TWO former French ambassadors have admitted earning hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of oil that Iraq had assigned to them under the United Nations Oil-for-Food programme.Some are suggesting (who? moi? :) that France was never going to support the Iraq war because of these bribes but that is being denied:
The disclosure tarnished France’s moral stand against the invasion of Iraq, and its Foreign Ministry scrambled to distance itself from the alleged illicit activities of Serge Boidevaix, a former director of the ministry, and of Jean-Bernard Mérimée, a former French Ambassador to the UN. Both are facing corruption charges.
Jean-Baptiste Mattei, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said: “There is no link . . . with the decision of France not to participate in the Iraq war. This stemmed from our concept of international law.”And why should we believe you, froggie? I don't, by the way. France, under the leadership of Jack Iraq, was not going to support the war no matter what and it had very little to do with international law. Their decisions had more to do with the flow of illegal fundraising via Oil-for-Food. The truth is out there now. If you are one of those who disbelieves, read the whole story...
Word that the two men had acknowledged payoffs from Baghdad has embarrassed the ministry, which fears that the actions of two retired diplomats will be used to discredit President Chirac’s opposition towards the invasion of Iraq.
Will this story finally break the American media silence on this all-important story? I'm not holding my breath...and I'm recommending that you don't either.
11:45AM Update
France has moved its alert status from GREEN to BLUE after having been at RED during the run-up to the war.
We expect a momentary shift to YELLOW during the trial followed by a move to WHITE after the conviction.
The Alert Status in France moves around quickly...not exactly a stable situation over there if ya catch my drift...
