During the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Dominique de Villepin became the face of French self-righteousness for many American conservatives. Of course, we now know France was nowhere close to any principle of multilateralism when it sought to delay and eventually block United Nations authorization of the invasion.
The oil concessions Saddam Hussein promised Paris in exchange for saving his regime were worth a dozen more Security Council vetoes.
In hindsight, many American conservatives probably wish France had succeeded in stopping the American-British steamroller. Even to them, De Villepin’s holier-than-thou countenance is still too much to take.
As America and Britain confronted the real consequences of unseating an entrenched autocrat, De Villepin stepped up the ladder to become prime minister. His climb-down earlier this year from an ambitious youth employment reforms seemed enough to doom his presidential prospects. The scandal uncovered this week threatens to end De Villepin’s political career.
The French prime minister is accused of ordering a secret investigation of his own Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to examine if he received any kickbacks from the $2.8 billion sale of French frigates to Taiwan in 1991.
Sarkozy, of course, is a potential De Villepin rival in the race to succeed Jacques Chirac as president. Supporters of the prime minister will continue to emphasize that he is not personally accused of any wrong doing or corruption. So there is no reason for his resignation.
Sarkozy allies, on the other hand, will have a field day mocking a premier who lacks the guts to look straight in the face of his minister and ask whether he took any money.
As the French grapple with these and other questions, American conservatives can savor their own moment of irony in what is being called France’s Watergate.
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