Post by uz on Jun 10, 2011 21:05:19 GMT -5
Blair crusaded for armed conflict, says Chirac
Jacques Chirac has used his memoirs to claim that Tony Blair fought "crusades" for armed conflict and will bear a heavy historical responsibility for the Iraq war.
Mr Chirac says he took an instant shine to the former prime minister when he won office in 1997 but that he soon found Mr Blair to be a superficial figure.
"From the start, he impressed as a daring, charismatic, resourceful and determined leader?Ö a complete contrast with his rigid and stuffy predecessors.
"This spontaneity had nothing candid about it, naturally, nor was it exempt from calculation," writes Chirac, adding of the Labour leader: "He loves France." Relations between the two soured, however, over the invasion of Iraq, which France opposed.
Mr Chirac says he was "disappointed and indignant" about Mr Blair's stance.
"After trying, when he took office, to break free of Washington's yoke, Tony Blair ended up conforming to it," he writes. "By rallying to (the Americans) right from the start, (he) alas deprived himself of any real capacity to influence the analysis of the U.S. administration on the regional situation that it knew less well than Britain.
"He is burdened with a heavy responsibility in the eyes of History."
Contrary to claims at the time, Mr Chirac says: "I never excluded, for my part, France committing [troops] alongside the U.S., as it did before in Bosnia and Kosovo if an intervention was deemed legitimate once again." However, by December 2002, his army chief was told by the U.S. that time was running out for France to commit troops. Mr Chirac said it was too early and refused.
He also claims that Britain and the U.S. "manifestly sought to orient the work of [weapons] inspectors through their respective secret services," before the second UN resolution.
He says they were already "clearly preparing" for military action. France opposed the second resolution and the U.S. and Britain went to war without it.
The two leaders had clashed over military commitments before when Mr Blair sought a massive deployment of forces to Kosovo. Mr Blair fought a "veritable crusade" to send 150,000 Nato ground troops there, a scheme which would have led to "terrible" casualties on both sides and would only have "poisoned" the conflict with the Serbs, Mr Chirac claims.
In The Presidential Time, which charts his 12 years in power from 1995 to 2007, the 78-year-old says he played a "decisive" role in blocking Mr Blair's desire to send ground troops in the spring of 1999.
Nato had already begun an aerial bombing campaign, but Mr Blair felt it was "insufficient" to stop Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Yugoslavia, from pursuing ethnic cleansing.
"I explained in vain that a ground offensive would only poison the conflict (with the Serbs)?" and would mire both camps in an endless, terribly costly war. He would hear nothing of it, launching a veritable crusade to reach his aims," he writes in the book, released next week but obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Chirac says he was vindicated when Milosevic capitulated on June 10 and withdrew his troops. Nato then sent a 50,000-stong stabilization force.
Despite this run-in, Mr Blair made it clear in private that he wanted to adopt the euro and become an "active player" in European integration, Mr Chirac says.
"But he was not unaware that it would without doubt be too much to ask of his compatriots, who would make him pay dearly in the ballot box," he writes.
Read more: www.theprovince.com/Blair+crusaded+armed+conflict+says+Chirac/4921231/story.html#ixzz1OvfHgIuu
Jacques Chirac has used his memoirs to claim that Tony Blair fought "crusades" for armed conflict and will bear a heavy historical responsibility for the Iraq war.
Mr Chirac says he took an instant shine to the former prime minister when he won office in 1997 but that he soon found Mr Blair to be a superficial figure.
"From the start, he impressed as a daring, charismatic, resourceful and determined leader?Ö a complete contrast with his rigid and stuffy predecessors.
"This spontaneity had nothing candid about it, naturally, nor was it exempt from calculation," writes Chirac, adding of the Labour leader: "He loves France." Relations between the two soured, however, over the invasion of Iraq, which France opposed.
Mr Chirac says he was "disappointed and indignant" about Mr Blair's stance.
"After trying, when he took office, to break free of Washington's yoke, Tony Blair ended up conforming to it," he writes. "By rallying to (the Americans) right from the start, (he) alas deprived himself of any real capacity to influence the analysis of the U.S. administration on the regional situation that it knew less well than Britain.
"He is burdened with a heavy responsibility in the eyes of History."
Contrary to claims at the time, Mr Chirac says: "I never excluded, for my part, France committing [troops] alongside the U.S., as it did before in Bosnia and Kosovo if an intervention was deemed legitimate once again." However, by December 2002, his army chief was told by the U.S. that time was running out for France to commit troops. Mr Chirac said it was too early and refused.
He also claims that Britain and the U.S. "manifestly sought to orient the work of [weapons] inspectors through their respective secret services," before the second UN resolution.
He says they were already "clearly preparing" for military action. France opposed the second resolution and the U.S. and Britain went to war without it.
The two leaders had clashed over military commitments before when Mr Blair sought a massive deployment of forces to Kosovo. Mr Blair fought a "veritable crusade" to send 150,000 Nato ground troops there, a scheme which would have led to "terrible" casualties on both sides and would only have "poisoned" the conflict with the Serbs, Mr Chirac claims.
In The Presidential Time, which charts his 12 years in power from 1995 to 2007, the 78-year-old says he played a "decisive" role in blocking Mr Blair's desire to send ground troops in the spring of 1999.
Nato had already begun an aerial bombing campaign, but Mr Blair felt it was "insufficient" to stop Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Yugoslavia, from pursuing ethnic cleansing.
"I explained in vain that a ground offensive would only poison the conflict (with the Serbs)?" and would mire both camps in an endless, terribly costly war. He would hear nothing of it, launching a veritable crusade to reach his aims," he writes in the book, released next week but obtained by The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Chirac says he was vindicated when Milosevic capitulated on June 10 and withdrew his troops. Nato then sent a 50,000-stong stabilization force.
Despite this run-in, Mr Blair made it clear in private that he wanted to adopt the euro and become an "active player" in European integration, Mr Chirac says.
"But he was not unaware that it would without doubt be too much to ask of his compatriots, who would make him pay dearly in the ballot box," he writes.
Read more: www.theprovince.com/Blair+crusaded+armed+conflict+says+Chirac/4921231/story.html#ixzz1OvfHgIuu