He is an unremarkable French politician. We must realize, however, that France is not going to go along with most of what we are trying to do. We maybe should have listened before Iraq.

Jacques Chirac has been president since 1995 (France has 7-year terms). Outside France, Chirac is known primarily for making odd, embarassing public remarks on a wide variety of topics (nuclear testing, Iraq, Blair, Bush, Iran, 'the nuclear option'). Chirac has long been known for his manic energy and may have a mild form of manic-depressive disorder, which would explain his Ted-Turner-like-tendency to make strange remarks. More substantially, Chirac's first term (95-2002) was uneventful; the socialist prime minister Lionel Jospin controlled the government and Chirac remained, for the most part, a figurehead. His second term, by contrast, has seen a much more active Chirac, taking an active role in opposing the Iraq war, reversing himself partly, and more recently coming under attack for failed reforms, rising crime and falling economic growth, all of which played a role in the recent riots that flared across the country. Chirac's second term has generally been a failure; the only member of his administration to have distinguished himself is Nicholas Sarkozy, who is also Chiarac's primary political enemy on the right. Chirac has practically annointed ex-diplomat Dominic de Villepin his successor, appointing him as Prime Minister in the hope that he will distinguish himself and win the upcoming election. Lately, Chirac is rumored to have suffered from medical problems, though he claims to be in good health. Unfortunately for Chirac, he is not likely to find the glory that has eluded him so far in the next 2 years; he would do well to step down now and let a younger, more energetic candidate run for president.

Dirty rotten backstabbing bastard...Just like his constituents...Viva La France!!

Jacques Chirac continues to embarrass himself and France, making snide remarks (such as about Britain's 'Mad Cow' epidemic or how British food is awful)- totally unbecoming of a world leader. Not that he's the reason Paris lost their bid to host the Olympics in 2012, but Chirac and his inability to SHUT UP probably didn't help their cause either. It wouldn't hurt this immodest twit to be less of an ass, and show the world he is capable of being a bit more dignified as a leader.

Arrogant, overstuffed yellow bellied jerk. Almost as bad as General Nuisance (Charles De-Galle), this pompous pumped up yo-yo is making a nuisance of himself that is bad as anything De-Gaulle ever cooked up. France is not an important country anymore and it just can't come to terms that it is not #1 in Europe anymore.

The French aren't that bad, Chirac speaks his mind, as does Bush, and they are both equally polarizing.

Mindless idiot who has inetersets in Iraq. Quess who built that nuclear reactor that Israel blew up years ago? It was France. Iraq owes French companies over 5 billion dollars. Why the hell did we fight for these idiots in WW2? The boycott of France has now begun. What ever happened to the quote you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours? The French obviously arent the most loyal people out there. I hope that we stay away and out of French business for a long time. UPDATE- Some folks think here that by simply electing Kerry as President, we would be best friends with France. Too bad its not like that. France hates us and they have hated us for years and I wouldn't have it any other way since I hate France.

One word Pussi

The best French leader since Da Gaulle. He opposed the war in Iraq and he upheld France's secular tradition when he passed the law banning religious icons in French public schools. A lot better than George W. Bush who is a pro-religious warhawk who likes to allow students to wear their religious symbols in our public schools where they don't belong. We need someone like Jacques Chirac to run this messed up country of ours. Maybe that person will be John Kerry if he wins in November.

I agree with only some of his policies. What is lost to many Americans in the furor over Chirac not supporting the U.S. in Iraq, is that Chirac is in fact a conservative. He is not on the lunatic fringe like LePen, but this man is certainly no liberal.

Oh yeah, he truly is a friend of America. You believe that right? Happens to be president of a formerly important country on the world stage. Now think about it...what are conditions like in all those places around the world that used to be french colonies? That is their true legacy. Oh, the peasants are revolting! He replied, They certainly are!

Abichiarra's comment should be required reading for this list, prior to rendering an opinion. Great job. Further, I believe this leader's mis-judgement will have long-term consequences for France, specifically with regard to the (formerly strong and interdependent) US/France alliance, once they become (inevitably) a target for the islamofascists. He can advocate amassing a Euro military force all he wants but too many Euro members have much more urgent problems. And many Americans will not soon forget their blackmailish betrayal, for the shameful motivation of protecting their bribes and kickbacks arrangement with the UN's Oil for Food program.

Windbag who didn't want us to know his hands were in the cookie jar.

Looks like a piano player in a bordello - wait, France IS a wh*rehouse.

Jacques Chirac is Napoeleon mark 2 who wants complete control of Eastern Europe and Britain. He's an imperialist piece of crap. Sad that the assassination attempt on his life wasn't successful!

SNEAKY, UNDERMINING UNAPPRECIATIVE MAN. REPRESENTS ALL THE DETESTABLE FRENCH PEOPLE. GLAD MY FAMILY FLED THERE.

he is an idiot. He is screwing up the whole France

When we compare Bush's and Chirac's predictions about what would happen in Iraq after a war, there's no doubt that Chirac was the right one.

Jacques Chirac is a mindless communist boob but France enjoys that. Go to Euro Disney were the Freaks in France have to be nice to you.

From the looks of things, most of the posts about Chirac came during the onset of the Iraq War when the Freedom Fries crowd was screaming bloody murder. Well, I'll try to be objective about Chirac as a leader of France. Overall, he's been a mediocre leader really. He was elected President in 1995 as, and this will surprise some I'm sure, a conservative. He's been in government since the 1960's, he served in the national government in the 1970's and during the 1980's through 1995, he was the mayor of Paris. Chirac had a mandate to cut the deficit, which was needed in order for them to get into the Euro, lower unemployment, and strengthen the Franco-German relationship which has been critical to deepening EU integration. His overall goal was to lower the scope of government and this included a reduction in military spending. He believes that the EU should begin developing a military to act as a counterbalance to the United States's unipolar dominance. This was the primary reason why he opposed the war in Iraq. The US didn't want to compete with the Europeans for petrodollars and they certainly didn't want to do the bidding of Washington without asking questions. I understand where they were coming from strategically, they were intent on stopping the war by threatening a veto in the US Security Council. We went ahead anyways, not that I believe that we need the approval of the UN or any similiar international organization to do so. He actually is following in the tradition of Charles de Gaulle who used French nationalism to stand up to the United States a variety of times, including opposition to Vietnam. Beyond simply checking American power, Chirac knew the folly of getting too involved in the affairs of Arab countries; after all, they had their own bruising experience in Algeria during the 1960's. Chirac isn't completely clean, he accepted kickbacks as Mayor of Paris in the 1980's that gave funds to political parties. He wasn't indicted because as President, he's immune from prosecution. Overall, I didn't approve of his lowbrow diplomatic tactics during the onset of the war, but he's actually been fairly effective for France on domestic matters. He isn't the most popular leader in the country; in fact, he was re-elected in 2002 only because his opponent was the anti-semitic far right leader Jean- Marie Le Pen. A lot of people here consider him worse than Saddam Hussein, but hey, he was the first leader to show up in New York to offer his condolences after the WTC attack and he's helped roll back terrorism in France. He's not exactly the enemy here, multipolarity in the international system might acutally do us some good at the end of the day.

I respect Jacques Chirac in the way that he made the right choice in opposing the War in Iraq.

French bastard

with friends like jacques, you don't need enemies.

Although unpopular with most Americans, this man is doing his job and looking after the best interests of France. He also deserves credit for telling Bush that the invasion of Iraq would end in failure.

All those who are not French, raise your hand. All those who ARE French, raise BOTH hands.

At odds with current US policy, not necessarily a negative mark. Perplexing about how 11,000 French people died because it got a little warm this summer. Not supposed to happen in a modern society, so he has to take some blame for that.

This little rifle-dropping snail-snapping surrender monkey needs to pull his head out of the clouds and look around!

Leader of a country that unfortunately has become godless, atheist, weak and more supportive of their Muslim friends than their western allies. Very disappointing.

Very hard hearted. You've made a big mistake.

Freedom leader? Cant trust em. Dont like your freedom fires, freedom toast, or your freedom cuisie. But hey at least your not mexican.

hypocritical geek - he was never gainst the war in Iraq he was only worried about France's Contracts in Iraq. He's the worse lier of them all!!!!!

Weasel!

This guy really pissed me off. He we are, the USA, fighting for our safety, and Chirac is busy undermining our every move because of his oil deal with Iraq. What the hell kind of ally is that?

Chirac’s leadership of a nation where deceit is regarded as a social skill is sufficient proof of the decline of French civilization.

I know nothing about his domestic politics. And even though I'm just as sure his siding of the war was as much about money as Bush's decision. I still have to respect him for standing up to Bush and America with the war. Seeing as his agenda was atleast no worse the Bush's. As for the morons who are now so against France because of that. Wake up you mindless cattle! You act as if America has a squeeky clean past, or even present for that matter. And if you thing someone is a horrible person for disagreeing with the president, then your all horrible unpatriotic people because I'm well sure you have all disagreed with a president at some point.

This absolute racism that has come to the fore in recent months is disgraceful. It really is. Chirac is a corrupt, egotistical, selfserving fool no doubt. But the language recently has not been anti-chirac it has been anti french. Very anti french. Racist.Racist. Disgusting. Any way George W Bush is also an egotistical, selfserving functionally illiterate fool. France did sell weapons to Iraq - but so did the US - FACT. Chirac had the guts to stand up against a nation which is getting too big for its boots. French Fries - Freedom Fries Ha ha ha. This is obviously the act of a desperate politician trying to score points with foolish people. He should be trying to focus on the damn economy.

What a pansy!

A cowardly weasel...I am shocked at the French attitude toward America...I do know one Frenchman who appreciates what America did for them in WWII. My husband and I were the guests of the Owner of the Sofitel Hotels about three years ago. We were wined, dined and treated like Royalty. You see, my husband was one of the brave Americans who landed at Normandy and liberated that town...By doing so, his mother, locked up and waiting execution by the Germans was freed.He thanked us and expressed his love for the American people...Shame on you Mr. Chirac for your actions toward the American people...

Let's get some proper perspective here. The French have not tried to stop America doing what it wants because of inherent anti-Americanism. True, France has many assets in Iraq, as does Germany and Russia. But it is the UK and the US who have also supplied weapons and manufacturing sites out there and have meddled in Iraqi affairs from day one. The French have been the only ones to have seen through what President Bush has planned for the Middle East. Quite rightly, Saddam should be removed and a democratic government replacing it- but not by an American governor who would only inflame anger in the region. Not that Bush cares about that, since his only goal is to establish a Pax Americana around the world. Open up the Middle East to American corporations...you then have all the oil you want to sustain the US economy and Iraqis will need to become reliant on US corporate structures for their business. It may upset us but the world is against this globalisation (which they term Americanisation) in the choices of goods and services they have to make. The French and Germans, are, quite rightly allowed to be concerned about their erosion of their cultures and impressions upon the world just as America is determined to spread its brandname around the globe. The French were allowed to make a veto in the UN ( a device created by the US and UK together)and have actually only used it 17 times as opposed to 87 odd by the other two countries. Realistically they saw that Bush was going to declare a war whether there was international agreement or not (and there most certainly was not) and tried to have the Weapons Inspectors - who were doing a thoroughly worthwhile job- given enough time to carry out the criteria laid down in Resolution 1441. Bush constantly tried to frustrate this internationally agreed recommendation through his impatience - and calling the UN, which the United States helped to create, irrelevant. He stated that the resolution signified that force could be used if Saddam did not offer up his weapons of mass destruction (which for all accounts he may not actually have any more. )Resolution 1441 most categorically did NOT say that. And this is what France had an issue with. France was trying to get the US to abide by its own rules! And when the US administration didn't like it, it threw it's toys out of the pram like a spoilt child. It's one rule for them and one for us, so it seems. I really do wonder just how much misinformation is given to Americans sometimes.

Although not my favourite politician by any means, he has to be congratulates on his stance against the war in Iraq. At least he is not the sheep that Blair and Howard have proven themselves to be, mindlessly following Bush into a war that has no business taking place.

Stood up to the Zombie Freak Unelected Smirk-Boy Crackerhead Dim Son

Please! Platform: If the U.S. is for it France is against it!

The only obstacle between my SUV & iraqi oil.

A prissy leader for a prissy country. He's definitely hiding something. Somewhere he has ties to Saddam. Secret deals or something. He's had all the proof in the world about how dangerous Saddam's regime is and insists that going to war is wrong because were dealing with life and death here. Tell that to the opressed people in Iraq who continue to witness people being murdered by the thousands under Saddam. Tell that to the american families of the victims of the terrorist attacks. THE LAST TIME THE FRENCH DEMANDED THIS MUCH PROOF OF HOW DANGEROUS A REGIME IS IT ROLLED RIGHT THROUGH THEIR COUNTRY CARRYING GERMAN FLAGS WITH BIG SWASTIKA'S ON THEM!!

i am indifferent to chirac, its good that he opposes war, but that does not mean he is a particularly good man/leader. a lot of people on this site keep saying: "he wont go to war becauuse france sold chemicals etc. to saddam". maybe you didn't know this, in fact you probably dont because the US government seems to be good at fooling/lying to americans, but the US supplied almost all of saddams chemicals during the iran/iraq war. the US government gave saddam the chemicals he gassed his people with, so i dont think chirac is not going to war because france sold iraq weapons

Chirac is a bad leader, either badly misinformed or badly misinforming the world. God knows the only reason France and Germany wont go along with us is because the fact that they provided Iraq with deadly weapons, and if they turn their back, Saddam will be forced to "show them" the weapons.

Jacques Chirac is an insignificant ass pretending to run an insignificant country. When America is finished with him and his country they'll only be relevant in history books for their failures. Examples of a lack of courage, failure to use deodorant and too involved in their own insignificant being to be concerned about others.

A trator to the USA so he can sell chemical prcursers to Iraq.

Self-serving socialistic french wimp

not many intelligent leaders like him left