With France like this, who needs enemies? What motivated French President Chirac to aggressively undermine U.S. policy in Iraq? Will the alliance between Paris and Washington endure?

VFW Magazine, Oct, 2003 by Gary Turbak

When France refused to back American actions in Iraq earlier this year, that nation instantly became an object of scorn and the butt of jokes. One example: How many Frenchmen does it take to defend Paris? Answer: No one knows; it's never been tried. Another: Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without an accordion.

Caustic humor aside, the French position on Iraq seems odd, considering the centuries of alliance our two nations have enjoyed. A closer look, however, reveals that French President Jacques Chirac--and many of his countrymen--may have an agenda aimed at protecting themselves politically, covering their own tracks and lining their own pockets.

To say that France opposed the U.S. position on Iraq is a grand understatement. For years, France consistently undermined U.N. sanctions against Iraq and, in the pre-war months, overtly attempted to derail U.S. policy.

Chirac actively campaigned against American initiatives in the U.N. Security Council and attempted to intimidate other nations into withholding support for the U.S. He even threatened to veto several former Communist countries' applications for European Union membership--just because they supported U.S. policy on Iraq.

According to Britain's Sunday Times, the French ambassador to Iraq provided Baghdad with the details of pre-war talks between Presidents Bush and Chirac. In March, French Foreign Minister Dominique Villepin awkwardly sidestepped the question (from a journalist), "Who do you want to win the war?" And when war became imminent, France vetoed a proposal that would have allowed NATO to defend Turkey (a NATO member) against Iraqi attack.

"What Saddam's thugs are doing on the field of battle is what France, under the leadership of President Chirac, did on the field of diplomacy," blared an editorial in an April issue of U.S. News and World Report. "To sabotage [U.S. policy] and the coalition we built around it is indefensible."

Especially galling to many Americans was France's apparent repudiation of the role U.S. armed forces played in keeping that country free--in World War I, World War II and during the Cold War. More than 9,000 GIs lie buried in Normandy alone, and thousands more rest elsewhere in France and throughout Europe.

"If it were not for the heroic efforts of our military, France, Germany and Belgium today would be Soviet Socialist Republics," said Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.).

Dollars & Friendships

Why did France become so antagonistic toward the U.S. position on Iraq? For starters, France is home to about 5 million Muslims (the largest such contingent in Europe) but French opposition to the war went much further than appeasement of a minority.

In one poll, 83% of the French people thought opposition to the United States was justified, and in another, one Frenchman in four hoped Iraq would win the war.

One reason for the French opposition was money. For decades, French companies have done a booming oil business with Iraq, most recently cementing $40 to $50 billion in oil deals.

TotalFinaElf (known as TOTAL), France's largest corporation and the world's fourth-largest oil company, recently was given development rights to much of Iraq's rich southern oil fields, prompting speculation that Saddam may have bought himself a European ally.

France and Iraq have done a lot of other business, too, including $5.3 billion in non-oil deals signed in 2001--which at that time made France Iraq's largest trading partner. In addition, France reportedly has loaned billions of dollars to Iraq--debts that will now, with Saddam's removal, surely go unpaid. In short, war with Iraq stood to cost France plenty of money.

But much of the blame for the Franco-American rift falls squarely on the shoulders of Chirac, a long-time pal of Saddam Hussein. As French prime minister, Chirac visited Baghdad several times and became so friendly with Saddam that he earned the nickname Jacques Iraq. More than once, Chirac called the Iraqi dictator "a personal friend," and even entertained Saddam in his home.

In the 1970s, Chirac oversaw the transfer of French nuclear technology, materiel and expertise to Iraq--assistance that allowed Saddam to pursue his goal of possessing nuclear weapons. Chirac was so instrumental to this program that the Iraqi nuclear plant at Osirak (bombed by the Israelis in 1981) was often called the O'Chirac reactor.

Personally, Chirac has plenty of skeletons rattling around in his closet. Charges stemming from his 18-year stint as the mayor of Paris accuse him of misusing public money and providing kickbacks to political cronies, according to published sources. The French courts have given Chirac immunity from these charges as long as he remains President, but when he leaves office he could face significant jail time. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, author William Shawcross called Chirac "a unique combination of greed, hypocrisy and arrogance."

Finally, there is the hint of long-range political maneuvering. Pundits speculate that France, longing for the good old days when it wielded some measure of global power, is struggling to reverse its declining role. Chirac, by standing in opposition to the United States, may be trying to promote France as the European leader of a movement to temper America's growing global power monopoly.