Following a U.N. Security Council meeting on January 20, 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin held a press conference, where he “told reporters it was clear that Iraq’s WMD program was ‘frozen’ and could be contained while U.N. disarmament continued. ‘Nothing justifies cutting off inspections to enter into war or uncertainty.’ The crisis in Iraq represented a test for the Security Council, de Villepin continued, and ‘if war is the only way to resolve this problem, we are going down a dead end.’ Unilateral military intervention without Council approval ‘would be perceived as a victory for the law of the strongest, an attack on the rule of law and on international morality.’ Although he never used the word, he all but pledged that France would veto any resolution to activate the ‘serious consequences’ alluded to in Resolution 1441. ‘We believe that today nothing justifies envisaging military action,’ he concluded.”
– Karen DeYoung, Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, Pages 433-434