France Insists It Wants U.S. to Win War

By Joseph Coleman, AP, Washington Post, 28 March 2003

France’s government angrily insisted on Friday that it hopes U.S.-led forces win the war in Iraq, signaling fear in Paris that its image as an untrustworthy friend could seriously damage long-term relations with Washington.

In an extraordinary statement for a major U.S. ally, the Foreign Ministry said it was indignant at media suggestions that French support for the United States was ambiguous, and quoted Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin as saying he hoped for a U.S. victory.

I will remind you that the minister said on March 24 ... ’The United States, we hope, will win this war quickly, ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said in the statement.

The ministry was protesting media coverage of Villepin’s comments on Wednesday at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, where he reiterated his high-profile opposition to the war.

The statement did not specify which publications it was referring to, but at least two English-language newspapers reported that Villepin refused to say explicitly who he hoped would win the war.

It is not acceptable that the positions of France be distorted in this way, Rivasseau said, declaring that France’s stand on who should win the war was totally devoid of ambiguity.

Villepin began his speech in London by calling for a renewed close and trusting friendship with the United States. But later, he said U.S. policy risks leading to instability and uncertainty.

When a reporter asked him after the speech if he wanted the U.S.-led forces to win the war, he did not say yes. Instead, he refused to answer, admonished reporters for not listening carefully and referred them to earlier remarks.

Villepin’s speech made no clear statement about which side he wanted to win. The Foreign Ministry on Friday said he was referring to statements he had made in the past, including the one on March 24.

Rivasseau’s statement was the second time in recent weeks that the ministry has complained about press coverage in the English-language media. Two weeks ago it denied an American columnist’s allegation that Paris had allowed French companies to ship weapons-building materials to Iraq.

The swipe at the foreign media comes amid continuing high tensions between France and the United States and Britain over the war in Iraq, which Paris has vigorously campaigned against in the U.N. Security Council and has denounced as illegal.

The French are particularly troubled about mounting calls in the United States for a boycott of French products. A U.S.-based Internet site this week published an advertisement in The New York Times urging consumers not to fly Air France, eat Yoplait yogurt or buy other French goods.

Even President Bush is not above the fray. On a visit to Florida on Wednesday, the breakfast menu aboard Air Force One listed stuffed Freedom Toast, instead of French toast.

While the boycott itself has not yet become threatening, the possibility of a fraying of U.S.-France economic ties and cooperation in the long-term is troubling to many.

Once the crisis is past, one could think that French companies ... could be left out of contract bids, the national newspaper Le Figaro said in an editorial Friday. That’s what French leaders are the most worried about.

While French officials have been more outspoken recently about the importance of ties with Washington, they haven’t backpedalled in their condemnation of the war.

Just last week, French President Jacques Chirac said France would veto any U.N. resolution letting the belligerents run Iraq after the war. And Villepin is going on a tour of European capitals next week - Berlin, Moscow, Rome and Madrid - to discuss Iraq.

Still, France’s ambassador to Britain, Gerard Errera, suggested that Paris’ faithfulness to the United States should be above question.

It’s clear where France stands. To question France’s position on this issue is ludicrous. I don’t know what the agenda is of this, he said. The fact that this question was asked is really unthinkable.