Has Chirac Grown A Pair?

He's certainly talking like a man who's had a testosterone injection. From the Washington Post:

PARIS, Jan. 19 -- President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that France was prepared to launch a nuclear strike against any country that sponsors a terrorist attack against French interests. He said his country's nuclear arsenal had been reconfigured to include the ability to make a tactical strike in retaliation for terrorism.

"The leaders of states who would use terrorist means against us, as well as those who would envision using . . . weapons of mass destruction, must understand that they would lay themselves open to a firm and fitting response on our part," Chirac said during a visit to a nuclear submarine base in Brittany. "This response could be a conventional one. It could also be of a different kind."

Zut alors! Chirac is actually threatening to nuke rogue terrorist states? Iran's Ahmadinejad must be shaking like a French soldier. Sorry, conditioned response...

Also posted at The Jawa Report.