France's opposition to the US military invasion of Iraq put Washington and London at odds with Paris and deprived them of a desperately-needed UN Security Council resolution to legitimize the incursion.
Now, new allegations from a former UK spy claim that former French President Jacques Chirac opposed the Iraqi War in exchange for millions of dollars sent his way by the former president of Iraq, Saddham Hussein, according to the Daily Mail.
Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of MI6, made his statement in response to obituaries for the French leader that praised the latter for staying out of the US-UK coalition in Iraq.
According to Dearlove, Chirac's motivation was not political foresight, but rather a hefty $6+ million lump sum sent from Hussein's personal funds and passed to Chirac via intermediaries.
“His recent obituaries are saying that Chirac got it right [on Iraq] and the rest of us got it wrong. But I am saying that Chirac's motive for getting it right may not appear to be what it is,” Dearlove said.
According to the Daily Mail, the UK and the US spied on Chirac to get “reliable intelligence” that Chirac received millions from Hussein between 1995-2002.
“He [Chirac] had this questionable relationship with Saddam Hussein. It raises a lot of questions as to what his motives were for opposing the UN Resolution in the build-up to the invasion,” Dearlove said. “It was a dimension which at the time…
