Chirac is an asshole. Perhaps the leading asshole in the world. If you can open your mind, and try to imagine a Frenchman being arrogant (I know, very surprising,) then check out this latest display from France's leader:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4015447.stm
We didn't ask France to repay us when we seved them in WWII. What did we get? We got a huge FU when de Gaulle pulled out of NATO in 1966. It didn't stop there. They now have a genocide-for-oil nationalist who wants to rip the world order apart so that France will no longer be irrelevant.
This guy is far more dangerous than Bush's staunchest critics (excluding conspiracy theory wackos) allege that the American president is.