Neither war nor...

(21 May) A small correction on Bernard Kouchner, occasioned by posts from Jeff Weintraub and Norman Geras.

I know it's been in the FT and the NYT and on the BBC, but I don't think it's altogether accurate to say that Bernard Kouchner favoured the forcible removal from power of Saddam Hussein. I would put it like this:

Most French intellectuals and politicians felt few qualms about supporting a policy to keep Saddam Hussein in power. One exception was Bernard Kouchner.

Shortly before the 2003 war, he wrote an article called 'Ni la guerre ni Saddam' ('Neither war nor Saddam').

Or, as Richard  Holbrooke puts it, “he does not come with a visceral anger towards the American ‘hyperpower.’”