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Chirac takes his shirt off, attempts to find and flex a muscle, world remains unimpressed.

France said on Thursday it would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state that carried out a terrorist attack against it, reaffirming the need for its nuclear deterrent.

Deflecting criticism of France’s costly nuclear arms program, President Jacques Chirac said security came at a price and France must be able to hit back hard at a hostile state’s centers of power and its “capacity to act.”

He said there was no change in France’s overall policy, which rules out the use of nuclear weapons in a military conflict. But his speech pointed to a change of emphasis to underline the growing threat France perceives from terrorism.

“The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would consider using in one way or another weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and adapted response on our part,” Chirac said during a visit to a nuclear submarine base in northwestern France.

“This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind.”

Oooh, I’m sure those terrorists are cowering in their well fortified underground uber-caves right now.

Unfortunately for France, it appears that they don’t realize the reputation they have for producing unconvincing tough talk followed by the inevitable wave of the white flag. There’s no ‘there’ there. They suffer from a complete lack of credibility. But maybe they don’t see that as a liability?

I fear that France will someday become a victim of terrorism and commit the unpardonable sin of capitulation toward their attackers, giving the terrorists just enough of a morale boost to further their cause.

All talk and no action by France will not stop the terrorists in Iraq, Iran or anywhere else in the world.