Jacques Chirac represented cynical corruption on the Iraq war, not restraint

Former French President Jacques Chirac passed away yesterday after a long illness. Many of the obituaries praised the French leader’s foresight for objecting to the Iraq war. “Jacques Chirac, French President Who Opposed U.S. Iraq War, Is Dead At 86,” read the NPR headline. CBS News titled their remembrance, “Jacques Chirac, former French president who challenged U.S. over Iraq war, dies at 86.”

Many outlets, motivated by their animosity toward the Iraq war, take Chirac’s opposition at face value. But was a desire for peace or foresight about the post-war difficulties really the reason Chirac broke with the United States and Great Britain ahead of the 2003 invasion of Iraq? No.