Le Monde | La proposition am�ricaine ne r�pond pas aux attentes de la France:

Le pr�sident de la R�publique et le chef de la diplomatie fran�aise s'�taient prononc�s la semaine derni�re pour un changement radical de la strat�gie am�ricaine en Irak. 'Le transfert du pouvoir et de la souverainet� aux Irakiens eux m�mes constitue la seule option r�aliste. Il doit �tre mis en oeuvre sans d�lai dans le cadre d'un processus auquel les Nations unies seules sont en mesure de donner toute sa l�gitimit�', avait ainsi d�clar� Jacques Chirac vendredi, lors de la r�union annuelle des ambassadeurs de France � Paris. Paris souhaitait en substance que la fin de l'occupation am�ricano-britannique de l'Irak soit clairement signifi�e et la responsabilit� clairement transf�r�e aux Nations unies et aux Irakiens. Il fallait, disait-on mercredi encore � l'Elys�e, 'br�ler les �tapes', sortir de la phase transitoire actuelle de l'occupation et passer tout de suite � la phase suivante, celle de la souverainet� irakienne, moyennant un calendrier serr� de transfert des responsabilit�s.

The president of the Republic and chief of French diplomacy called last week for a radical change of American strategy in Iraq. 'The transfer of power and of sovereignty to the Iraqis themselves constitutes the only realistic option. It must be begun without delay on the basis of a process to which the United Nations alone is in position to give all its legitimacy', said Jacques Chirac Friday, outside the annual meeting of French ambassadors at Paris. Paris demands in substance that the end of the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq be signalled clealry and the responsibility transferred clearly to the United Nations and to the Iraqis. We must, he said Wednesday at the Elys�e, 'br�ler les �tapes', to end the present transitional stage of the occupation and move quickly to the following stage, that of Iraqi sovereignty, by way of a timeline for the transfer of responsibilities.

The US draft resolution was always dead on arrival. It follows that the White House is merely manouevring for domestic consumption rather than engaging in serious diplomacy. Look forward to further examples of high policy such as renaming even more dishes.