On March 20, 2003, a US-led military coalition invaded dictator Saddam Hussein's Iraq, without receiving the green light from the UN, triggering the second Gulf War. The goal announced by then-US President George W. Bush was to "disarm Iraq, liberate its people, and defend the world from great danger," referring to the weapons of mass destruction he accused Saddam Hussein of possessing.

Among the states that refuse to accompany Washington and its allies into the Iraqi desert: Russia, China, Germany and... France. Paris' "no" to war, formulated by President Jacques Chirac and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin in a speech to the United Nations Security Council, resounds on the surface of the globe and goes down in history.

His speech is in everyone's memory. "In this temple of the United Nations, we are the guardians of an ideal," says Dominique de Villepin, martial and determined. (...) And it is an old country, the France, of an old continent like mine, Europe, which tells you today, which has known wars, occupation, barbarism, a country that does not forget, and which knows all that it owes to freedom fighters from America and elsewhere." Even today, this speech remains one of the strongest of French diplomacy and earned his minister applauded in the Security Council, a rare occurrence. It is also the cause of complicated relations that will poison relations with Washington for several years. On the other hand, Paris' gesture is welcomed by a large majority of the Arab world.

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin delivers a speech to the United Nations Security Council in New York on February 14, 2003. AFP - HENNY RAY ABRAMS

Strategic partnership

Franco-Iraqi relations are now described as "particularly dynamic", according to the Quai d'Orsay website. Many "high-level" visits, including to the autonomous region of Kurdistan, have been made in recent years by Iraqi officials in France, and French officials in Iraq.

President Emmanuel Macron visited twice during his first term: in September 2020, then at the end of August 2021 on the occasion of the Baghdad Conference. As recalled by the Elysée, it was organized by Iraq, in coordination and cooperation with the France, in order to bring together the neighboring countries of the Middle East with a view to working for the security, stability and development of the country. A second part of this conference was held in Jordan in December 2022, where the French head of state also visited.

On the Iraqi side, Prime Minister Mohammed Chia al-Sudani – elected at the end of October 2022 – was received in Paris on 26 January. Interviewed by France 24, the head of the Iraqi government welcomed his visit as a "paradigm shift in relations between Iraq and France", which have taken a "strategic path thanks to the signing of a strategic partnership agreement".

This bilateral partnership concerns "the military, economic, health, educational, higher education fields, not to mention global warming (...) It is a comprehensive agreement that covers all areas and highlights the strategic interests of the two countries to become partners at all levels," said Adel Bakawan, director of the French Center for Research on Iraq and author of the book "Iraq, a century of bankruptcy. De 1921 à nos jours" (ed. Tallandier, 2021). However, he said the Iraqi Parliament had yet to ratify the Franco-Iraqi agreement.

Iraq, the pivot of the Middle East

Experts differ, however, on the nature of the Franco-Iraqi relationship. According to Adel Bakawan, "Paris thinks that Iraq is the pivot of the Middle East. When the country is secured, stabilized and developed, the whole region is positively concerned. On the contrary, it is affected when Iraq loses stability, security and development."

The France wants to "set up a partnership, and not a collaboration, in all areas with the Republic of Iraq", continues the expert, who specifies that the Iraqi reciprocal is "globally present and noted". "But Iraq is fractured ethnically, sectarianly and politically. And within these fractures, we can have nuanced remarks from time to time, but Iraqis generally want to engage in this long-term partnership with the France."

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If it is a dynamic bilateral relationship, "it is not a relationship through which the France projects a significant influence in Iraq, outside the diplomatic representation that is its own, believes for her part Myriam Benraad, professor of international relations at the International University of Schiller and author of 'Iraq beyond all wars' (ed. The Blue Knight, 2023). And this is not a relationship that, on the Iraqi side, is seen as giving him important opportunities."

It adds that "apart from the military level and the very limited fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, cooperation remains relatively limited. The France thus cooperates with Iraq as it cooperates with other states in the Middle East. There is no specific Iraqi priority for the current French diplomacy."

Concretely, the France is Iraq's second partner in the field of Coalition personnel against the IS group, according to data from the Quai d'Orsay website. Paris also participates in NATO's NM-I mission (Editor's note: NATO Mission in Iraq, non-combatant).

Making sure Iraq doesn't implode

Relations between Paris and Baghdad are however far from having regained their former glory, when Jacques Chirac, at the time Prime Minister of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, declared himself the "personal friend" of Saddam Hussein, then No. 2 of the Iraqi regime. In the 70s and 80s – under governments of both right and left – France had made Iraq its privileged partner in the Middle East. Relations were such that Paris went so far as to provide Baghdad with a nuclear reactor, Osirak, destroyed by the Israeli air force in 1981.

French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac (l) and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on 25 January 1976 in Baghdad. AFP--

"In the 70s, we had an Iraq with a key central state in the Middle East and which was growing in power on a Middle Eastern scale in all areas. It was the period of the autonomy of the Iraqi economy, notably through the nationalization of oil (in 1972, editor's note). So relations between France and Baathist Iraq had another form with another vision of the world," Bakawan said.

Today, "we are in a context of reconstruction of the Iraqi state. (...) In the 70s, Paris wanted to be a partner of this country that dominated the Middle East." This is a time for pragmatism. "The France is willing to accompany Iraq in its reconstruction and is doing everything to ensure that it does not fall into political, economic, social and institutional bankruptcy," the specialist continues.

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"We are in the context of a military cooperation that essentially targets the jihadist threat, the idea is also to ensure that Iraq does not fall into the throes of jihadist violence," said Myriam Benraad. "The goal of the France is to ensure that Iraq does not implode."

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