Matthew
Abraham
EID:
mabra42
Role
Profile
Role Profile of Jacque Chirac
Jacque
Chirac was elected President of France in 1995 and has served in that
office
since then winning re-election in 2002. As
President, Chirac has much power in Foreign Policy as well as the
responsibility of receiving Foreign Ambassadors. Most
importantly, he is the Commander in
Chief of the Armed Forces and in charge of National Defense. His country has special power in the UN as a
member of the Security Council with veto power.
Part
of Chirac’s
political platform consists of harsh punishments for domestic
terrorists. One of his first actions as
president was to
resume nuclear weapon testing in the interest of strengthening his
country’s military
might. He ceased testing in 1996 to
abide by the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
Chirac has been one of the leading voices of opposition against
President George W. Bush and the US
intervention in Iraq. He threatened to veto any UN Security Council
resolutions dealing with Iraq
until UN Inspectors were allowed more time to conduct their inspections. He was also suspected of dealing in arms with
Saddam Hussein after his defeat in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Thought there is no proof of this, there are
accusations of fraud awaiting Chirac after he leaves office due to his
immunity
from prosecution while President. These
political stances show that Chirac is either a proponent of diplomatic
solutions, he has something to hide, or that he simply refuses to go
along with
a US
led
decision.
As
for his
dealings with Israel
and Palestine, Chirac was
the first
world leader ever to address the elected Palestinian Legislative
Council in
1996. In this address, he spoke about
the solution to the Palestinian territory dispute, saying that the
solution
could not be entirely religiously based.
This position plus the secular society of France,
showcases Chirac’s obvious position of secular politics and governing. France
also possesses a high level of anti-Semitism, leading one to believe
that
Chirac and his nation may side with Palestine
in the conflict. Chirac has been
critical of the US
and Israel
and
their actions against other Middle East Nations. He
has also spoken out in support of an
independent Palestinian state as long as it is run democratically. One main goal of his is to have the EU play a
role in the peace process. He views
their proximity to the Middle East to be
strength.
It
is likely that
Chirac will be allies with most Palestinian leaders, as well as most
democratically elected Arab Leaders. In Europe,
he will probably ally with Russian President Putin and Chancellor
Schroeder of Germany. His opposition will be based in Israel
as well as his obvious opposition from the UK
and US. Otherwise, extremists such as
Osama bin-Lade and Abu Musab al-Zarqaw.
Chirac
was born on
November 29, 1932
in Paris, France. He was educated at Lycée Carnot and Lycée Louis-le-Grand
in Paris before becoming a Graduate of the
Paris Institut
d'Etudes Politiques (Institute of Political Science), and of the Harvard
University Summer School (USA). He’s had
a prestigous and successful political careere including holding the
office of
French Prime Minister, President of France, and Mayor of Paris. He’s had many works published including plans
for the Port of New Orleans.