James Taranto gives us this delightful zinger.

Bloomberg News reports that France's President Jacques Chirac gave a speech to a group of foreign diplomats in Paris:

Chirac spoke to the ambassadors about the need to help establish peace and security in the Middle East. On Jan. 9, Palestinians vote to choose a successor for Yasser Arafat as their leader.

"After the election of the Palestinian president, let's work together to make the retreat from Gaza a success," Chirac said.

Only a Frenchman would talk about making a retreat a success.