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Chirac Pre-Vetoes U.N. Resolution for Post-War Iraq
Friday, March 21, 2003
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BRUSSELS, Belgium — French President Jacques Chirac said Friday that France would not go along with a new United Nations resolution allowing the United States and Britain to administer postwar Iraq.
The French president said at a European Union summit he would "not accept" a resolution that "would legitimize the military intervention [and] would give the belligerents the powers to administer Iraq."
"That would justify the war after the event," Chirac told reporters.
At the summit, British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged his 14 colleagues to support a new U.N. resolution authorizing a post-Saddam "civil authority in Iraq."
Britain has not yet introduced such a Security Council resolution, however.
Chirac said he met with Blair on the sidelines of the EU summit to discuss "the way ahead" in rebuilding their relations within the EU and between one another.
"Mr. Blair and I shared that same spirit," Chirac said.
France has taken a hard stand in opposing the U.S.-led war against Iraq, a position that has divided the 15-nation bloc.
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