OxBlog

Saturday, March 22, 2003

# Posted 10:43 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

CHIRAC VS. IRAQ: The French president has declared that he will not support a UN resolution authorizing the British and American governments to administer postwar Iraq.

According to the WaPo's sub-headline, "Chirac Vows to Block U.S., British Attempts to Govern Post-War Iraq." But that is not what Chirac said. In fact, what he opposes is providing international legitimacy to the Anglo-American occupation.

There is no indication that the French will actually do anything to stop the US or UK from administering Iraq, since that might involve paying some of the costs of the occupation. And why pay if the US and UK are going to take care of the occupation on their own?

In a sense, Chirac's attitude toward the occupation is identical to his attitude toward the war: Let the British and Americans do what has to be done while the French insist that they could have done it better.
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