominent role the United States is promising the Shiites in post-war central government, if they show their support for the American action in Iraq. 

A Destabilizing Wind from Lebanon

The Lebanese Hizballah's terrorist-ideologue, Sheikh Hassan Fadlallah, member of the Lebanese group's Politburo and the Ayatollah Sistani's foremost rival as religious authority in the Shiite world, has already thrown himself into the creation of Saddam's "jihad" guerrilla underground. Sistani by refraining from throwing his support behind the United States implicitly adds his weight to Saddam's schemes. 

Tehran is continuing to push its candidate, Mohamad Baqr Al Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, for a senior government position in post-war Baghdad against the candidacy of Majid Khoei. The Iranians threaten to stir up Iraqi Shiites against the Americans if they do not get their way. Before launching the war, the Americans welcomed Al Hakim but have discovered since that his influence in the Shiite community of Iraq is marginal, and are brushing off Iran's threats.

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WHO STANDS ALONE

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Date Added: Friday, March 28th, 2003
Contributed by: RCN Administrator

By, Michael Marks --

Eleven thousand soldiers lay beneath the dirt and stone, all buried on a distant land so far away from home. For just a strip of dismal beach they paid a hero’s price, to save a foreign nation they all made the sacrifice.

And now the shores of Normandy are lined with blocks of white, Americans who didn’t turn from someone else’s plight. Eleven thousand reasons for the French to take our side,
but in the moment of our need, they chose to run and hide.

Chirac said every war means loss, perhaps for France that’s true, for they’ve lost every battle since the days of Waterloo. Without a soldier worth a damn to be found in the region, the French became the only land to need a Foreign Legion.

You French all say we’re arrogant. Well hell, we’ve earned the right-- We saved your sorry nation when you lacked the guts to fight. But now you’ve made a big mistake, and one that you’ll regret; you took sides with our enemies, and that we won’t forget.

It wasn’t just our citizens you spit on when you turned, but every one of ours who fell the day the towers burned. You spit upon our soldiers, on our pilots and Marines,
and now you’ll get a little sense of just what payback means.

So keep your Paris fashions and your wine and your champagne, and find some other market that will buy your aeroplanes. And try to find somebody else to wear your French cologne, for you’re about to find out what it means to stand alone.

You see, you need us far more than we ever needed you. America has better friends who know how to be true. I’d rather stand with warriors who have the will and might,
than huddle in the dark with those whose only flag is white.

I’ll take the Brits, the Aussies, the Israelis and the rest, for when it comes to valor we have seen that they’re the best. We’ll count on one another as we face a moment dire,
while you sit on the sideline with a sign “friendship for hire.�

We’ll win this war without you and we’ll total up the cost, and take it from your foreign aid, and then you’ll feel the loss. And when your nation starts to fall, well Frenchie, you can spare us, just call the Germans for a hand, they know the way to Paris.

# # #

Michael Marks
marksman@patriot.net

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COLIN POWELL WAS ASKED BY THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY IF OUR PLANS FOR IRAQ WERE JUST AN EXAMPLE OF EMPIRE BUILDING BY GEORGE BUSH.

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Date Added: Thursday, March 27th, 2003
Contributed by: RCN Administrator

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.

He answered by saying that, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders.  The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."

It became very quiet in the room.

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STRATEGIC POLICY - BY TIM KENNEDY

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Date Added: Friday, March 21st, 2003
Contributed by: RCN Administrator

Washington, DC --

France Bolsters Severed US Ties By Arranging Saddam Hussein’s Exile

The accidental discovery last week of the deadly biological warfare agent ricin in a Paris railway station is a clear sign France is now in the cross hairs of international terrorists.

Ironically, France’s new terror threat worsens several diplomatic and economic problems brought on by its effort to disassociate from nations engaged in the global war on terror – particularly the United States.

France, of course, led the chorus of UN nations opposed to US military operations in Iraq. When France announced it intended to use its UN Security Council veto to stop a US-sponsored resolution that would have affirmed the invasion, the measure was angrily withdrawn.

France’s UN intransigence severely strained Franco-American relations and now jeopardizes the country’s economic ties to the United States. However, France’s relationship with America could be significantly rehabilitated by its secret negotiations with Saddam Hussein to have him accept exile in West Africa.

The economic relationship between Paris and Washington is significant: In 2001, France exported over $30 billion in goods to the United States and imported American goods totaling $20 billion. Additionally, France has made direct investments in the United States totaling $49 billion.

But President George W. Bush’s ability to penalize the French is limited: Punitive trade measures would necessarily target the entire European Union, which – along with France -- includes Britain and Spain, key members of the so-called “Coalition of the Willing� supporting the US war with Iraq.

However, the US State Department could conceivably discipline Paris for its disloyalty by interfering with France’s diplomatic aspirations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and elsewhere.

This threat was implied by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell two weeks ago on CBS’s “Face the Nation. � Powell said the Iraq showdown has created “some issues here we are going to have to work out� with France, adding: “I think, in the short term, we have damaged our relationship with France.�

The US Congress has also proposed ways to retaliate against France -- and not just by re-naming French fries as “freedom fries� in congressional dining rooms. By enacting new tariffs, Congress could sanction the import of French cheese, bottled water and other goods. However, trade experts warn that these proposed measures would likely violate agreements with the European Union and the World Trade Organization.

Taking a more direct step, the US House Armed Services Committee held a special hearing last week to discuss a measure by Congressman James H. Saxton (R-New Jersey) barring the Pentagon from participating in the Paris Air Show for the next five years.

Saxton has also proposed that the US officially exclude French companies from rebuilding Iraq when hostilities cease. The French, said Saxton, “can’t have their cake and eat it, too.�

America may indeed be restricted in its retribution for France’s actions, but the French are nonetheless worried that the harsh rhetoric coming from the State Department, Capitol Hill and elsewhere may inspire American consumers to boycott French goods. More worrisome to the French is the possibility that France will be shunned by US tourists and American investors.

The US government’s ability to undermine France is probably strongest in the international political arena. For example, the United States could use its considerable influence to frustrate France’s role in the UN, the European Union and NATO.

France’s goal of becoming a major player on the global stage is inextricably linked to its status as a member of the UN Security Council. American diplomats at the UN say they have no plans to officially minimize France’s status, but Secretary of State made it clear last week that the United States will probably never again consult the UN prior to engaging in an unpopular military conflict, thus rendering insignificant France’s veto power in the Security Council.

However, Strategic Policy has learned the French may have an opportunity to polish their tarnished reputation: since December, France has orchestrated secret talks between Iraq, Jordan, and the West African nation of Mauritania in order to facilitate Saddam Hussein’s surrender and exile.

Last week, Secretary of State Powell hinted at these negotiations. "There are a number of channels open to Baghdad,� he said. “There are a number of individuals in countries around the world who have been conveying the message to the Iraqi regime that it is now inevitable that there will be a change."

France’s diplomatic “back-channel� connects presidential emissaries in Baghdad to legal representatives in Amman, Jordan, to Mauritanian officials in Paris and Nouakchott.

Mauritania, an economically depressed former French colony in West Africa, is faulted by international human rights organizations for its of tolerance of slavery.

In the 1980s, Mauritania served as a proving ground for Iraq’s missile development program. In return, Iraq offered free military training and college educations to Mauritania’s ruling class.

During the first Gulf War, Mauritania is believed to have offered safe refuge to Saddam Hussein’s family and members of the Iraqi presidents inner political circle.

Send questions and comments to: strategicpolicy@juno.com

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LEQUOTES ON FRANCE

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Date Added: Tuesday, March 11th, 2003
Contributed by: RCN Administrator

"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country.  France has usually been governed by prostitutes."  ---Mark Twain

"I just love the French. They taste like chicken!"
      ---- Hannibal Lecter

While speaking to the Hoover Institution today, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked this question: "Could you tell us why to date at least the Administration doesn't favor direct talks with the North Korean government? After all, we're talking with the French." The Secretary smiled and replied: "I'm not going there!"

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure"
---Jacques Chirac, President of France

"As far as France is concerned, you're right."
---Rush Limbaugh,

"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee."--- Regis Philbin

 

"You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it."

---John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona

 

"You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He is French, people."

--Conan O'Brien

"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of France!"
---Jay Leno

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me." --- General George S. Patton

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." --Norman Schwartzkopf

"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it." ---- Marge Simpson

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know." --- P.J O'Rourke (1989)

Next time there's a war in Europe, the loser has to keep France.

An old saying:
Raise your right hand if you like the French....
Raise both hands if you are French.

The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag."

--David Letterman

REPLACEMENTS FOR THE
FRENCH NATIONAL ANTHEM:
  "Runaway" by Del Shannon, 
"Walk Right In" by the Rooftop Singers, 
"Everybody's Somebody's" Fool by Connie Francis, 
"Running Scared" by Roy Orbison, 
"I Really Don't Want to Know" by Tommy Edwards, 
"Surrender" by Elvis Presley, 
"Save It For Me" by The Four Seasons, 
"Live and Let Die" by Wings, 
"I'm Leaving It All Up To You" by Donny and Marie Osmond, 
"What a Fool Believes" by the Doobie Brothers, 
"Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin
"Raise Your Hands" by Jon Bon Jovi

How many Frenchmen does it take to change a light bulb?
One. He holds the bulb and all of Europe revolves around him.

 

 

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THE CHIRAC-HUSSEIN CONNECTION

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Date Added: Thursday, February 20th, 2003
Contributed by: RCN Administrator

French President Jacques Chirac is a pivotal figure on the international scene, whose views on Iraq are of vital concern. Those views are not driven simply by geopolitics, however. The factors that shape his thinking include a long, complex and sometimes mysterious relationship with Saddam Hussein. The relationship is not secret, but it is no longer as well known as it once was -- nor is it well known outside of France. It is not insignificant in understanding Chirac’s view of Iraq.

Analysis

In attempting to understand France’s behavior over the issue of war with Iraq, there is little question but that strategic, economic and geopolitical considerations are dominant drivers. However, in order to understand the details of French behavior, it is also important to understand a not really unknown but oddly neglected aspect of French policy: the personal relationship
between French President Jacques Chirac and Saddam Hussein.

The relationship dates back to late 1974, when then-French Premier Chirac traveled to Baghdad and met the No. 2 man in the Iraqi government, Vice President Saddam Hussein. During that visit, Chirac and Hussein conducted negotiations on a range of issues, the most important of these being Iraq’s purchase of nuclear reactors.

In September 1975, Hussein traveled to Paris, where Chirac personally gave him a tour of a French nuclear plant. During that visit, Chirac said, "Iraq is in the process of beginning a coherent nuclear program and France wants to associate herself with that effort in the field of reactors." France sold two reactors to Iraq, with the agreement signed during Hussein’s visit. The Iraqis purchased a 70-megawatt reactor, along with six charges of 26 points of uranium enriched to 93 percent -- in other words, enough weapons-grade uranium to produce three to four nuclear devices. Baghdad also purchased a one-megawatt research reactor, and France agreed to train 600 Iraqi nuclear technicians and scientists -- the core of Iraq’s nuclear capability today.

Other dimensions of the relationship were decided on during this visit and implemented in the months afterward. France agreed to sell Iraq $1.5 billion worth of weapons -- including the integrated air defense system that was destroyed by the United States in 1991, about 60 Mirage F1 fighter planes, surface-to-air
missiles and advanced electronics. The Iraqis, for their part, agreed to sell France $70 million worth of oil.

During this period, Chirac and Hussein formed what Chirac called a close personal relationship. As the New York Times put it in a 1986 report about Chirac’s attempt to return to the premiership, the French official "has said many times that he is a personal
friend of Saddam Hussein of Iraq." In 1987, the Manchester Guardian Weekly quoted Chirac as saying that he was "truly fascinated by Saddam Hussein since 1974." Whatever personal chemistry there might have been between the two leaders obviously remained in place a decade later, and clearly was not simply
linked to the deals of 1974-75. Politicians and businessmen