PARIS, 3 April 2003 — A poll showing one third of the French want the United States to lose the Iraq war has spread concern in Paris, prompting politicians to warn opponents of war not to protest more strongly against Washington than Baghdad.
With anti-war President Jacques Chirac silent, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has taken the lead in urging the French not to forget the United States is an ally of long standing while Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is a dictator.
His spokesman Jean-Francois Cope yesterday issued the government’s third clarifying statement in as many days, insisting Paris wanted to see Saddam defeated.
This new tone reflects growing official concern that France’s staunch anti-war stand, which has badly strained relations with Washington, could be misinterpreted and cause even more tension among allies after the war ends.
“Just because we’re against this war doesn’t mean we want dictatorship to defeat democracy,” Raffarin said on Monday to kick off the series of public statements. “We are in the democratic camp. The Americans are not enemies.”
Raffarin stressed the same message at a meeting with leaders of all parliamentary factions on Tuesday, saying it was crucial to be “vigilant against all forms of anti-Americanism”.
The prime minister was expected to take up the issue again tonight, when he was due to give a prime-time interview to France 3 television.
“We have no leniency towards the Iraqi regime,” Cope said after yesterday’s weekly cabinet meeting. “Of course, we want to see Saddam Hussein’s regime ended.”
The Ipsos poll, published on Monday in the daily Le Monde, showed that while 78 percent of the French opposed the war on Iraq, 53 percent of them hoped the United States and Britain would defeat Saddam.
But 33 percent did not want a US-British victory and 25 percent said they were clearly on Iraq’s side.
France has been walking a tightrope trying to lead the anti-war countries and prompt the United States to work with the United Nations while not burning its bridges with an ally it will have to work with after the war.
Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin added to the confusion in London last week when, after giving a speech on France’s position, he declined to answer directly a question about whether Paris backed Washington or Baghdad.
His spokesman later said Paris was outraged to see British media attacking Villepin’s answer as ambiguous, saying it was clear France wanted the United States and Britain to win.
Politicians of all stripes have tried to counter any ambiguity after their meeting on Tuesday with Raffarin.
“Everybody condemns Saddam Hussein,” said Christian Poncelet, conservative speaker of the French Senate. “That’s why we’re worried and irritated if we see people demonstrating with pictures of Saddam Hussein.”
Nicole Borvo, communist floor leader in the Senate, said her party still opposed the war “but saying that doesn’t mean we’re in Saddam Hussein’s camp. It would be very good to see the Iraqi people get rid of Saddam Hussein”.
The Republique du Centre newspaper from Orleans wrote on yesterday that television footage of US troops bombing Iraqi civilians was feeding an undercurrent of anti-Americanism. “We’ll agree not to confuse who is the enemy as long as somebody asks the United States to stop confusing its targets,” it wrote in an editorial.
