Three legislators from France's right-wing ruling party arrived back home on Tuesday following a solidarity visit to Iraq that angered French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.
The three deputies arrived from the capital Baghdad late Tuesday at Le Bourget airport outside Paris after travelling from the Middle East aboard a French private jet, ending a four-day visit to Iraq, airport sources said.
On Monday, the Elysee Palace said Chirac was deeply annoyed by the visit to Iraq of Thierry Mariani, Didier Julia and Eric Diard - the three parliamentarians from his Union for the Presidential Majority (UMP) party, according to AFP.
However, Mariani responded that it was "not the time for polemics. We have been very clear about our visit. We are MPs, we don't represent parliament as a whole, nor, of course, do we represent the government. "In our meetings with (Iraqi) political leaders, we simply expressed to them our view and that of the majority of the French people which doesn't want a war and does want the return of UN weapons inspectors," he expressed.
On Tuesday, the president of the UMP, former Prime Minister Alain Juppe, said the party also firmly disapproved of the trip, while acknowledging the initiative had been a personal one by the three lawmakers. Juppe told a news conference the party would not be pursuing any sanctions against the parliamentarians.
In Iraq, the legislators visited a former nuclear site and called on Baghdad to readmit United Nations weapons inspectors in order to ward off a US attack on that country. In addition, they met several Iraqi officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz. (Albawaba.com)
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