- WASHINGTON (AFP) - France
should "pay some consequences" for its opposition to the US-led
war in Iraq, particularly for its veto of NATO support for Turkey, deputy
defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Thursday.
-
- "The French have behaved in ways ... that have been
very damaging to NATO. I think France is going to pay some consequences,
not just with us but with our countries who view it that way," he
told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
-
- "But I don't think we want to make the Iraqi people
the victims of that particular quarrel," he said.
-
- General James Jones, the supreme allied commander in
Europe, told the committee that France's military cooperation has continued
as usual within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
-
- He noted that France and Germany, while opposing the
war, have allowed US and British warplanes to use their airspace to conduct
airstrikes on Iraq.
-
- France "plays roughly the same role in formulating
military positions in response to taskings from the North Atlantic Council
as does any other member nation."
-
- Wolfowitz said that France had contributed to the US-led
effort to oust the Taliban militia from Afghanistan.
-
- "France has actually made some significant contributions
in Afghanistan. And I think that's probably -- we should note that,"
he said.
-
- "The French, on a bilateral basis, frequently do
things with us that they then don't support in NATO."
-
- "If we just looked at our military relationship,
you'd get a reasonably healthy view of things. It's the politicians, I
guess, that we have an issue," Wolfowitz said.
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