France Calls for International Force in Iraq Under the U.N.

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/29/international/worldspecial/29FRAN.html?ex=1062734400&en=1c5104e7abd80949&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

PARIS, Aug. 28 — Warning that the unstable situation in Iraq could fall into "anarchy," France called today for the creation of an international military force and a provisional government there under United Nations authority.

The proposal, made by Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin in a speech to the annual gathering of France's ambassadors, comes as the United States, having failed to persuade many key allies to send troops and money to Iraq, has begun to discuss the possibility of accepting an international military force under a United Nations mandate.

In a thinly veiled criticism of the Bush administration's postwar strategy in Iraq, Mr. de Villepin said: "It is time to move resolutely into a logic of sovereignty for Iraq. A true change of approach is needed. We must end the ambiguity, transfer responsibilities and allow the Iraqis to play the role they deserve as soon as possible."

"The eventual arrangements cannot just be the enlargement or adjustment of the current occupation forces," he said. "We have to install a real international force under a mandate of the United Nations Security Council."

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[Paulie]

1. No way

Not unless the US recognizes the ICC.

[Emillereid]

2. Sounds like a plan to me

Of course the Chimp would never go for it -- he is the original go it alone, bring em on, smoke em out cowboy -- accepting reality and letting real international forces take over would be admitting defeat. Besides it would ruin those neocon plans to get a military foot hold in the Middle east with our own puppet regime and we certainly don't want to share our oil with those pesky French or Germans.