In early 2003, French Bashing was the mainstay of Comedians, Federal Representatives, Shock Jocks and Right Wing Columnists. At the close of 2003, it became clear that Anti-French activity was now the « chasse gardée » of the White House and American Administration: no French President would be invited to celebrate the Louisiana Purchase Celebrations; Jacques Chirac was declared persona non-grata by Washington.
PAYBACK TIME
Beyond the high profile clashing, the Anti-French agenda of the American Administration is now being conducted on several fronts. Among the many dossiers where overtly Anti-French policy is taking shape, the most obvious was the complete exclusion of French companies from the Iraq reconstruction contracts. The moved was hailed as « payback » by the Right Wing Media.
TO PAY LIBYAN SERVICE
The Gaddhafi affaire was another swipe at France by Washington and London. Not only where French Diplomats kept out of the loop but initial contacts in 2000 and 2002 between Gaddhafi and the West had been established through the French Intelligence Services (DGSE). France refused to push matters any further without London’s approval and certainly not until the UTA DC-10 negotiations where complete. Days before the French-North African summit, Colin Powell was hurried over to Tunisia, most likely to secure this deal right under Paris’s nose. Now that the Gaddhafi deal has been struck, American Oil Officials no longer have to enter Lybia with Canadian passports.
EXECUTIVE TOUT DE SWEET
Financial journalists who followed the Executive Life saga duly noted the entire proceedings took on a whole new flavour after Paris overtly opposed Washington over Iraq. Not only where French interests the only party held accountable in this financial fiasco, the damages sought far outweighed any damages that Enron or WorldCom had to pay. Debra Yang, the Bush-nominated Federal Prosecutor, obtained a record 770 million dollars from the French Government.
NUCLEAR CONFUSION
For weeks, Washington was covertly pushing for the Iter Nuclear Fusion Reactor to be built in Rokkasho Japan and not Cadarache France, site of Tore Supra, an Iter precursor. After stalling talks held in Washington on December 20th, Spencer Abraham, Bush’s Secretary of Energy confirmed Thursday that Washington was in favor of the Japanese site. Touted as a breakthrough scientific tool for Fusion Research, the United-States, a minority stakeholder (11%), is now pushing for a site where no fusion research has ever been conducted.
Sources:
- Le Point, Les vengeances de Bush, la France châtiée. Série d’articles par Mireille Duteil, Hervé Ponchelet et Jean Guisnel. 2 janvier 2004.
- Le Monde, ITER: Washington appuie publiquement la candidature japonaise, 09 janvier 2004.
Marc Saint Aubin du Cormier