"I'm not at all sure that one can say the world is safer,"
Chirac told the BBC on the eve of a state visit to Britian.
"There is no doubt there has been an increase in
terrorism."
He said: "To a certain extent Saddam Hussein's departure was a
positive thing but it also provoked reaction such as the
mobilisation in a number of countries of men and women of Islam
which has made the world more dangerous."
The full interview with the BBC is to be aired on Wednesday
evening as Chirac prepares to fly to Britain on Thursday to meet
Blair, Queen Elizabeth and business leaders to celebrate 100
years of the Entente Cordiale - an agreement that brought about
French-British cooperation after a long history of rivalry.
Chirac, whose strong opposition to the war prompted US
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to dismiss France as part of
"Old Europe", has questioned what Blair has gained from his
unstinting support of the invasion.
Bitter infighting
In a newspaper interview on Tuesday, Chirac said he had
urged Britain before the invasion to press US President George
Bush to revive the Middle East peace process in return for
Britain's support for the war.
"Well, Britain gave its support but I did not see much in
return," Chirac was quoted as saying in The Times. "I am not
sure that it is in the nature of our American friends at the
moment to return favours systematically."
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Chirac said Saddam's departure
was a positive thing |
Blair's support for the war prompted bitter faction fighting
inside his ruling Labour Party and has eroded his public approval
ratings before elections expected by mid-2005.
A poll in the Independent newspaper on Wednesday showed that
64% of the British public believed that having good
relations with continental Europe was more important than
maintaining close ties with Washington.
In the Times interview, Chirac recalled a Franco-British
summit last year when he asked Blair to try to influence US
policy on the Middle East.
Differences over Iraq
"I said then to Tony Blair: 'We have different positions on
Iraq. Your position should at least have some use'. That is to
try to obtain in exchange a relaunch of the peace process in the
Middle East."
The French leader questioned whether Britain could act as a
bridge between the United States and Europe to help heal the
transatlantic rift.
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"Saddam Hussein's departure ... provoked reaction such as the mobilisation in a number of countries of men and women of Islam which has made the world
more dangerous"
Jacques Chirac,
French President
|
"I am not sure, with America as it is these days, that it
would be easy for someone, even the British, to be an honest
broker," he said.
Blair called on Monday for Europe and the United States to
bury their differences over Iraq and focus on global challenges.
"It is not a sensible or intelligent response for us in
Europe to ridicule American arguments and parody their political
leadership," Blair said in a major foreign policy speech.