From AP story: "France determined to play big role in rebuilding Iraq"
Worried it could be shut out of business deals in postwar Iraq, France is drawing up plans to win French companies access to lucrative oil and reconstruction contracts, officials said Tuesday.We have zee plans, monsieur Rumsfeeld!
Some French are concerned that a U.S.-led administration in Iraq will favor companies from the United States and other pro-war countries while penalizing companies from France and other war opponents.Perish the thought!
French oil giant TotalFinaElf probably has the biggest stake. It spent six years in the 1990s doing preparatory work on two giant oil fields and has signed two tentative agreements with Saddam to develop them.Didn't you hear Bush's speech? That oil belongs to the Iraqi people. But thanks for the prep work!
France opposes any U.S. reconstruction plan that would sideline United Nations development agencies, multilateral organizations and non-governmental aid groups.Wait, wait…let me get this straight. If the United States decides that it will not work through the United Nations to rebuild Iraq, then France will veto the resolution that we will not be introducing. Is this, like, Jerry Lewis-type humor? I don't get it.
Chirac has warned that France would vote against any U.N. Security Council resolution that would give "the American and British belligerents the right to administer Iraq."
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