War is Worst Solution to Iraqi Crisis: Chirac

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 10, 2003

War is Worst Solution to Iraqi Crisis: Chirac

French President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that the war is the worst way to solve the Iraqi crisis, reaffirming that France favors a political solution to military actions.

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French President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that the war is the worst way to solve the Iraqi crisis, reaffirming that France favors a political solution to military actions.

"The resort to force is always a statement of failure and the worst of all solutions," said Chirac in his New Year's reception for the press corps at the presidential palace.

"From the start, we have tried to advocate for a peaceful solution in the belief that a military intervention ... should only be envisaged if absolutely all other options fail, and of course only on the decision of the UN Security Council," he said.

"France will pursues its efforts in this direction in order that the Resolution 1441 be fully applied and, of course, it (France) maintains its liberty of judgment of all possibilities in this context," said Chirac.

The Resolution 1441, adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council in November, demands Iraq to fully cooperate with the UN arms inspectors in disarming its alleged stocks of weapons of mass destruction.

Two days ago, in his New Year's message to the French Armies, Chirac ordered French troops to "be prepared for all eventualities," hinting that France might join military actions on Iraq.

"There is no change in France's position at all...It is just the appetite of a certain type of press that absolutely wants to sell more of its papers that has had the contrary interpretation spread," said Chirac after the speech, referring to reports that his remarks Tuesday was an attempt to prepare the French public opinion for war.

Seventy-seven percent of the French people are opposed to any military operation on Iraq, according to results of a survey conducted one day following Chirac's order of military mobilization.

In fact, France has never ruled out joining military actions on Iraq, but it always stresses that all decisions on Iraq should go through the United Nations Security Council.

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