US–French relations in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq (2002–2003): Insider accounts two decades on

Katarzyna Pisarska

doi:10.35757/SM.2023.76.1.05

Vol. 76 No. 1 (2023): Wojna Rosji z Ukrainą a nowy ład światowy

Wojna Rosji z Ukrainą a nowy ład światowy

US–French relations in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq (2002–2003): Insider accounts two decades on

Katarzyna Pisarska⁺⁻

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.35757/SM.2023.76.1.05
Submitted: March 30, 2024
Published: February 19, 2024

Abstract

The aim of the article is to provide an insider’s account of the US-French dispute in the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. By analysing data from 11 qualitative interviews with U.S. senior officials, the articles attempts to make an assessment of the state of US-French relations before the 2003 Iraq Crisis; analyses the rationale behind and development of the dispute, and finally tries to evaluate whether the confrontation has left a mark on bilateral relations two decades on. The central hypothesis tested in this study is that despite the magnitude of the crisis, it has not impacted the overall trajectory of the US-French relationship.
The respondents to this study include senior U.S. foreign policy advisors and policy-makers from the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State who have been directly involved in the preparations to the war in the years 2001–2003.

References

Bahador B., Moses J., Youmans W. L., Rhetoric and recollection: recounting the George W. Bush administration’s case for war in Iraq, „Presidential Studies Quarterly” 2018, vol. 48, issue 1, pp. 4–26, doi: 10.1111/psq.12412.
Bluth C., The British road to war: Blair, Bush and the decision to invade Iraq, „International Affairs” 2004, vol. 80, issue 5, pp. 871–892, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00423.x.
Bonn S. A., Mass deception, moral panic and the US war on Iraq, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ 2010.
Bozo F., A History of the Iraq crisis. France, the United States and Iraq, 1991–2003, Woodrow Wilson Center Press, New York 2016.
Bozo F., Parmentier G., France and the United States: Waiting for Regime Change, „Survival” 2007, vol. 49 issue 1, pp. 181–197, doi: 10.1080/00396330701254651.
Brenner M., Parmentier G., Reconcilable differences: US–French relations in the new era, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC 2002.
Bush G. W., Decision Points, Crown Publishers New York 2010.
Bush G. W., State of the Union address, The White House [online], 2002, January 29th, <https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html>.
Campbell A., The Blair years: Extracts from the Alastair Campbell diaries, Knopf, New York 2007.
Cheney D., Cheney L., In My time: A personal & political memoir, Threshold Editions, New York 2011.
Chirac J., Chaque pas doit être un but. Mémories 1, NiL, Paris 2009.
Coe K., Television news, public opinion, and the Iraq war, „Communication Research” 2013, vol. 40, issue 4, pp. 486–505, doi: 10.1177/0093650212438916.
Cogan C. G., Oldest allies, guarded friends: The United States and France since 1940, Praeger, Westport, CT 1994.
Colin Powell’s UN speech: a decisive moment in undermining US credibility, The Guardian [online], 2021, October 18th, <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/18/colin-powell-un-security-council-iraq>.
Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials, eds N. K. Denzin, Y. S. Lincoln, Sage, Thousand Oaks, ca: 2003.
Costigliola F., France and the United States: The cold alliance since World War ii, Twayne Publishers, New York 1992.
Danner M., The secret way to war, „The New York Review of Books”, 2005, June 9.
Davidson J. W., America’s allies and war: Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, Palgrave MacMillan, New York 2011.
Dolan C. J., Cohen D. B., The war about the war: Iraq and the politics of national security advising in the G. W. Bush administration’s first term, „Politics & Policy” 2006, issue 34, pp. 30–64, doi: 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2006.00003.x.
Feldman S., Huddy L., Marcus G. E., Going to war in Iraq: When citizens and the press matter, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2015.
Henke M. E., Tony Blair’s gamble: The Middle East peace process and British participation in the Iraq 2003 campaign, „The British Journal of Politics and International Relations” 2018, vol. 20, issue 4, pp. 773–789, doi: 10.1177/1369148118784708.
Hochschild J. L., Conducting intensive interviews and elite interviews, National Science Foundation, Cambridge ma 2009.
Huntington S. P., The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order, Simon & Schuster, New York 1993.
Ignatius D., Bush‘s new ally: France, „The Washington Post”, 2006, February 1st.
Mahncke D., The United States, Germany and France: balancing transatlantic relations, „The British Journal of Politics and International Relations” 2007, vol. 11, issue 1, pp. 79–93. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-856x.2008.00356.x.
Mann J., Rise of the Vulcans: The history of Bush’s war cabinet, Penguin Books, New York 2004.
Mathy J., French-American relations and the war in Iraq: Anything new, or business as usual?, „Contemporary French and Francophone Studies” 2004, vol. 8, issue 4, pp. 415–424, doi: 10.1080/10260210410001733414.
McClellan S., What happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s culture of deception, PublicAffairs, New York 2008.
McHugh K., Bush, Blair, and the war in Iraq: alliance politics and the limits of influence, „Political Science Quarterly” 2010, vol. 125, issue 3, pp. 465–491, doi: 10.1002/j.1538-165x.2010.tb00682.x.
Melandri P., The troubled friendship: France and the United States, 1945–1989, [in:] No end to alliance: The United States and Western Europe, past, present and future, ed. G. Lundestad, St Martin‘s Press, New York 1998, pp. 112–133.
Miller R. B., Justifications of the Iraq war examined, „Ethics & International Affairs” 2008, vol. 22, issue 1, pp. 43–67.
Nineham C., The people V. Tony Blair: Politics, the media and the anti-war movement, John Hunt Publishing, London 2013.
Parmentier G., After the War II: France will have to pay a price, „International Herald Tribune”, March 24th 2003.
Ritchie N., Rogers P., The political road to war with Iraq: Bush, 9/11, and the drive to overthrow Saddam, Routledge, New York 2007.
Robbins C. A., King N. Jr., Sims T., The difficulty of mending fences; U. S. plan to limit war’s opponents in reconstruction sets obstacle to overall peace efforts, „The Wall Street Journal”, 2003, December 11th.
Schmidt B. C., Williams M. C., The Bush doctrine and the Iraq war: Neoconservatives versus realists, „Security Studies” 2008, vol. 17, issue 2, pp. 191–220.
Serfaty S., Terms of estrangement: French–American relations in perspective, „Survival” 2005, vol. 47, issue 3, pp. 73–92, doi: 10.1080/00396330500248011.
Strategies of qualitative inquiry, eds N. K. Denzin, Y. S. Lincoln, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA 2003.
Styan D., Jacques Chirac’s ‘non’: France, Iraq and the United Nations, 1991–2003, „Modern & Contemporary France” 2004, vol. 2, issue 3, pp. 371–385.
Tardy T., France and the US: The inevitable clash?, „International Journal” 2004, vol. 59, issue 1, pp. 105–126, doi: 10.1177/002070200405900105.

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[1] Bahador B., Moses J., Youmans W. L., Rhetoric and recollection: recounting the George W. Bush administration’s case for war in Iraq, „Presidential Studies Quarterly” 2018, vol. 48, issue 1, pp. 4–26, doi: 10.1111/psq.12412.

[2] Bluth C., The British road to war: Blair, Bush and the decision to invade Iraq, „International Affairs” 2004, vol. 80, issue 5, pp. 871–892, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2346.2004.00423.x.

[3] Bonn S. A., Mass deception, moral panic and the US war on Iraq, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ 2010.

[4] Bozo F., A History of the Iraq crisis. France, the United States and Iraq, 1991–2003, Woodrow Wilson Center Press, New York 2016.

[5] Bozo F., Parmentier G., France and the United States: Waiting for Regime Change, „Survival” 2007, vol. 49 issue 1, pp. 181–197, doi: 10.1080/00396330701254651.

[6] Brenner M., Parmentier G., Reconcilable differences: US–French relations in the new era, The Brookings Institution, Washington DC 2002.

[7] Bush G. W., Decision Points, Crown Publishers New York 2010.

[8] Bush G. W., State of the Union address, The White House [online], 2002, January 29th, <https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020129-11.html>.

[9] Campbell A., The Blair years: Extracts from the Alastair Campbell diaries, Knopf, New York 2007.

[10] Cheney D., Cheney L., In My time: A personal & political memoir, Threshold Editions, New York 2011.

[11] Chirac J., Chaque pas doit être un but. Mémories 1, NiL, Paris 2009.

[12] Coe K., Television news, public opinion, and the Iraq war, „Communication Research” 2013, vol. 40, issue 4, pp. 486–505, doi: 10.1177/0093650212438916.

[13] Cogan C. G., Oldest allies, guarded friends: The United States and France since 1940, Praeger, Westport, CT 1994.

[14] Colin Powell’s UN speech: a decisive moment in undermining US credibility, The Guardian [online], 2021, October 18th, <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/18/colin-powell-un-security-council-iraq>.

[15] Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials, eds N. K. Denzin, Y. S. Lincoln, Sage, Thousand Oaks, ca: 2003.

[16] Costigliola F., France and the United States: The cold alliance since World War ii, Twayne Publishers, New York 1992.

[17] Danner M., The secret way to war, „The New York Review of Books”, 2005, June 9.

[18] Davidson J. W., America’s allies and war: Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, Palgrave MacMillan, New York 2011.

[19] Dolan C. J., Cohen D. B., The war about the war: Iraq and the politics of national security advising in the G. W. Bush administration’s first term, „Politics & Policy” 2006, issue 34, pp. 30–64, doi: 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2006.00003.x.

[20] Feldman S., Huddy L., Marcus G. E., Going to war in Iraq: When citizens and the press matter, University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2015.

[21] Henke M. E., Tony Blair’s gamble: The Middle East peace process and British participation in the Iraq 2003 campaign, „The British Journal of Politics and International Relations” 2018, vol. 20, issue 4, pp. 773–789, doi: 10.1177/1369148118784708.

[22] Hochschild J. L., Conducting intensive interviews and elite interviews, National Science Foundation, Cambridge ma 2009.

[23] Huntington S. P., The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order, Simon & Schuster, New York 1993.

[24] Ignatius D., Bush‘s new ally: France, „The Washington Post”, 2006, February 1st.

[25] Mahncke D., The United States, Germany and France: balancing transatlantic relations, „The British Journal of Politics and International Relations” 2007, vol. 11, issue 1, pp. 79–93. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-856x.2008.00356.x.

[26] Mann J., Rise of the Vulcans: The history of Bush’s war cabinet, Penguin Books, New York 2004.

[27] Mathy J., French-American relations and the war in Iraq: Anything new, or business as usual?, „Contemporary French and Francophone Studies” 2004, vol. 8, issue 4, pp. 415–424, doi: 10.1080/10260210410001733414.

[28] McClellan S., What happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s culture of deception, PublicAffairs, New York 2008.

[29] McHugh K., Bush, Blair, and the war in Iraq: alliance politics and the limits of influence, „Political Science Quarterly” 2010, vol. 125, issue 3, pp. 465–491, doi: 10.1002/j.1538-165x.2010.tb00682.x.

[30] Melandri P., The troubled friendship: France and the United States, 1945–1989, [in:] No end to alliance: The United States and Western Europe, past, present and future, ed. G. Lundestad, St Martin‘s Press, New York 1998, pp. 112–133.

[31] Miller R. B., Justifications of the Iraq war examined, „Ethics & International Affairs” 2008, vol. 22, issue 1, pp. 43–67.

[32] Nineham C., The people V. Tony Blair: Politics, the media and the anti-war movement, John Hunt Publishing, London 2013.

[33] Parmentier G., After the War II: France will have to pay a price, „International Herald Tribune”, March 24th 2003.

[34] Ritchie N., Rogers P., The political road to war with Iraq: Bush, 9/11, and the drive to overthrow Saddam, Routledge, New York 2007.

[35] Robbins C. A., King N. Jr., Sims T., The difficulty of mending fences; U. S. plan to limit war’s opponents in reconstruction sets obstacle to overall peace efforts, „The Wall Street Journal”, 2003, December 11th.

[36] Schmidt B. C., Williams M. C., The Bush doctrine and the Iraq war: Neoconservatives versus realists, „Security Studies” 2008, vol. 17, issue 2, pp. 191–220.

[37] Serfaty S., Terms of estrangement: French–American relations in perspective, „Survival” 2005, vol. 47, issue 3, pp. 73–92, doi: 10.1080/00396330500248011.

[38] Strategies of qualitative inquiry, eds N. K. Denzin, Y. S. Lincoln, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA 2003.

[39] Styan D., Jacques Chirac’s ‘non’: France, Iraq and the United Nations, 1991–2003, „Modern & Contemporary France” 2004, vol. 2, issue 3, pp. 371–385.

[40] Tardy T., France and the US: The inevitable clash?, „International Journal” 2004, vol. 59, issue 1, pp. 105–126, doi: 10.1177/002070200405900105.