End spiral of Iraqi horror - France

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier, in an interview published today, compared Iraq to a “black hole that is sucking up” the world and said France would at no time send in troops.

Barnier, who travels to the United Nations tomorrow for talks on Iraq, expressed alarm about “the spiral of horror” that is gaining ground and the loss of human dignity as violence progresses.

In an interview with the daily Le Monde, he made a “call to reason and conscience.”

He also stressed that Iraqis must be given authentic sovereignty after the transition of power on June 30 from American to Iraqi hands.

“We must get out of this black hole that is sucking up the Middle East and, beyond that, the world,” Barnier was quoted as saying.

“What shocks me is the spiral of horror, the blood, the inhumanity that we see now on all fronts, in Fallujah like in Gaza or through the terrible images of the assassination of this unfortunate American hostage.

“All of this gives the impression of a total loss of bearings,” he added.

“What is in question on all sides is this fundamental value at the heart of all religions, all civilisations: human dignity.”

Barnier said that it is “out of the question” that France send troops to Iraq.

“There will be no French soldiers in Iraq, not now and not later.”

France, which opposed the US-led campaign that toppled Saddam Hussein, has refused to participate in the multinational force responsible for security in Iraq since the official end of the war.