re: consequences
I remember very well listening to the radio months before Chirac appeared on France2.
Journalists said that France vetoeing a draft to go to war would have the effect of an atom bomb. And they also were concerned by the economic retaliations from the US. Never was there any mention (in no matter which conservative or progressive newspaper from any side), of fear of loosing markets in Iraq.
That's because the main company present in Iraq was TotalFina Elf (a not so popular company with oil spills on french coasts).
Chirac made his point known and the US is now in the position we all know and France gets the blame for merely applying international principles and acting multilaterally.
Raoul