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Past is past, focus on Iraq reconstruction: French minister
Singapore, May 31: France and the United States should put their disagreements behind them and work together for the reconstruction of Iraq, French defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie said here today.
Singapore, May 31: France and the United States should put their disagreements behind them and work together for the reconstruction of Iraq, French defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie said here today.
She said the failure so far to find weapons of mass
destruction after the fall of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
justified France's position before the war that put a priority
on the role of United Nations inspectors.
"We continue to think that war is always the worst solution, that it can only be used as a last resort because after all who are the victims of war but the civilian population," Alliot-Marie told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific defence conference here.
"If what was wanted before the war is the destruction of Weapons of Mass Destruction, then it would have been a better solution to let the inspectors do their job all the way.
"These things said, what is done is done. This belongs to the past and politicians, whether they are men or women, are pragmatic people and what is important now is that we should help in the reconstruction of Iraq," she said.
Alliot-Marie also called for an increase in the United Nations' powers "so that we make sure that should another crisis arise in the future, another solution would be found."
The minister also spoke of a brief meeting with US deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz during a luncheon today of defence ministers attending the two-day Asia security conference here.
"When we encountered we said hello to each other. And he said 'nice to see you again' because I met him in Washington some months ago," Alliot-Marie said.
Bureau Report
"We continue to think that war is always the worst solution, that it can only be used as a last resort because after all who are the victims of war but the civilian population," Alliot-Marie told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific defence conference here.
"If what was wanted before the war is the destruction of Weapons of Mass Destruction, then it would have been a better solution to let the inspectors do their job all the way.
"These things said, what is done is done. This belongs to the past and politicians, whether they are men or women, are pragmatic people and what is important now is that we should help in the reconstruction of Iraq," she said.
Alliot-Marie also called for an increase in the United Nations' powers "so that we make sure that should another crisis arise in the future, another solution would be found."
The minister also spoke of a brief meeting with US deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz during a luncheon today of defence ministers attending the two-day Asia security conference here.
"When we encountered we said hello to each other. And he said 'nice to see you again' because I met him in Washington some months ago," Alliot-Marie said.
Bureau Report