Nuclear Chirac Goes George Bush One Better

With the French people beginning to question the billions being spent on nuclear weapons, President Jacques Chirac has taken a page out of George W. Bush's book, rewriting French military doctrine and threatening terrorists with nukes. In this ironic article from Iran's State-controlled Tehran Times, the Iranian regime charges France with being Washington's 'client State' and making the 'unthinkable' quite possible.

Tehran Times Staff Writer

January 23, 2006

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President Jacques Chirac Tours France's Naval Air
Command at Landivisiau, France, Jan. 19. (above);

RealVideo[SLIDE SHOW: Jaques Chirac Visits Naval Facilities]

'French President Jacques Chirac Threatens to Use Nukes in
Retaliation for Any Terrorist Attack.' [A Signal to Tehran in the
Event France Takes Part in NATO Attack Against Iran.
[Ad Dustour, Jordan] (below)
.






Chirac Examines a Nuclear Capable Super-Etendard Aircraft (above);


President Chirac is Escorted By French Naval Officers. (below)




Last Thursday, in an address to the crew of Le Vigilant, a French submarine armed with nuclear weapons, French President Jacques Chirac displayed a terrible sense of theatrical humor, but, alas, no one is laughing. Rather, everyone is shocked.

In a reversal of France’s longstanding nuclear doctrine, which never envisioned the possibility of a first strike and always regarded nuclear weapons as a defensive option, Chirac said,

"The leaders of countries that would use acts of terrorism against us, and those who would seek to use weapons of mass destruction in one way or another, they must understand that they risk a powerful and appropriate response from our side. This response can be conventional, but it can also be of a different nature."

Last week, the French president stunned the civilized world by announcing that his country would consider using nuclear weapons against any nation deemed to have sponsored a terrorist attack against France.

What has happened to the once relatively moderate and independent European country and its leader, which only three years ago argued so convincingly against intervention in Iraq without international consensus and due legal process? Now the French President is telling the world that he might unleash nuclear weapons on any country that supposedly aided or abetted terrorist activities on French soil.

This is the biggest bombshell detonated by France since it first developed advanced nuclear technology.

Most of France’s 350 nuclear warheads are based on submarines, which are always on standby alert to deter aggressors from attacking France. The French allocate well over 10 percent of their defense budget, over 3 billion euros ($3.62 billion) annually to maintain their nuclear arsenal. What a luxury for an indebted country!

With so much being spent on a prestige weapon that strains the French economy, and the Cold War over with no new enemy in sight, voices have arisen among the French people calling for a reduction of this enormous unproductive expenditure. Now, however, Chirac has found an imaginary enemy to threaten with nukes.

Up to now, France has embraced only the Cold War option of mutually assured destruction (MAD), according to which the response to a first strike by an enemy would be an overwhelming nuclear assault against the aggressor, most likely resulting in a counter-attack and the destruction of both countries. But today, with non-state actors conducting terrorist operations, the geopolitical landscape has changed dramatically, making this option no longer feasible. Seeking a credible nuclear deterrent for the modern era, Paris has adopted the threat of a limited nuclear war using tactical nuclear weapons.

The odd thing about the entire situation is that these plans are astonishingly similar to those of U.S. President George W. Bush’s plans for mini-nukes and preemptive warfare.

Writer Paul Craig Roberts, who served in the Reagan Administration as assistant treasury secretary, put forward a frightening thesis that the U.S. might decide to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states, and quoted a Pentagon document entitled "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations" [ RealVideo] which calls for "the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear adversaries in order 'to ensure success of U.S. and multi-national operations.'"

There have been reports for some time that the United States plans to develop a new generation of tactical nuclear weapons in violation of the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and planned to team up with Israel to use the so-called mini-nukes in "surgical strikes" against both States and non-State actors.

No one wanted to believe in this day and age, any country would degrade itself to such an extent as to even consider the use of these most horrible weapons. Yet it seems that the unthinkable is now possible, with the United States and its client States like France sinking to new depths of moral depravity.

Now a country that is part of Rumsfeld’s "Old Europe" has gone a step further, with France declaring that it would consider using nuclear weapons against countries it believed were sponsors of terrorist acts against it. Imagine, had incidents similar to the London or Madrid bombings taken place in Paris, Chirac would have contemplated dropping one or two atom bombs on the country he believed was the culprit.

In addition, due to its alliance with the U.S. in the so-called War on Terror, if some misguided elements explode a few hand grenades at the Eiffel Tower, the Montparnasse Tower, the glass pyramid over the entrance to the Louvre or the Arc de Triomphe, France might seek out rogue elements in Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq, or the uncontrolled tribal areas of Pakistan and use "smart" and "precise" French nukes to obliterate them.



French President Jacques Chirac: Has He Gone Too Far?

Chirac said the new military doctrine is designed to cope with an increasingly dangerous and unpredictable world, where the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear weapons could become the norm rather than the exception. Indeed, it looks like Chirac himself is determined to make this the norm. Shortly after winning the presidency in 1995, he ordered France's last nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

With his second and probably final term as President nearing an end, Chirac has formulated a dangerous military strategy for the 21st century. Regardless of whether Chirac leaves office next year or not, he will have left an indelible mark on France's nuclear doctrine.



VIDEO FROM IRAN: Pilgrims in Mecca Rally Against America and Israel

WindowsVideoAl-Alam TV, Iran: Iranian pilgrims in Mecca for the Hajj Attend an Anti-Israel, Anti-American Rally, January 9, 00:06:31, MEMRI

"The American and British governments, which permit the torture of suspects, and the spilling of their blood in the streets, and the tapping of citizens' phone calls without a court order, do not have the right to claim they are defending civil rights."


Iranian Pilgrims Rally in Mecca
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