Considering all the assistance France has sold to Iraq all these years, i
am far from surprised...
France against publishing secret documents on Iraq's
weapons programs
Agence France-Presse | 9/04/02
France said it was against publishing top-secret evidence
on Iraq's alleged development of weapons of mass
destruction, saying the public arena was not the place to
wage such a campaign.
"These are not issues which we can deal with publicly.
This calls for serenity and seriousness, and we should
therefore beware of any leaks and any saber-rattling
proposals," Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told
France Info radio.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he
would in the coming weeks release damning information
about Baghdad's alleged efforts to develop nuclear,
biological and chemical weapons, to prove the threat
posed by Saddam Hussein.
The foreign minister said that France and Britain had
shared information on the proof of such a weapons
program. and it "is out of the question to divulge these
exchanges."
De Villepin said it was important to act responsibly in
evaluating whether a "country could own chemical or
biological weapons, and if it could turn into a threat."
He added it was important that France evaluate such risks
together with its European partners.
"The international community is today very worried,
which justifies our determination in the face of the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Washington on Wednesday stepped up its war rhetoric,
with President George W. Bush calling Saddam Hussein a
"serious threat" and saying he would take his case against
Iraq to the United Nations next week.
De Villepin said "France, the world, cannot accommodate
such a risk, and that is why we demand with insistance the
return of the UN (weapons) inspectors to Iraq and that the
country conforms with the demands of the international
community."
If it did, he stressed, it was up to the UN Security Council
to decide on any international action.
UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998 in the face of an
imminent US and British missile attack on Baghdad, and
have since been barred from returning despite insistent UN
demands.
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