By the way, when Steven den Beste writes about the arrogant, counterproductive, two-faced, insincere diplomacy of the French, he can be spot-on. (Except that he forgot to note how much Chirac, and some other war opponents, are trying to protect oil contracts which would almost certainly go up in smoke with Saddam Hussein's regime).

It's not as if Chirac's arrogance (telling Eastern European governments supporting the war plans that they had "missed a good opportunity to shut up") excuses Dubya's outright falsehoods, or makes the war a good idea. But it's worth remembering that the French position is enlightened self-interest at best...