July 26, 2004

Surprising views of Iraq from the French press

By Olivier Guitta
Here are some very positive stories and op—eds concerning Iraq recently found in the French press. 1. America that we love to hate, by Bruno Tertrais in Le Figaro Bruno Tertrais, in a very refreshing op—ed, builds a case defending the Bush administration from the hysteria and lies present in France. First, he starts off by establishing the most common view in France: 'The Bush administration is composed of dangerous and corrupted cheaters who took power illegitimately in November 2000.' Tertrais explains that this visceral hate of the US, and especially of Bush, pushed most in France to accept lies as facts as long as they were confirming their views. But Tertrais makes a methodical review of the myths and facts. First, there was no state lie: Bush did not lie on purpose to the American people and world opinion concerning Iraq. All testimonies point out that the fear of WMD was real inside the Administration. Considering Saddam's past history with WMDs and UN reports in...(Read Full Article)