Chirac Sees World More Dangerous After War

“I’m not at all sure that one can say the world is safer,” Chirac told the BBC. “There is no doubt there has been an increase in terrorism.”

“To a certain extent Saddam Hussein’s departure was a positive thing but it also provoked reaction such as the mobilization in a number of countries of men and women of Islam which has made the world more dangerous.”

The full interview with the BBC’s “Newsnight” program is to be aired later Wednesday, November 17. Excerpts of the interview were published on the BBC News Online.

When asked if the world was now a safer place, as US President George W. Bush has repeatedly stated, Chirac replied he was “not at all sure that one can say that the world is safer”.

Chirac, who led European opposition to the March 2003 invasion, arrives in London Thursday, November 18, for an annual summit with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has consistently been Bush’s staunchest ally on Iraq.

The summit, which precedes Britain’s turn at the helm of the Group of Eight and, in the second half of 2005, the European Union, will touch upon Iraq and the Middle East, among other issues, officials say, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In the interview, Chirac further maintained that any intervention in Iraq should have been through the United Nations.

He also signals that be believes Britain’s support for the US-led war has brought few dividends.

The signs are that he and Blair will again at best agree to disagree on the Iraq war, according the BBC World Affairs correspondent, Mike Wooldridge.

In another press interview Tuesday, Chirac said he had urged Britain before the invasion to press Bush to revive the Middle East peace process in return for London’s support for the war, according to Reuters.

“I said then to Tony Blair: ‘We have different positions on Iraq. Your position should at least have some use’. That is to try to obtain in exchange a re-launch of the peace process in the Middle East.”

“Well, Britain gave its support but I did not see much in return,” Chirac was quoted as saying in the Times.

“I am not sure that it is in the nature of our American friends at the moment to return favors systematically.”

The French leader went further by doubting whether Britain could act as a bridge between the United States and Europe to help heal the transatlantic rift, according to the Times interview.

“I am not sure, with America as it is these days, that it would be easy for someone, even the British, to be an honest broker.”