France warns against hasty US pullout from Iraq

PARIS - French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, one of the sharpest critics of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, warned Washington against pulling out troops without regard to regional security.

Villepin, interviewed in Paris by CNN, said a badly planned withdrawal could cause chaos in Iraq, "which of course would be disastrous for the whole region".

US officials said last week the Pentagon planned to reduce its troop presence in Iraq from 155,000 to 138,000 after December 15 parliamentary elections there, and could cut numbers back to 100,000 by next summer if conditions allowed.

Asked whether Washington should set a timetable for bringing home troops, Villepin said any withdrawal "should be co-ordinated with the local situation in Iraq and the regional situation." "I think that the timetable should be a global timetable," he said. "The real timetable is the Iraqi situation."

Villepin identified two main risks in Iraq: "the division of Iraq, which is of course a nightmare for the region, and ... a growing role of terrorism."

The international community should support an Arab League effort to hold a national reconciliation conference in Iraq, a regrouping of political forces in the country and further cooperation among all countries in the region, he said.

Villepin, who as foreign minister gave a dramatic speech at the United Nations in early 2003 opposing US plans for war in Iraq, said: "We knew since the beginning that it was very easy to go to war but very difficult to get out of Iraq."

But he said France wanted to work with its allies in Iraq. "We have to face the situation as it is, and it is the responsibility of all the international community to help the process, to make sure that we go forward all together."

- REUTERS