[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Chirac Says War in Iraq Spreads Terrorism

[michael at intrafi.com]

The article below from NYTimes.com 
has been sent to you by michael at intrafi.com.



/--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\

SIDEWAYS - NOW PLAYING IN SELECT CITIES

An official selection of the New York Film Festival and the
Toronto International Film Festival, SIDEWAYS is the new
comedy from Alexander Payne, director of ELECTION and ABOUT
SCHMIDT.  Starring Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church,
Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen. Watch the trailer at:

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/sideways/index_nyt.html

\----------------------------------------------------------/


Chirac Says War in Iraq Spreads Terrorism

November 18, 2004
 By CRAIG S. SMITH 



 

PARIS, Nov. 17 - On the eve of a visit to Britain,
President Jacques Chirac said Wednesday that the world was
more dangerous because of the American-led invasion of
Iraq. 

"To a certain extent Saddam Hussein's departure was a
positive thing," Mr. Chirac said in an interview broadcast
on the BBC Newsnight television program. "But it also
provoked reactions, such as the mobilization in a number of
countries of men and women of Islam, which has made the
world more dangerous." 

Ensuring that his country's relations with the United
States and Britain will remain cool, he said, "There is no
doubt" that terrorism around the world has increased
because of the war in Iraq. 

President Chirac's comments followed an equally acerbic
assessment of American-led foreign policy that he made in
an interview published in British newspapers on Tuesday. In
that interview, he expressed doubt that "with America as it
is these days," Britain or any other country could be an
"honest broker" in improving trans-Atlantic relations. 

The comments were a pointed rebuke of Mr. Bush's contention
that the world is safer since Mr. Hussein was deposed, and
of Prime Minister Tony Blair's view that Britain is a
bridge between the United States and Europe. 

French-American relations, rarely easy, have lingered near
historic lows since Mr. Chirac's government fought bitterly
last year to avert the war. His unwillingness to reach out
to the United States as the Bush administration heads into
a second term is certain to keep those relations at a low
ebb for now. 

Perhaps more striking than Mr. Chirac's disdain for the
Bush administration (he referred in the newspaper interview
to the secretary of defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, as "that
nice guy, I've forgotten his name, who talked about Old
Europe") was his dismissal of Mr. Blair's unyielding
support for Mr. Bush. 

Recalling a French-British meeting on the eve of the Iraq
war, Mr. Chirac told the British reporters that he had
counseled Mr. Blair to get something from Washington in
return for Britain's support for the war. 

"Well, Britain gave its support but I did not see much in
return," the French president was quoted as saying in The
Times of London. "I am not sure it is in the nature of our
American friends at the moment to return favors
systematically." 

The unvarnished tone of Mr. Chirac's remarks surprised many
people in the normally discreet diplomatic corridors of
Europe. But several senior foreign policy analysts remarked
that if Mr. Chirac's view of the Bush administration is
borne out in the next four years, the weight of Europe may
swing behind him. 

"Chirac is in a fairly strong position," said Guillaume
Parmentier, director of the French Center on the United
States, an independent research organization at the French
Institute of International Relations. 

He argued that Mr. Chirac is appealing to both the British
public and people within Mr. Blair's own party to work with
France. "Blair needs to show that his support for Bush
hasn't broken his ties with Europe," he said. 

Mr. Chirac's strong words are also likely to resonate in
other European countries, particularly Germany, where
frustration with American foreign policy runs high.
European support for the war in Iraq has faltered, with
both the Netherlands and Hungary planning to follow Spain
by withdrawing their troops from Iraq. 

In his interviews, Mr. Chirac repeated his vision of a
"multipolar" world in which "there will be a great American
pole, a great European pole, a Chinese one, an Indian one,
eventually a South American pole," with the United Nations
mediating. 

Despite his remarks, Mr. Chirac insisted that he feels no
anger toward the United States and said that French-British
relations were always based on mutual esteem. "We enjoyed
hating each other," he said in the newspaper interview. "It
was a kind of violent love." 

Mr. Chirac's two-day visit to Britain, which begins
Thursday, is meant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of
the Entente Cordiale, a pact that ended centuries of
intermittent warfare between the two countries. The French
president, who turns 72 next month, will be the guest of
Queen Elizabeth II and stay at Windsor Castle, where he
will be treated to a production of the musical Les
Misérables. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/international/europe/18chirac.html?ex=1101788971&ei=1&en=816a025a41203ed4


---------------------------------

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine
reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!
Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy
now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:

http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/SubscriptionT1.do?mode=SubscriptionT1&ExternalMediaCode=W24AF



HOW TO ADVERTISE
---------------------------------
For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters 
or other creative advertising opportunities with The 
New York Times on the Web, please contact
onlinesales at nytimes.com or visit our online media 
kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to 
help at nytimes.com.  

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company