France's Villepin, Iraq War Foe, Urges UN to Address `Crisis'

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who led France's opposition in the United Nations to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, returned to the world body urging a solution be found to the ``crisis'' in Iraq.

De Villepin, 51, replaced President Jacques Chirac at the UN General Assembly after Chirac's weeklong hospitalization for a hematoma, striking a conciliatory tone and greeting U.S. President George W. Bush. After the two shook hands, Bush asked after the health of the French president and wished him well.

``So many things are at stake -- in the first place the unity of Iraq, stability in the region and our collective security,'' De Villepin told the UN leaders in New York yesterday. ``The Security Council, together with the Iraqi authorities, will again have to address this question.''

For proponents of the invasion of Iraq, de Villepin personified France's opposition and helped fuel American anger. The then-foreign minister said in a UN speech Feb. 14, 2003, that a war against Iraq would increase the risk of terrorism. >>>continued

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