Today's Date:

T Carlson : Can we patch things up with old Europe? Should we bother? Is it possible?

Our first guest is the French ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte. Thanks for joining us. I'll read you a quote from American official Robert Blackwill, just back from Paris. He wrote : “Intellectually most French want the Bush administration to succeed in Iraq. But emotionally many want it to fail.”

That's the sense I think a lot of Americans have that emotionally the French are vested in American failure in Iraq. Do you think that's true?

JD Levitte: No, it's not true. What is at stake in Iraq is huge for the Iraqi people themselves, for the whole Middle East. Imagine what would be the situation if al Qaeda was at home in Baghdad. It would be a disaster for the whole Middle East. But even more important for us.

What is at stake in Iraq is the future of the relations between the Muslim world and the West. And that's why we have to make Iraq a success story together. And the elections will help a lot.

T Carlson : But of course if it were up to France, Saddam Hussein could still be in power. We wouldn't be there in the first place. President Chirac said the other day without question the invasion of Iraq has created more terrorists. The implication is if we left them alone, everything would be fine.

JD Levitte : Not at all. Saddam Hussein was a bloody dictator, no doubt about that. Simply we thought the war was not necessary because we had inspectors of the UN deployed including many Americans in the teams, and we could have continued the inspections to clarify the situation in terms of arms of mass destruction, in terms of links, possible links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. And we thought not only the war was not necessary but it would have dangerous consequences.

Iraq today is a kind of magnet for Jihadists from all over the Arab world but also from France. Last week only we destroyed a network recruiting in the mosques young Muslim French citizens to go to Iraq to be trained and come back to France.
And this is happening also in Saudi Arabia and Yemen and so on. These are the negative consequences we were anticipating. But that's done. Now let's make Iraq a success story together.

T Carlson: If we're going to make Iraq a success story together I'm sure you agree elections are a part of it

JD Levitte: Sure.

T Carlson: Why then, I wonder, didn't France send billions of dollars in aid to Iraq and why weren't there a lot of French election observers on the ground? There were virtually no international election observers in Iraq. Why is that?

JD Levitte: What is important for you to know is that President Chirac in a very solemn way launched an appeal to all the Iraqis to participate in the vote. He said that twice, on January 6 in front of all the diplomatic corps in Paris and second on January 14 and this message was sent to all the Iraqis: Participate in the elections. That's the only way, the best way to build a better future for all of you.

T Carlson: Wouldn't it be more useful to send money and soldiers?

JD Levitte: But we send money. Come on, we are participating. We have humanitarian programs on the way. That's very important. And we have proposed to train 1,500 “gendarmerie” officers in the coming weeks and months.

T Carlson: I think it's important to say the average American distrusts the United Nations. The EU and the French always talk about the United Nations. Why should the average American look to the United Nations to solve anything?

JD Levitte: The United Nations organized the elections in Afghanistan and they were free and fair and Karzai is now considered as the legitimate President of all the Afghans. The United Nations helped in organizing the elections in Iraq. So that's important.

And you know the difference between the US and the EU, the Europeans, in my view is that in Europe because we are building a kind of common destiny through shared sovereignty, we consider that shared sovereignty is a good way to solve the problems of the world.
Living in the U S, I completely understand that shared sovereignty isn't appropriate at all. You want to protect your sovereignty from many interferences, especially from the UN.
So these are two very different views. I do consider, as many Europeans, that the UN is very useful to solve many problems in this world.

T Carlson: It seems the chief problem it solves for Europeans is the expansion of American power. It seems the American point of view is that the UN is an instrument used by the Europeans to keep American power in check.

JD Levitte: No, no. First, the US is very powerful inside the UN. I was the French Ambassador to the UN and believe me, the US Ambassador to the UN? When he speaks, he is listened to. And if you want to act inside the UN, you will be listened to and you can be the most prominent player inside the UN. And second, we should not consider this as a matter for disagreement. We should work together.

T Carlson: Now, last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described Iran's behavior as quote “something to be loathed”. Do you consider Iran's behavior as something to be loathed?

JD Levitte: What is important is to make sure that Iran stops the nuclear program leading to a bomb. That's why three European countries, UK, Germany and France, took the initiative of this negotiation and we would like to see more support coming from the US for this negotiation. Because it would add more leverage to convince the Iranians to stop forever their nuclear military program.

T Carlson: Which do you think is a more destabilizing force in the Middle East? Iran or Israel?

JD Levitte: Come on. Don't ask this question. In the Middle East peace process, we see now progress, hope. And our role, the US and Europe, is to encourage both Prime Minister Sharon and President Abu Mazen to succeed in what they want to achieve. President Bush said two states living side by side in peace and democracy. I think it is within reach.

And to help the Palestinians themselves to build their future. What President Bush said that in his state of the union address, that's exactly the mood in Paris, and let's work together also on this issue and it would set such an example. You know, in Europe we consider that Germany and

France, which were arch enemies for decades and decades are now setting an example. They are the best friends. They were the worst enemies. That is also possible now between Israel and the Palestinian people.

T Carlson: the reason I asked you that question is that every opinion poll I've seen taken of Europeans shows Israel is considered one of the most evil countries in the world and American support for Israel is the root of instability in the Middle East.

JD Levitte: That is not true.

T Carlson: How do you think American policy toward Israel ought to change?

JD Levitte: I don't buy these polls. You have polls, what is sure is that there was a lot of frustration in Europe, elsewhere also, about the lack of progress in the Middle East peace process. But we were not blaming this part or that part. We were trying to help the two sides to work better together. That's exactly what is happening now. And we see the US as the key actor to help the two parties to succeed. But Europe can play a very useful role together with the United States.

T Carlson: Now, there is this endless sniping that goes on between publicly and not so publicly between France and the United States. Just the other day President Chirac derided our secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld for his (quote) lack of culture. Should this bother us? In the end if France and the United States don't get along; does it change anything? We still buy your wine, you still watch our movies, it doesn't matter?

JD Levitte: It's very important. We never forget we have for 200 years been friends and allies. Once Colin Powell told me look, for more than 200 years France and the US have been in marriage counseling but the marriage is still strong and I think it's true. And we now have a much better mood, much more positive between the US and France between the US and Europe.

President Bush called President Chirac on Monday after the election in Iraq and they were upbeat about the result they decided to work together to build on this success story. And to help the Iraqis themselves to build their future in a democratic and successful way.

So you see, my guess is that our relations, which have been strained over the past two years, are recovering fast. Condi Rice will be greeted as a friend in Paris. And President Bush and President Chirac will have a dinner on the eve of two summits in Brussels and that's excellent.