Chirac Stands Firmly Against Use of Force

French President Jacques Chirac rebuffed a British appeal Tuesday for support of swift military action against Iraq, standing his ground against an Anglo-American campaign to win over world leaders on the eve of a crucial meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair met with Chirac hoping to soften France’s opposition before Secretary of State Colin L. Powell presents evidence to the council today that the U.S. says proves Iraq is engaged in banned weapons programs.

After talks with Blair in northern France, Chirac said he was looking forward to hearing Powell’s case. But he didn’t waver from a stance that has made him a leader of international resistance to a U.S. confrontation with Iraq. The French president insisted that U.N. arms inspectors should get as much time as they need to complete their mission.

“Everything must be done to give the inspectors the wherewithal they require so that they may achieve the results they are striving for -- that is, the disarmament of Iraq,” Chirac said. “There is still a lot to do for disarmament by peaceful means.”

Chirac left open the possibility that France, one of five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, would use its veto power if a resolution to attack Iraq is put to a vote.

“France will take responsibility for its own decisions when the time comes,” he said.

France’s response was neither a surprise nor its final word on the issue. The diplomatic tussle will begin in earnest only after Powell puts his evidence on the table. Despite Washington’s exasperation, Chirac has never ruled out French participation in a military strike if it is approved by the United Nations.

A recent agreement by Blair and President Bush to seek a Security Council resolution authorizing use of force makes an eventual deal with the French more likely, analysts say.

“It was a bit hopeful of Blair to think he could get anything out of Chirac before Powell’s presentation,” said former defense official Guillaume Parmentier, who directs a center for U.S. studies at the French Institute of International Relations here. “The French position has been fairly consistent. Chirac has always been open to military force.... France has managed to be the only big country in Europe that has kept a margin for maneuver. And with the steamroller coming from D.C., that’s not bad.”

Although the Anglo-American pressure is powerful, Chirac contends with an array of forces. He has strong allies in the Arab world encouraging his attempt to block Washington’s advance toward war. French voters, like most Europeans, resoundingly oppose a war in Iraq. Chirac also worries about turmoil in the Middle East, a backlash from France’s large Muslim population and an increased threat of Islamic terrorism.

On the other hand, French policymakers believe that a U.S.-led military invasion of Iraq is almost inevitable, according to an advisor to the French government on security issues. France and Germany, which traditionally are the leaders of Europe and have united on the Iraq question, have been challenged by a pro-U.S. coalition teaming Britain, Spain and Italy with Eastern European member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The Chirac government does not want to overplay its hand and end up sidelined from a military operation that ignores, and thereby weakens, France along with the United Nations, said Dana Allin of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

“If you want to read between the lines, there is evidence perhaps that France will find a way in the end not to be left outside of the Security Council,” Allin said. “And if they have the vote, France will probably vote for war, but not too enthusiastically.”

Parmentier predicted that France will push for a U.S. commitment to a Middle East peace initiative in exchange for joining the campaign against Baghdad.

“The French don’t want to be marginalized,” Parmentier said. “If we could convince the U.S. to come forward with a plan for the Middle East, that would help. The Arabs in general don’t care about Saddam -- they care about the Palestinians.”

In fact, Chirac and Blair discussed the need for renewing the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians during their meeting Tuesday in Le Touquet, a coastal resort town.

They emphasized the points on which they agreed: the need to disarm Iraq and the importance of putting the United Nations at the center of the Iraq crisis.

“There are many more things that unite us than there are that divide us,” Blair told journalists, speaking in French.

Like Chirac, Blair has embarked on an Iraq strategy that entails risk.

His steadfast backing of Bush has hurt the prime minister’s standing with British voters and his own party.

While Chirac was gently stiff-arming Blair, and therefore Bush, the United States was drumming up support from other quarters.

Powell is expected to get a united show of support from at least 10 Eastern European countries, including Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltics, after his presentation at the Security Council today, Eastern European officials said Tuesday.

A joint statement by the so-called Vilnius 10 would follow a similar letter last week signed by eight European governments -- Britain, Spain, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Denmark and the Czech Republic -- endorsing U.S. policy.

Some Eastern European countries show greater sympathy toward Washington’s stance on Iraq because of the strong U.S. role in backing their governments as they broke away from communism and as they try to stabilize fragile new democratic regimes.

In a bid to win backing from Russia, one of the veto-wielding members of the Security Council, Bush called President Vladimir V. Putin on Tuesday.

“Bush shared basic American assessments of Baghdad’s actions in the sphere of disarming,” a Kremlin statement said.

Putin in turn emphasized that the U.N. weapons inspectors still have a key role to play “in defining further steps over Iraq,” the statement added.

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Times staff writers Robin Wright at the United Nations and Janet Stobart in London contributed to this report.