French hypocrisy over the so-called unilateral war in Iraq
France, which has been effectively sidelined by the "coalition of the willing", is full of rightous indignation over US unilateralism, and complains loudly that Bush is "violating international law."
France must have a very short memory.
France did join the "coalition of the willing" that attacked Serbia to put an end to Milosevic' (picture) genocide in Kosovo. The bombing campaign culminated in a NATO and later UN occuption of Kosovo (until then a part of Jugoslavia and Serbia).
NATO did not have any UN Security Council resolution to support its action, not even one that threatened "serious consequences." The attack on Yugoslavia/Serbia was in reaction to Milosovic' repeated acts of aggression against Serbia's neighbours and a threatening genocide against Muslims in Bosnia (already in the past) and Kosovo (ongoing).
Russia, a long-time ally of the Serbs, blocked all attempts to bring the conflict under the UN umbrella, so NATO took action alone, unilaterlly. Serbia was no threat to NATO members; the action was justified as being humanitarian.The war was also preemptive.
A number of countries who strongly oppose the war against Iraq participated in the bomb attacks on Serbia and the invasion and subsequent occupation of Kosovo, an unilateral attack, a war of aggression, against a sovereign state.
Is the humanitarian arguments against ousting Saddam Hussein any weaker than those against Milosovic? Is the Iraqi regime less of a threat to its own population, or its neighbours?
The fact of the case is that of all wars fought since WWII, very few has been fought with the blessing of the UN Security Council. And that includes a number of French military adventures. In 1956, France and Britain attacked Egypt to regain control over the Suez channel, recently nationalised by General Nasser, and were only forced to withdraw after Soviet threats and US condemnation. It is also worth noting that the Viet Nam war started as a French colonial adventure that ended in disaster. The Kosovo war is only the latest example.
France's sudden concern for international law rings exceptionally hollow in face of its own historical record in unilateral wars. The claim that Bush' coming war against Iraq represents a dangerous precedent in bypassing international law and the UN flies in the face of historical facts. On the contrary, even if we accept the argument that this attack is a violation of international law (which really is a very open question), this has been more a rule than an exception for wars after 1945.
A first version of this article was first posted on March 18, 2003.
France did join the "coalition of the willing" that 