French FM Kouchner in Iraq
Le Figaro calls it a “surprise and surprising visit.” Reporters were still sniffing around Wolfeboro for signs of ostentatious wealth when MFA Bernard Kouchner landed in Iraq; the first French official to visit the country since the Franco-American split in the spring of 2003.
No one expected the visit, no one had predicted it. One week after the famous Bush-Sarkozy luncheon a French official sets foot in Iraq, expresses friendship for the Iraqi people, and declares his intention to speak with all parties, with no exceptions, during the three-day visit. It hit prime time news and is a lead story in online editions of major newspapers.
Lib√©ration reminds us that Kouchner was a personal friend of UN official Sergio Viera de Mello, killed in the August 2003 attack against the UN compound, along with Nadia Younes, Fiona Watson, and Jean-S√©lim Kanan, who had worked with him in Kosovo. Kouchner, former Socialist Health Minister and one of the founders of Doctors without Borders, defends the “droit d’ing√©rence,” defined as the right to interfere in the domestic affairs of a sovereign nation in order to protect its inhabitants. He disagreed with France’s head-on opposition to the U.S. in 2003, and believes that if France had remained by the side of its American ally, war could have been avoided.
Le Monde mentions that the unexpected visit was immediately welcomed by the U.S. as another example of the willingness of the international community to help stabilize Iraq.
The article ends with a reminder of the difficulties encountered by the Maliki government and the death toll of Tuesday’s mega-attack.
Le Figaro quotes Kouchner on the French solution for Iraq, which he shares with president Sarkozy. They believe that there is no military solution. The solution is in the hands of the Iraqis. The French will be glad to help, but it’s up to the Iraqis to solve their problem. We must be patient. We are just at the beginning of the end of the crisis. Kouchner laid a wreath at the monument to the UN victims, dedicated “To the soldiers of peace, [from] a grateful France.”
The state-owned regional network France 3 replayed the shoulder-tapping scene at Kennebunkport and emphasized the timing-the visit takes place one week after the Bush-Sarkozy luncheon. It’s actually 8 days, but let’s not quibble.
Extensive analysis can be expected in Monday’s papers. There will certainly be speculation on this surprising new development in Franco-American relations; does it signify a new willingness of the Bush administration to go for the European solution, or a new direction in the Sarkozy government, inching toward military cooperation with the United States?
No one will stoop so low as to suggest that the visit was payoff for hot dogs & hamburgers in Kennebunkport
No doubt this is all Bush’s fault.
Medicine san Frontier worked inside Afghanistan during the Soviet War there. That is some history to be proud of.
Maybe we are seeing the return to sanity in France. Bout time.
“[I]f France had remained by the side of its American ally, war could have been avoided”
This is utterly true, if France had not convinced Saddam that they could head off the war, and had not sold her security council veto to Saddam for rights to 25% of the oil which belonged to the Iraqi people, not Saddam, a helecoptor ride and a comfortable exile could have been arranged, and a war avoided.
France chose the route of venality. I am happy to see them come around, but the above is simply true.
By the way, there is some “top out of sight” type money in New Hampshire, owing to its lack of a state income tax, and residual old money class in some places, but ostentatious? Nope.
This trend does not bode well for Chirac and Villepin. Let’s hope it continues.
“Everything was planned, on the French side, so that this visit would not be interpreted as a reversal in support of George Bush’s policy. The minister traveled on a French plane and will not meet any official American in Baghdad.” Le Monde
A good point for one of the rare French politicians to have, in the spring of 2003, supported the eviction of Saddam and regretted the refusal of France to get involved alongside its American allies…
And a page finally turned after four years of a ridiculous quabble …
But… why, after accepting to meet and invite in Paris, without any condition, some representatives from the Hezbollah terror group, this ridiculous refusal to meet any American officials as if they had the plague while they’re supposed to be our allies and we so shamelessly betrayed them four years ago?
France finally turns the page on Iraq, but why the preposterous caution?
http://jcdurbant.blog.lemonde.fr/2007/08/21/kouchner-en-irak-un-premier-et-bienvenu-pas-mais-pourquoi-tant-de-ridicule-circonspection-france-finally-turns-the-page-on-iraq-but-why-the-preposterous-caution/
The hands of the Iraqis are the reason why the US had to go in there, in the first place.
For some reason, people seem to (conveniently) ignore the fact that the US is not in Iraq to help the Iraqis. The US is in Iraq because that country became an intolerable threat. To give the impression that the Iraqis are now free to choose if they want to allow their country to, again, become such a threat is ridiculous.
Bush may not say it, and most others may want to pretend it isn’t true, but the fact is that if the Iraqis are unable to self-govern with individual liberty and without becoming a threat and destabilizing force to all around, then the Iraqis are going to have to suffer, and suffer horribly. That’s how these situations are handled.
Personally, I would threaten them with losing the oil fields and gulf access. If the Iraqis are unable to act like a civilized nation, then our best option is to just seize the fields (since they CANNOT be allowed to be used by whomever happens to take control of Iraq after we go) and the gulf access and leave the Iraqis with nothing. Or, an alternative is to just int=stall a friendly dictator – which would just make Iraq like almost every other arab country on Earth.
But these threats of withdrawal are laughable. Threats? Both the Sunnis and the Shiites want the US out, since both sides believe that they can win control of the whole country, including the immense power that the oil fields will deliver, once the US leaves. The Sunnis believe it because they’ve done it before, and the Shiites believe that they can do it with the help of Iran. The only ones who are terrified by the prospect of the US withdrawing are the Kurds, who have been our only faithful ally in that country.
As to symbolic gestures from the French. They’re better than actions from the French, but I would prefer that the French just kept their noses out of any real business. After all, the French haven’t made one decent decision of import in over 100 years. I think the fact that they are already into their 5th republic also speaks volumes.