Bernard
Kouchner: "France is at an impasse"
Translated by Douglas
French original: "Bernard Kouchner : La France est dans l'impasse'"
(Le Monde, 2003/03/03)Iraq is sending its missiles to the scrap heap. Doesn’t this prove that the inspections are effective?
Firstly, it proves that Iraq had missiles and therefore that it also had anthrax and biochemical weapons.
Is it believable that these weapons could be used? Against whom?
Oh yes, it’s believable because all these weapons have been used before, especially against the Iraqi people.
You support war?
I loathe war, which I have known better than anyone for 40 years. War is a very bad solution. But there is a solution that is worse than very bad: leaving in place a dictator who massacres his people. I want us to hear the most important protagonist in this crisis, the ones most threatened: the Iraqi people who are subjected to the dictatorship.
Is toppling Saddam more important than disarming him?Yes, it’s a primary goal. There are barely days or weeks remaining, perhaps a 10% chance that war could be avoided. With a combination of a threat of military force at the ready, of diplomatic pressure and of the pressure of public opinion, I think that we can still take a common stance so that Saddam will go.
Why should he leave?
For the moment, what is keeping and comforting him somewhat is the division among us, the Westerners.
And so France is wrong to oppose the United States?
The first French diplomatic effort was perfect — it consisted in making the Americans return to the UN framework. In the second part of this far too virile arm-wrestling match, our elbow slipped. At one point, we brandished our right of veto. I regret it no end. It is most unfortunate.
France is at an impasse?
Yes, we are at an impasse. We have worsened Europe’s divisions rather than healed them. We’ve bound up our lot with German pacifism. It was a mistake. We have somewhat brutalized the Eastern European nations which are emerging from dictatorship. This was a second mistake. Lastly, we opened a chasm with the United States. These are my criticisms of the president of the Republic.
And of your Socialist friends?Of course. More than the other nations, France’s role is to take an interest in human rights violations and to fight against dictatorships.
Interview with Patrick Cohen, Gérard Courtois and Pierre-Luc Séguillon
[Posted 2003/03/04]
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