VILLEPIN DEFENDS FRENCH DIPLOMATIC HONOUR

PARIS October 14, 2005 (AFP) - "That there may have been conduct here and there that was more than reproachable, well, obviously that's up to the justice (system) to say," he told Europe 1 radio in an interview.

"What I want to say, having been responsible for French diplomacy, is that no one has the right to sully that diplomacy so easily."

Villepin, a former foreign minister, said the claims concerned "a period where the two ambassadors in question were no longer in office, they had retired, so they were activities conducted after the retirement age."

"They need to explain what happened," he added, "but I don't think you can cast a stain on French diplomacy."

So the defense goes something like this: While in the diplomatic service the two career officials in question (scil., Messrs. Jean-Bernard Mérimée and Serge Boidevaix) were ethically exemplary. In the brief span of their retirements they both completely abandoned a lifetime of ethical behavior to collude with Saddam. Yes, well, that's some brilliant defense.

Of course French diplomacy would not so easily sully were French diplomats not shameless self-dealers.

The AFP has already begun this line of French spin:

The oil-for-food programme, which ran from 1996 to 2003, was designed to offset the effects on ordinary people of international sanctions on Saddam Hussein's regime, allowing him to sell oil in return for food and medicines.

But it was thoroughly corrupted by Baghdad, which granted oil vouchers to foreign personalities deemed to be well-disposed to the regime.

Bad old Baghdad. So many lambs led astray.

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Again .... Shocking !! The French could well learn from how we dealt with American companies who collaborated with Saddam. A lot we couldn't touch because of the leagal loophole of being an offshore entity. This is how Haliburton was able to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure that was wiped out by Gulf War I. But when they were here we FINED them. Yup that will show them, Midway Oil got hit with a 250,000 dollar fine.