France’s attempts at creating a coalition of Iraqis opposed to the interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi collapsed yesterday as Paris announced it had abandoned its opposition to an international conference to be held on the future of the newly-liberated country ....[Paris] wanted what it calls “Iraqi resistance groups” to also attend.
Three guesses whom they solicited:
With help from Syria, France started looking for Iraqi figures that could be invited as “resistance” leaders and opponents of the interim government in Baghdad. Among the Iraqi figures contacted were Muhammad Al-Durri, a former diplomatic aide to Saddam Hussein who had served as ambassador to the United Nations. Also canvassed were Abdul-Razzaq Al-Hashemi, a former minister of science under Saddam Hussein, and Mahdi Salehi, a former Baathist minister of commerce with ties to the French establishment.None of the figures canvassed, however, are involved in the “resistance” while at least two are in exile in the United Arab Emirates.
Both the Iraqi interim government and the US-led coalition have criticized the French move as a naked bid to find a place for the dissolved Baath party in the new Iraq.
“We understand France’s desire to revive part of its influence in Iraq,” says an aide to interim Prime Minister Allawi. “But this does not mean that we can let Baathist criminals and their jihadist allies to gain a foothold thanks to French support.”
One hopes not. But this is not over - RTWT for the next moves, already under way.
France's doing all it can to get the French hostages released -- it's been 65+ days -- since otherwise it means the French foreign policy of appeasement-bribery-compromise is officially dead. This is but the latest attempt.
That may be part of it.
IIRC, however, one topic at the proposed conference is Iraqi debt forgiveness and economic support going forward. I doubt Chirac has reconciled himself to TotalFinaElf's loss of the very lucrative oil contracts they were promised by Saddam in exchange for getting the UN sanctions lifted.
And more broadly, there is Chirac's stated desire to "balance" US influence in the Middle East.
And these are the people Kerry wants to talk with? France?
Big!
Apparantly The Arafish may be on his way to meet the maker's 72 virgins [Muhammed "forgot" to reveal that they're all very much shared and in high demand amongst the freshmen paradisians. Waiting queue is measured in millenia.]
Linkey: Arafish on Life Support
GoatGuy
As I've been saying, the Cold War is over - welcome to the Froid War. But I doubt if the Greater French Reich is as tough as the Soviets were.
I don't see what the hoopla is about this. France is simply trying to get someone who can represent some of the insurgent groups to the bargaining table in an effort to end hostilities. I know it doesn't sit well with the kill, kill, kill mentality of most right whingers, but I can't see how this is a bad thing. And spare the they're all terrorists bullshit, because most of the insurgents are not terrorists and France wasn't suggesting inviting terrorists.
Oh what jollly possibilities this presents?
Nothing wrong with French involvement? Why in the world would we trust them to do anything that is not in their own self interest? Their interest in becoming a factor on the world stage is well documented.
They've become a second tier power and can't admit to their loss of influence in world affairs. Their primary involvement is in activitie such as UNSCAM.
Trust the French? Why?
Whilst France has never let morality interfere with its foreign policy, is the Arab News a trustworthy, even if biased, source?
There's a translation of an earlier, related Arabic article on Fayrouz' blog.
Most of the militias have committed war crimes. Terrorist is a misnomer for war criminals. Just because they don't use suicide bombers or behead engineers doesn't mean we should talk to them.
I can see legitamcy on both sides here. But, please stop for a second and clearly. No one wants tho think this way but, hasn't America killed hundreds, thousands of innicent victims -children in it's drive to get the terrorists/insurgents. Why is this not looked at as a war crime or terrorism? When ever the US kills an innocent victim the response is, "Well, sometimes that happens when fighting for democracy". What BS. If we become just as bad as the terrorists (which we are in many muslims eyes) how can we gain their support. Many more civilians have died in Iraq than in the Twin towers. Wake up America - Everyone hates us, what more will it take before you turn off CNN or Fox news and start reading some honest opinion and opening your minds. Do you really think most of the world is wrong in their judgment of our decsions?
This isn't about stopping the fighting. It's about France wanting to restore the status quo ante in which it benefited from special deals with the Ba'athist regime - a very different matter.
The 3 men mentioned in this article were all senior members of Saddam's regime. More importantly, they were all involved in Saddam - France relations and under-the-table efforts to dismantle and evade the UN sanctions.
Al Dhuri provided the face of the regime to the UN and was complicit in evading the sanctions. The biological and chemical warfare programs continued under al Hashemi's ministry and with his knowledge, at least in part. And Salehi is the man who was directly involved in the TotalFinaElf deal - which deal was done in secret because it was in direct violation of both the spirit and the letter of the UN agreements.
There's a reason France opposed action against Saddam and it wasn't principle, in large part. France wasn't paying the cost of enforcing the sanctions and the no-fly zones -- the US and Britain mainly were. Nonetheless, they were "losing" in the sense that they intended to GAIN from their removal. The deals these 3 cut would have brought significant profits to Chiraq and his country in exchange for removing the UN sanctions.
Chiraq has not given up on those profits yet.
I read the article. I know there is a full moon shortly. But it is Halloween that is coming up not April Fools? Or is this worse?
"Do you really think most of the world is wrong in their judgment of our decsions? "
Actually, yes, if that post is reflective of it. I can only imagine what your idea of "honest opinion" is - something by Chomsky or Said (or, Gnu forbid, M.Moore), I suspect.
Given that the folks the Coalition is fighting in Iraq are the same people who blew up the UN HQ, then the Red Cross HQ, and apparently have little compunction about using car bombs in crowded urban areas, they've got little moral capital left, al-Jazerra notwithstanding. If the world considers them heroes, then yes, the world is wrong.
The innocent deaths are of course regrettable. Their existance doesn't discredit the cause they were lost in, which is giving the Iraqis freedom and the opportunity for representative government, something they never had under Saddam. Were the terrorists fighting for that, there might be some argument of moral equivalence; unfortunately, the participants either want a mullacracy (al-Sadr), a return to Ba'athism (Fedayeen, SRG, etc.), or a brutal emirate under al-Qaeda (Zaqawri). Not a lot of good options among them, is there?
The last time the French tried to "balance" US influence, they armed and trained the Hutu genocidaires who slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Rwanda. Plus ca meme.
It's also ironic that this is reported in Arab News, given that the Saudis are primarily responsible for financing the insurgency - and they, like the Mullahs in Iran, are profiting from the deaths of our soldiers and from the deaths of Iraqi civilians.
{Groan}
I can see where most of you are coming from!
Did anyone say that these guys the US s fighting are Hero's. It's funny how some people will resort to purposely forming an incorrect image in order to validate there point. Whether many countries disagree becuase they do not understand, are ill informed or if they just don't like the US. Any way you look at it, it is a a result of poor diplomacy by the US. To some of you the US can not make any mistakes, that is why we are having the problems we are now.
Plus que ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. :)
ca meme? Ca veut dire quoi? Si tu veux ecrire en francais, il faut faire un effort!