France shuns fresh feud over Iraq

By Hugh Schofield Paris

It can have come as no surprise in Washington that President Jacques Chirac so rapidly spurned its formulation for a new United Nations resolution on Iraq.

France remains sceptical about US intentions in Iraq

Having warned from the start of the dangers of Middle East adventurism, France today feels a sense of profound moral vindication.

If it was right then, the government in Paris believes it is right again now.

It is not enough, it says, for the US to make more vague gestures to the United Nations in the hope of off-loading some of the military and financial burden.

In the words of Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, an "electroshock" is necessary.

The logic of "occupation" must be replaced by a logic of "sovereignty". True power must be handed over as soon as possible to the Iraqis themselves.

And to garb the process with the necessary legitimacy, it is the UN that must be unequivocally in charge.

Moral high ground

For many in France, moral vindication is the least of it. Every new disaster in Iraq - every new terrorist attack - is further evidence of how right they were.

Memories of the insults flung in their direction before the war from the other side of the Atlantic remain fresh, and the temptation is strong to bask in the glow of schadenfreude.

The US wants Iraqis to assume more of the security burden

"France's only mistake was to have been right too early," said the conservative newspaper Le Figaro.

"Why should it spill the blood of its soldiers and jeopardise the credibility of its diplomacy just to assure the re-election of George W Bush?

"Bush's strategy is insolent. He is calling for help, then trying to dictate the terms of the rescue," it said.

But the government knows there is no interest to be had in gloating.

The situation is far too serious for that. If France has protected itself by keeping its distance during the phase of conflict, that is no guarantee of future security if Iraq - and the whole region - threaten to implode.

That is why Mr Chirac and Mr de Villepin have both made clear they do not dismiss the US draft resolution out of hand. Mr Chirac said it would be the "object of discussions," and the foreign minister said the draft "went in the right direction."

"Let us be lucid and responsible. In a world marked by danger and interdependence, part of our shared destiny is being played out today in Baghdad," Mr de Villepin said.

France will do what it can to amend the US draft. It does not want to create more bitterness and division by wielding its veto, and so may well end up either supporting or abstaining on a resolution.

That will, of course, not commit it to putting in its own troops, but it will maintain the facade of international unity that it deems of vital importance.

The time for lessons will come later.