To: Moneysmith who wrote (20488 ) 3/13/2003 5:35:53 PM From: Lazarus_Long Respond to of 25898 What France really wants A medium-sized power with super-sized ambitions President Bush listens to President Jacques Chirac of France as they brief reporters in the Rose Garden last November. ANALYSIS By Dan Goure MSNBC WASHINGTON, March 13 — Sigmund Freud is reported to have once exclaimed in sheer exasperation, “What do women want?” The same question can be asked today about France. • eDiets Diet Center • Shop at B&N.com • Loan Center • Yellow Pages • Newsletters • MSN Broadband ON THE ONE hand, France voted for U.N. Resolution 1441 in November, a resolution that explicitly acknowledges that Iraq had and still has weapons of mass destruction, that it is in material breach of 17 prior disarmament resolutions and giving it a final chance to come clean. On the other hand, the government of President Jacques Chirac not only opposes any effort to declare Iraq delinquent according to 1441, it has organized the opposition to U.S. efforts to bring the current crisis to a definitive conclusion. Paris has lobbied the non-permanent members of the Security Council against the Anglo-American second resolution. It even has declared its willingness to veto that resolution if it achieved the nine votes necessary for passage. France also sought to block NATO assistance to one of its own members, Turkey, forcing the other members of that organization to neutralize France’s obstructionism by moving to an alternate venue. And on Thursday, the French rejected the new British effort at compromise, beating even Iraq to the punch. msnbc.com If the UN thinks they can collect, tell them we'll meet them at either border or either shore.