U.S.: The hypocritical French

The French, having been described as "cheese-eating surrender-monkeys," are proposing that Aristide live up to their reputation.

France called Wednesday for the immediate formation of a United Nations-backed security force to go to Haiti and stabilize the country, which is in the third week of a rebel uprising. It also urged President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resign.

The proposal, which was outlined by Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and will be presented Thursday to United Nations diplomats, could result in the deployment "within days" of a multinational police force, a French diplomat said.

But the proposal was ambiguous about whether Paris would support dispatching the force without first obtaining an agreement between the Haitian political opponents and Mr. Aristide's government.

A senior State Department official said talks with the French had suggested that they did not want to intervene in a hostile environment. The crisis has linked the interests of Haiti's nonviolent opposition to armed rebels who have set their sights on the capital, Port-au-Prince. [Page A3.]

The French proposal also calls for the voluntary departure of President Aristide as part of a settlement. Mr. Aristide, who became Haiti's first elected president in 1990, has said he will not step down until his second term runs out, in 2006.

But France, which surrendered its colonial power in Haiti two centuries ago but left a strong cultural imprint, now contends that the Aristide government has lost its legitimacy and should be replaced.

"The regime has reached an impasse and has already shaken off constitutional legality," Mr. de Villepin said.

How did Aristide's government lose its "legitimacy" when Saddam's rule didn't? How did Aristide's government shake off "constitutional legality" when Saddam's didn't? Where was France when the U.S. was going in to Iraq? Where was France when Saddam Hussein was filling mass graves in Iraq? Did France support the U.S.? Did France call for Saddam's departure? Should France accord less support to Aristide than it did to Saddam?