10-01-2007

BLOOD OF BURMA PROTESTORS IS 'OUR BLOOD'; ABSENT U.N. ACTION, FRANCE SUPPORTS 'NATIONAL SANCTIONS' AGAINST IRAN; IRAQ IS EUROPE'S PROBLEM TOO, NOT JUST AMERICA'S

Bernard Kouchner is the foreign minister of France. He answered questions at a gathering of the Council on Foreign Relations, of which Global Viewpoint editor Nathan Gardels is a member, in New York last week. Edited excerpts follow.

By Bernard Kouchner

Nathan Gardels: How should the West respond to the protests and crackdown in Burma?

Bernard Kouchner: Faced with the interminable oppression in Burma today, we cannot afford to look away. If the military junta resorts to bloodshed in order to silence the voices of the brave Burmese political and religious figures, it is also our blood they are shedding. It is our conscience they are challenging. Therefore we need to act.

Gardels: Must any military action against Iran in which France would participate be approved by the United Nations Security Council?

Kouchner: For the time being, nothing has been proposed in relation to any military intervention. On the contrary, the French position is this: We approve of the present mission of the IAEA director, Mohamad El-Baradei (in which he has made an agreement with Iran that they will answer outstanding questions about the nature of their nuclear program). This is a technical mission which will take at least one month, perhaps two or three.

It is impossible not to be in favor of this, even though we must be firm on the other hand that it is unacceptable for Iran to possess nuclear weapons. In talking with my good colleague Condi Rice, we and the Americans are not in total agreement, since we favor the El Baradei mission. Remember, El Baradei was right on Iraq. He won the Nobel Prize for Peace. He is an important man. Just to undermine his action is absolutely wrong. We don’t agree with that. We are allies, but we are not allying on this one point. But we agree on the ultimate aim: We wont’ accept a nuclear bomb in Iran.

So, for the moment our task is negotiation, negotiation, negotiation.

We know there have already been resolutions asking the Iranians to stop the enrichment of uranium. They haven’t stopped so far. So, now we are facing a period of uncertainty.

If we can’t get Russia and China to join on a resolution with strong effective sanctions if it comes to that, then we will consider national sanctions, including the Untied States and on the European level. We will not just rely on the U.N.

In the coming weeks and months we’ll see what happens.

The bottom line is that we are very firmly determined not to accept Iran getting an atomic bomb in the middle of this very dangerous region. The experts are in agreement that Iran’s approach to building civilian nuclear power capacity the way they have is very strange. So, to stop this, we will go ahead (on new sanctions) with or without the Security Council.

Gardels: What can be done now in Iraq?

Kouchner: Of course, we were against the American military operation in Iraq. And we saw the total non-preparation for nation building. So, this is a disaster, disaster, disaster.

But we can’t base our policy on anti-Americanism. We can no longer follow the policies of the last government or of Europe in general that “this is an American failure, and an American problem, so we are going to stay as far away from it as possible.” I decided, with the support of my good president, just to open the door by going to Iraq in August, to meet with the people there. This was not to support the American way, but not to undermine it either.

This was the first time in 20 years that a European foreign minister visited Iraq. For the first time in nine years, a French military plane landed in Baghdad. I didn’t ask President Bush or Condi about going. I just let them know the day before when I let my European colleagues know. It was an adventure. The Green Zone is a kind of surrealistic space. The rest all around is a red zone, completely destroyed, absolutely with no street life. It is unbelievable.

What can we do now? There is a triangle of power. There are the American soldiers drawing down from 160,000 to 130,000. They have to stay for the time being. They are there. We have to use them. Then there is the Iraqi government. It is very weak. But it exists. The third angle is the new United Nations resolution from August to enlarge the role of the U.N. there.

Is it possible to do something? I have to first convince my own people in France (to get more involved), but I believe so. I also have to convince other Europeans.

Fortunately, Carl Bildt, the minister of foreign affairs of Sweden, also visited Iraq just after me. We are absolutely, completely in agreement.

Where to start? For example, there are 77,000 Iraqi prisoners which for two years have not been accused, let alone seen any lawyer, judge or prosecutor. Is it possible for France to work on this problem with French and international judges as well as Iraqi judges, or to train Iraqi judges? In other sectors is it possible to help by starting from the north working southward? Only the Kurds today are in a good shape. Let’s start from the Kurdish area expanding out with a network of health dispensaries and so on.

Above all, we have to offer to involve the Iraqis in their own problems. Now they are not involved at all. The Iraqi army cannot start an operation without the consent, orders or arms provided by the American military.

There are a lot of fields where we can be useful. For now, the Iraqis are completely isolated.

It has been easy to say for four years that this is an American problem. They wanted to go there. They did. OK. But that is not good enough. All the problems of the world are concentrated in this region. Part of our future must be to offer some solutions, including a federative or other political solution. Honestly, humanly, we have to do something. Otherwise it will be more than a disaster. It will be a real catastrophe.

Global ECONOMIC Viewpoint, DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES (OCT. 1, 2007)