Word: kouchner
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...have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war.' BERNARD KOUCHNER, French Foreign Minister, pressing for tougher sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. Kouchner has since accused the media of distorting his statement...
...Iraq. But to his critics in France and abroad, Sarkozy's reinvigorated Atlanticism looks disturbingly similar to the views of Washington hard-liners, including those hankering for a military strike to take out Iran's nuclear development program. On Sept. 16, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned that the international community had to "prepare for the worst" in its negotiations with Tehran - and that "the worst is war." That declaration came just one month after Sarkozy himself offered his own stark assessment of the two choices at hand - "an Iranian bomb and a bombardment of Iran" - should negotiations with Tehran...
...Others suggest that Sarkozy and Kouchner (who has since stressed that "everything should be done to avoid war") are not just posturing, but really do believe that time is short before the unwanted military option becomes inevitable for Iran. "The problem is that the Iranian leadership likes to believe the military option isn't open to the U.S. while it's tied up in Iraq with an unpopular war," explains François Heisbourg, special advisor to the Foundation for Strategic Studies in Paris. "Sarkozy and Kouchner are trying to tell them, 'Yes, it is. Believe it and fear...
...Though Kouchner's presence in Iraq served multiple symbolic purposes, it's clear it doesn't signal a revised French position on wading into a conflict virtually all its leaders still think was a mistake. Indeed, the Foreign Ministry official noted there's no question of sending French forces to Iraq, while even contractors from working in the country do so against governmental advisories. In fact, the violence in Iraq is so great that authorities from France's main foreign intelligence service tell TIME their local officials have suggested pulling out until some semblance of order is restored. Though...
...clear U.S. forces have at least a decade ahead of themselves just to stabilize and secure Baghdad - forget about the rest of Iraq for now." Such forecasts aren't ones the Bush Administration or the U.S. public wants to hear - but they also won't be ones diplomats like Kouchner will be able to ignore now that he has taken a renewed interest in the country...