http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1640000/1640877.stm
Tuesday, 6 November, 2001, 14:57 GMT
Chirac reflects new French
mood

Chirac is worried about what comes after the Taleban

By Jon Sopel
BBC Paris correspondent

As the air-space over the United States re-opened in
the wake of the terrorist attacks on the 11 September,
the first world leader to fly into America to express his
solidarity and support was President Chirac.

He glad-handed with New York firemen and held talks
with President Bush.

On Tuesday - nearly two months on - the French
president is on his way back across the Atlantic to meet
his US counterpart.

Outwardly the language will be the same: there will be
the ringing declarations of support, and a renewed call
for a united front against global terrorism.

But French public opinion has moved on since Mr
Chirac's last visit.

Suspicion cast aside

In the immediate aftermath
of the attack the French found themselves in the
somewhat unusual position of standing shoulder to
shoulder with the United States.

People flocked to lay wreaths outside the US embassy
in Paris.

The commonly expressed sentiment
was that just as America had stood
by France in her darkest hours
during the Nazi occupation, so the
French would rally to the American
side now.

But the reality of the Franco-American relationship is
complex. Since the Second World War these
two allies have viewed each other with mutual suspicion.

There is a strong streak of anti-Americanism that runs,
not only through French public opinion, but among the
intellectual elite too.

Put crudely, the French think their culture is superior,
but is under threat from the global reach of American
capitalism, while the Americans have viewed with
mistrust France's unilateralism in much of its foreign
and defence policy.

But after the 11 September, all that was put to one
side.

Logistical support

The French Government - just like Tony Blair's
administration in Britain - wasted no time in offering
military help to the US.

Somewhat to the consternation of the proud French, this
offer was not taken up very directly.

Yes, two surface ships are assisting with logistics, and
there is talk of French special forces being deployed at
some time in the future, but it does not go much
beyond that.

If there was disappointment in high French political
circles then, there is probably some relief today.

The overwhelming support in public opinion that the
French gave the American military action at the outset
of the military campaign has begun to crumble.

A poll taken for a Sunday newspaper this weekend
found that only 17% of those questioned believed that
operation Enduring Freedom would end in success.

Some 47% expressed the view that it would fail.

How much of that unease will inform Jacques Chirac's
conversation with George W Bush today?

Political solution

President Chirac will
underline France's strong
support for the war now
being waged against the
Taleban and say in
unequivocal terms that the
action is legitimate and
justified.

But there will also be a good
deal of stress placed on the
need for a political solution.

"France has always said that
the military action was one
part of the fight against terrorism, and is part of an
overall stategy," said the president's spokesman,
Catherine Colonna.

In simple terms, President Chirac is worried about what
comes after the Taleban.

But overall the impression will be given of solidarity and
unity of purpose, and that is what will emerge today.

And certainly, President Bush will be perfectly well aware
that France is not alone in worrying about the course of
this war.