.Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-BerhevokaÇapê-Rivista
Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
Top Bush aide savages ..
'selfish' ChIrac
White House adviser Richard Perle
tells David Rose that France's.'cosy. . . .
relationship' with Saddammeans .
it willveto a second UN resolution'
A LEADING adviser to Presi-
, dent Bush last night launched
a savage attack on President
Chirac's diplomatic campaign
to block war with Iraq, saying
that it was merely the product
of French commercial interests
masquerading as a moral
case for peace.
In an exclusive interview
with The Obseroer, Richard
, Perle; chairman of the Pentagon's
Defence Policy Board
and a central figUre in the circle
of hawks around Bush,
went well beyond US Defence
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's
recent criticism of 'old,'
Europe', warning that war
Too close by half: Ri~h~rdPerle, left, says a French veto at the UN would la~k moral force ~ecaus~a
of France's commercial interests in Iraq. Above: Chirac and Saddam meet In 1974. CorblslSyg
without the further approval
of the UN Security Councili'eplace it with a hostile öne.
expansion of Iraqi' explo-
ration and development.
was now imminent. 'So how much legitimacy. 'When you consider that
'I'm rather pessimistic that. attaches toaFrench veto? At _ there is now a prospect that
we will get French support for some point, people are going the oilfields may be destroyed
a second resolution authoris- .to have to start asking them- by Saddam,-if what we really
ing war,' Perle said. 'I think. selves that question.' wanted was rqore oil, not only
they will exercise their veto,. In Perle's view, the French should we not be s1,1pporting
arid in other ways obstruct position against regime Saddam's removal, (veshould
unified action by the Security change in Iraq ~is, fatall~ ' 'be working with him.'
Council: they're lobbying undermined by its multI- ' Perle denied claims widely
furiously now.' billion-dollar oil interests reported on both sides of the
Perle agree\Î that support negotiated since the last Gulf Atlantic that the Bush adminfor
war in Britain and America w~: 'There's certainly a large istration intends to rule Iraq,
wouldrisetftherewereasec- :French~omniercial interest directly through a military
and resolution, and that the 'in Iraq, and there are con- governor for àn extended
UN was 'a symbol of interna- tracts thatanèwgovernment ' period, and that it envisages"
tional legitimacy'. But in ,in Iraq may not choose to. no role for the Iraqi opposi- :
words that will serve only to "uphold, partly becau8.e-- tion. He was scathing about,
deepen the transatlantic rift ',theY'resounfavourableto~he, the 'conventional wisdom' '
over Iraq, he added: 'These fiv~ people of Iraq. Sadd~ihas' among the foreign policy an~
countries, the permanent ,been prepared to,do deals to intelligence establishment,
members ofthe Security Coun- i. keep himself in power atthe which holds that the Iraqi
cil, are not a judicial body. \ eXpense of the people. , opposition groups are hope-
They're not expected to make
lessly divided and the counmoral
or legaljudgments, but 'My understanding of the try far too fractious for meanto
advance the respective largest of these deals, which ingful democracy.
interests oftheir countries. ' is the French Total-Fin~,E~f 'This is a trivial observation
'So if the French ambas-, contracttodevelopcertainOll, andamisleadingone,bothby
sador gets up and expresses, , properties in Iraq, is that it is CIA officials and MI6,' Perle
the position of the govern.: ; both very large and very said. 'They're simply wrong
ment of France, what you are ' unfavourable to the Iraqis.' about this. They don't underhearing
is the moral author. . Perle ~dded that he fou.nd stand the opposition. They say
ity of Jacques Chirac, what. ' the claIm, that ,AmerIca they're divided. Are they more
ever thàt may mean. wished to topple Saddam for divided than the Labour
'What you're heàri~g is the sake of its own oil inter- Party? I rather doubt it. Are
what the FreIfchJ~resident ests bizarre. they more divided than the
. perceives to be intiui interests 'The US interest is to'buy Tories? I certainly doubtthat.'
of France. And. the l'!ench oil cheaply on the world mar- His own long-term dealings
President.has found hIS own ket. And the best way to with Ahmad Chalabi, leader
way of dealing with Sad~am increase the supply of Iraqi of the Iraqi National Con-
Hussein. It would be roilhter oil, and so cut prices, would gress, and key figures in the
to French interests to destroy : have been to abandon sane-' main Kurdish groups, had
that cosY,relationship, }lnd tions in 1991 and urge the. convinced him and other
leading USpOlicymakers that
'Iraq is a very good candidate
for democratic reform'.
'It won't be Westminster
overnIght, but the great
democracies orthe world did~
n't achieve the full, rich structure
of democratic governance
overnight. The Iraqis
have a decent chance of suc'
ceeding under the leadership
thathas developed in the
diaspora caused by ~addam's
seizure of power.' . ,
Reports claiming that a US .
military governor would keep
most of Saddam's Baath
.Party officials in place and
.run the country on existing
.administrative structures
.WE)rein~cGurat,e an.