With US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's dismissal of "Old Europe" unleashing a storm of protest in France, European hostility to an American-led war on Iraq is growing, writes David Tresilian in Paris Against a background of the further mobilisation of US and British troops to fight a possible early war against Iraq, France and Germany last week signalled their continued opposition to any early American-led attack. Speaking during festivities held in Paris to mark the 40th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty that laid the foundations of Franco-German cooperation in constructing today's European Union, French President Jacques Chirac said that "only the UN Security Council can authorise a military operation" against Iraq, while German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that Germany would refuse to participate in any war against Iraq, doing its best to block it at the Security Council. "Any military action against Iraq will only be legitimate if it has the backing of the Security Council," Chirac said, adding that without such backing, a war would be against international law. "France and Germany are doing everything possible to give peace every chance," he said. "We both want a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis," Schroeder said, adding that France and Germany shared "the same point of view" on Iraq. Chirac and Schroeder's comments came following remarks made earlier in the week by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin at the United Nations in New York. "Nothing today justifies the use of military action against Iraq," de Villepin said. "The work of the inspectors is satisfactory." Asked whether France would use its veto should the United States wish to pass a Security Council resolution authorising the early use of force, de Villepin indicated that this had not been ruled out. "When it comes to respecting our principles," he said, "we will do whatever is necessary," including saying to "our friends the Americans" that "it is one thing to decide to intervene, but quite another to solve problems. We have to take the risk of peace." The comments brought France and Germany closer to those members of the Security Council, including Russia, China and Syria, that have expressed reservations about US policy towards Iraq, arguing that the work of the inspectors should be allowed to run its course and that there should be no early war against Iraq. French and German public opinion is overwhelmingly against a war in Iraq, with the latest opinion polls in France showing that 76 per cent are against war, even with the backing of the Security Council. In Germany, 71 per cent are against any German involvement in a possible war. Chirac and Schroeder's recent comments signalled growing European protest against US policy towards Iraq and the isolation of Britain, Washington's closest European ally, within the European Union. The comments also unleashed a war of words between Washington and the Europeans, with White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer saying that "there may be one or two countries who want to look the other way, but the president is confident that Europe will respond to his call. It is quite possible that France will not be among the ranks" of those who respond, Fleischer said. Less diplomatically, American Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld commented that "I don't see Europe as being only Germany and France. I think that this is the Old Europe. If you look at Europe as a whole, you will see that its centre of gravity is now in the east. Germany has been a problem, and so has France. But if you consider the other European" -- a reference to the seven formerly Soviet Eastern European countries who have now joined NATO -- "they are not with France or Germany, but with the United States." Rumsfeld's remarks immediately provoked a storm of protest in France, with French politicians protesting against "the cowboy" reflexes of the American defence secretary. Critics denounced Rumsfeld's "contempt and arrogance" towards the rest of the world and the "totalitarian spirit" of the US, warning against its "arrogance in wanting to rule the world in a more and more arbitrary way". For Le Monde's leader-writer, Rumsfeld's remarks, "made in the direct and brutal Midwest manner", had indicated US plans for Europe: "a large common market, sheltered by NATO ... without a common political identity." Rumsfeld's comments had shown US unwillingness "to tolerate an independent Europe", the paper said, with the left-wing paper Libération arguing that they showed the real reason why the US had supported NATO and EU enlargement in Eastern Europe: as a way of "counterbalancing the growing criticism or opposition of France and Germany" and of marginalising these countries within an enlarged EU. Even before the present crisis in US-European relations, European public opinion had been solidly against early American action against Iraq. Aside from French and German hostility, in Italy 83 per cent of the population supports Pope Jean- Paul II's call of "No to war", according to recent opinion polls. Even in Britain, which has aligned itself closely with the United States, 58 per cent of the population does not believe that Iraq poses a threat and 32 per cent are against a war, even with the approval of the UN Security Council. For Le Monde, "the Europeans say no" to a war. European public opinion "is not convinced of the danger posed by Saddam Hussein. It is still waiting for even the sketchiest indication that Baghdad is linked with Al-Qa'eda leader Osama Bin Laden. It has still not seen any proof that Baghdad has an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction ... it is up to George W Bush to prove the danger of the Iraqi arsenal before taking any decision to go to war. If the proof is crystal clear, as Bush and Blair tell us, why has it yet to be shown?" For Libération, "world public opinion is massively hostile to war, including in the United States where 63 per cent of opinion polls are against action not approved by the UN." American reaction to French and German remarks indicating that these two countries will not be "forced" into supporting the American-led war has "isolated the United States and fed an already virulent anti-Americanism, confirming all the stereotypes of American aggression and the cowboys' imperialistic arrogance." "The scepticism of the Europeans has been reinforced by the way the White House has treated the North Korean nuclear threat. If Washington thinks that this can be 'contained' by diplomacy, why is it not possible that Iraq can be too? If the US justly stigmatises a regime as cruel as that of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, why does it treat the regime of Kim Jong-il, even more criminal, with kid gloves," Le Monde asked. "If these questions are not answered, European public opinion will continue to be sceptical about the real reasons behind Bush's Iraq policy."
