Raffarin: US war on Iraq a moral, political, and strategic mistake.

The French Prime Minister apparently decided there had been enough conciliation of US allies offended by France's recalcitrant stance on the progress of the war and launched a new offensive.

"The Americans made a triple mistake: first of all a moral mistake, and I think we have to say this: there was an alternative to war. We could have disarmed Iraq differently."

But he doesn't say how. And they weren't exactly chock full o' ideas at the time, apart from temporizing with Blix.

That was clear by Washington's failure to secure a U.N. resolution authorizing military action should Iraq fail to destroy its alleged weapons of mass destruction, he said.

1441 did that. Thought we were pretty clear on that up front.

"Also, (they made) a political mistake, because we know very well the difficulties of this region of the world," he added. "We see how serious the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is, and at any moment it can set the world ablaze. It's a serious political error to start trouble in this region.

To quote Billy Joel (however inadvisedly), we didn't start the fire. But unlike France, neither are we willing to sit around and watch the house burn down.

"And then, there is a strategic mistake: that today one country can lead the world," he said, arguing that Europe should be one of the major poles of influence in the world.

And by Europe, of course, he actually means France. If France wants to be a world leader, then perhaps they should act like one. Whining about not being listened to and infantile demands for post-conflict control of a situation they chose to sidestep won't cut it.