PARIS -- It was widely assumed, a few months ago, that three of the world's top international organizations -- the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union -- would suffer heavily from the quarrel over the Iraqi war between the U.S.-led coalition and those nations that opposed military action. French President Jacques Chirac went as far as to threaten to use his veto right at the Security Council to prevent a vote on a resolution endorsing the U.S.-British intervention.
This move, which led Washington and London to go to war without a new U.N. resolution authorizing such action, raised furious reactions in the English-speaking world. Members of the neoconservative think tanks close to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld issued strong warnings against supporting a Europe that dared not to comply with Uncle Sam's wishes.
Condoleezza Rice, U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser, stated that the Germans could be "ignored" and the Russians "forgiven," but that the French ought to be "punished."