] JACQUES CHIRAC was basking in ecstatic praise from
] virtually all of France yesterday after his Monday night
] pledge to defy America and veto a war against Iraq.
]
] Only a few grumbles from the business world and a squeak
] of dissent from his own conservative camp marred a
] symphony of tributes for President Chirac and his
] redemption as a man of destiny after a long and chequered
] political career.
]
] Only Joan of Arc was missing from the rollcall of heroes,
] from Charles de Gaulle to Charlemagne, to which M Chirac
] was likened.