So now we know the Franco-German alternative to an Anglo-American war against Iraq. It is a plan for the occupation and carve-up of Iraq without a shot being fired.
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The German scheme, which has won French support and tacit approval from the Russians, would mean tripling the number of UN weapons inspectors, extending the no-fly zone over the entire country, and sending in thousands of UN troops in what the UK Guardian calls a 'peaceful invasion'.
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The UN Security Council (UNSC) would have complete control over Iraqi airspace and soil, and Iraq would be reduced to the status of a protectorate, a bit like Kosovo with an oil pipe attached. Perhaps Iraq will be governed by a UN High Representative, in the same way that failed UK politician Paddy Ashdown rules Bosnia, effectively replacing Saddam Hussein's dictatorship with an absolute monarch appointed by the powers that run the UNSC.
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This scheme confirms that Germany and France, supposedly the leading anti-war nations, are not really anti-war or anti-intervention at all. They are perfectly happy to support military intervention if it suits their purposes. The Franco-German plan is simply the latest move in the strategic chess game that these governments are playing with President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, designed to boost their international status and their standing at home.
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It was striking that, amid all the UK media coverage of the diplomatic row on 10 February 2002, there was no mention of what the Iraqis might think of the latest scheme to carve up their country. It is apparently seen as none of their business, a matter to be sorted out between their betters in Washington, Berlin, Paris and London.
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All of this should come as a sharp lesson to the anti-war movement in the West, much of which has tried to hitch its wagon to the powerful Franco-German alliance. Prominent opponents of a war have been keen to contrast these sophisticated European governments with their allegedly hickish neighbours who have signed up to the Bush-Blair campaign. Leading left-wing Labour MP Dianne Abbott described these as a bunch of 'East European basket cases and the Iberian fringe'. So will the critics now sign up to the new sophisticated Euro-occupation plan?
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Despite its claims to speak for majority opinion, the anti-war lobby in Britain and elsewhere has been hamstrung from the first by the weakness of its political case. It has not challenged the right of the USA, UN or EU to intervene in Iraqi affairs or dictate how sovereign nations are run. Instead, it has largely accepted the premise of the Bush-Blair campaign, while quibbling over the details of how best to get rid of Saddam, or whether or not there is sufficient evidence that Iraq is hiding weapons of mass destruction to justify war just now.
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Next weekend in London, thousands will march against a hasty war, but for nothing in particular. Such an abstract notion of peace seems perfectly compatible with the Franco-German plan for a 'peaceful invasion' of Iraq.
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Meanwhile, the allegedly anti-war French step up their political and military intervention in the Ivory Coast, their former African colony, cajoling the government into sharing power with rebels, while protesters call on the USA to intervene and save their democracy from being 'assassinated' by French president Jacques Chirac.
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Mick Hume is editor of spiked.
Read on:
spiked-issue: Iraq
The other war, by Brendan O'Neill
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