PARIS, Sept 17: French Army Chief of Staff, Jean-Marc Kelche, says he’s “quite confident” that there are no nuclear weapons present in Iraq, and that as far as he knows Saddam Hussein doesn’t possess the means of making them. “On that question,” he notes, “nobody has ever offered us any radical proof.”

As for biological and chemical weapons, he says, he’s “not as certain” as to their presence on — or absence from — Iraqi soil, but does refuse to follow in the footsteps of British Prime Minister Tony Blair who claims to have proof of their existence in Iraq.

Gen Kelche says, “I’ll read with interest the special report on the subject that PM Blair has promised for Sept 24,” but suggests that nothing that France has seen on the subject has convinced authorities that the threat with regard to biological and chemical weapons is any more credible than that posited by the United States and Great Britain with regard to Iraq’s nuclear potential.

Gen Kelche made the statements this morning, during a free- wheeling discussion about French relations with Iraq, on radio network Europe 1 with Jean-Pierre Elkabbach, a powerful political commentator whose programme is used by political leaders to make important pronouncements on governmental policy.

Another reason for the unusual openness of Gen Kelche and the surprising frankness of his remarks, was the recent announcement that he will be stepping down from his post on Nov 1, at which time he will have been France’s leading military authority during the four-and-a-half years.

He also noted that Al Qaeda, in his estimation, had almost completely disappeared as a terrorist movement, and that “from now on we should think of engaging in a global war against terrorism in general,” a war that he said would be “long-term” — and not against a single terrorist movement in particular.

With regard to the recent visit of three French parliamentarians to Iraq, Gen Kelche says that he refuses to characterize their presence in Iraq as a “betrayal” of French interests, but simply that it was a masterly “faux-pas” on their part that “could prove counter-productive” to French efforts to persuade its Western allies that an armed intervention in Iraq is hardly to be recommended.

France has indeed been listened to as a result of their visit, say supporters of the three deputies — among them former defence minister and presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Chevenement — for after being asked (Sept 15) by Vice- Prime Minister Tarek Aziz to seek President Jacques Chirac’s assurance that a US attack would not take place if Iraq allowed the return of UN inspectors; Iraq publicly announced yesterday [Sept 16] that it would allow their unconditional return.