French Kiss-off

THE persistent, at times vicious, hostility displayed by France towards the United States in recent months requires some explanation. Part of the explanation is practical, materialistic, even sordid. Both France and her ally (for this purpose) Germany have past, present, and future plans to share Iraq’s riches.

German ambitions go back to before the First World War, when the project of a Berlin-to-Baghdad railway was launched. Germany’s defeat, along with that of her ally Turkey, put paid to that, and Germany played no part in the carve-up of Turkey’s Arab empire in 1919. But Germany had another go in 1940-1, when she backed the Rashid Ali coup in Iraq against the British at the same time as she was cultivating the anti-British grand mufti of Jerusalem. Rashid was a precursor of Saddam Hussein, as the mufti was of Arafat. In the last 25 years, Germany has sold a great deal of high-tech equipment to Saddam, and one reason the Germans fear a U.S. occupation of Iraq is that it may disclose the degree to which German scientists and companies have secretly participated in Iraq’s quest for weapons of mass destruction.

About the Author

Paul Johnson

Mr. Johnson is a prominent author and historian.

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THE persistent, at times vicious, hostility displayed by France towards the United States in recent months requires some explanation. Part of the explanation is practical, materialistic, even sordid. Both France and her ally (for this purpose) Germany have past, present, and future plans to share Iraq’s riches.

German ambitions go back to before the First World War, when the project of a Berlin-to-Baghdad railway was launched. Germany’s defeat, along with that of her ally Turkey, put paid to that, and Germany played no part in the carve-up of Turkey’s Arab empire in 1919. But Germany had another go in 1940-1, when she backed the Rashid Ali coup in Iraq against the British at the same time as she was cultivating the anti-British grand mufti of Jerusalem. Rashid was a precursor of Saddam Hussein, as the mufti was of Arafat. In the last 25 years, Germany has sold a great deal of high-tech equipment to Saddam, and one reason the Germans fear a U.S. occupation of Iraq is that it may disclose the degree to which German scientists and companies have secretly participated in Iraq’s quest for weapons of mass destruction.