Need Evidence? France does not think you do......
France against publishing secret documents on Iraq's weapons programs
France said it was against publishing top-secret evidence on Iraq's alleged development of weapons of mass destruction, saying the public arena was not the place to wage such a campaign.
"These are not issues which we can deal with publicly. This calls for serenity and seriousness, and we should therefore beware of any leaks and any saber-rattling proposals," Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told France Info radio.
On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he would in the coming weeks release damning information about Baghdad's alleged efforts to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, to prove the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.
The foreign minister said that France and Britain had shared information on the proof of such a weapons program. and it "is out of the question to divulge these exchanges."
De Villepin said it was important to act responsibly in evaluating whether a "country could own chemical or biological weapons, and if it could turn into a threat."
He added it was important that France evaluate such risks together with its European partners.
"The international community is today very worried, which justifies our determination in the face of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Washington on Wednesday stepped up its war rhetoric, with President George W. Bush calling Saddam Hussein a "serious threat" and saying he would take his case against Iraq to the United Nations next week.
De Villepin said "France, the world, cannot accommodate such a risk, and that is why we demand with insistance the return of the UN (weapons) inspectors to Iraq and that the country conforms with the demands of the international community."
If it did, he stressed, it was up to the UN Security Council to decide on any international action.
UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in 1998 in the face of an imminent US and British missile attack on Baghdad, and have since been barred from returning despite insistent UN demands.
