Jacques Chirac, who died on Thursday at the age of 86, was a charismatic giant of French post-war politics whose popular touch gave him enduring appeal to voters, even after a conviction for graft.
Twice elected head of state in 1995 and 2002, his 12 years in the Elysee Palace made him France’s second longest-serving president after his Socialist predecessor Francois Mitterrand.
On the international stage, Chirac helped spearhead opposition to the US-lead invasion of Iraq in 2003 — a stance which angered the United States.
”War is always a last resort, always an admission of failure, always the worst of solutions, because it brings death and misery,” he said at the time. Läs artikel