EFL But RTWT Ineffingcredible
Iraq Conference to Go Ahead With French Support
France's attempts at creating a coalition of anyoneIraqis opposed to the the U. S. interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi collapsed yesterday as Paris announced even the Germans aren't that stupid it had abandoned its opposition to an international conference to be held on the future of the newly-liberated country. "We are no longer asking that non-governmental groups be invited," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said. "We have agreed with anyone except the U. S. Egypt that this should be an intergovernmental affair." Initially, Washington had asked for the conference to be held in October. France opposed that
surprise
and proposed a November date to deny President George W. Bush any chance of using the conference in his re-election bid.
I didn't even have to add that, they said it!
With help from its second best ally Syria, France started looking for Iraqi figures that could be invited as "resistance" leaders and opponents of the interim government in Baghdad. Among the Iraqi figures contacted were Muhammad Al-Durri, a former diplomatic aide to Saddam Hussein who had served as ambassador to the United Nations and everyone else who had been featured in the Deck of Cards and was still at large except for those who have taken up poermanent residence in Paris and Marsaliies. Also canvassed were Abdul-Razzaq Al-Hashemi, a former minister of science under Saddam Hussein, Francisco Franco, a former French ally and Mahdi Salehi, a former Baathist minister of commerce with ties to the French establishment. |